From Ashes

by Elise Faber

  “No.”

  “Great,” he said, ignoring Mason and rubbing his hands together. “This will be fun.”

  Bastard.

  Still, Mason felt his lips twitch.

  “Spiders,” Mason said lightly. “The fuckers make me sad insider.”

  Tyler snorted. “Nope,” he said on a grin. “It’s a woman.”

  Mason’s hands convulsed and the sound of the trigger clicking made him realize that he still held the gun. After carefully setting it down—and cursing himself six ways to Sunday for being stupid enough to forget he held one—he stepped away from the weapon.

  Idiot. Pervert. Traitor.

  “No,” he said, hoping that Tyler hadn’t noticed. “It’s definitely not a woman.”

  Hoping didn’t make a bit of difference.

  “Bullshit,” Tyler said.

  Mase’s hands clenched again and Tyler reached past him to snatch up the gun. He pulled back the slide, glanced into the chamber to make sure it was empty, and a second later the magazine was out, the separate pieces were plunked onto the counter. Tyler smirked. “Just in case you were having any thoughts.” A smirk. “Not that you should.” He buffed his knuckles on his shoulder. “I’m brilliant and very good at reading people.”

  Too fucking good.

  “I’m always having thoughts,” Mason muttered. It was impossible to forget what was in his mind, even though he was doing his level best to try.

  “Always having thoughts?” Tyler smirked again. “What kind?”

  A sigh. “Tyler.”

  Ty gave a slow shake of his head, his smirk growing into a grin. “You’re a filthy, filthy man.”

  “Shut up.” Of course the fucker would make it dirty.

  Still, at least the dirty meant that Mason was less focused on his brain and more on the idiocy that was his friend—who was now waggling his brows and making “ooh-ooh” noises.

  “Give me the gun,” he ordered. Surely he could scrounge up just one more bullet.

  Tyler punched his shoulder. “Not a chance,” he said, but at least he stopped with the sound effects as he tilted his head toward the exit. “Let’s go. You need to shower before you’re allowed to hang out with us.”

  “I repeat,” Mason gritted out. “Give me the gun.”

  Tyler made a show of carefully stowing it . . . in his own holster, rather than Mason’s before high tailing out of the armory.

  Annoying bastard.

  Still, Mason was smiling as he followed behind.

  Five

  Gabby

  “I miss the waterfalls,” Daughtry said later that evening.

  Suz grinned and smacked her. “I bet you do.” She waggled her brows. “I bet Cody does too.”

  “What waterfalls?” Gabby asked, forcing her attention from the so-bad-it-was-good reality show about feisty librarians.

  “They’re outside the shield.” The shield being the only thing that protected the Rengalla living at the Colony from the Dalshie. Made up of special magic that could only be created when two Rengalla bonded on a soul-deep level, it was beyond powerful, and the Dalshie had yet to find a way to penetrate it. The shield was also beautiful—a mix of Daughtry’s violet and Cody’s emerald green magic, the strands were woven together like an expensive tapestry.

  “Everything good is outside the shield,” Suz muttered, but Gabby knew the healer’s complaint was less about actual complaining and more about the fact that they’d spent too long on high alert.

  The Rengalla had been in a constant state of fear.

  Would they be attacked? Would someone lose their battle against the temptation of the dark magic and devastate them from the inside out?

  Something had to change.

  But right now there weren’t any good solutions aside from pulling everyone into the Colonies and doing their best to keep them safe.

  So they stayed.

  So they waited.

  So . . . they went a little stir crazy.

  Except for Gabby.

  For the first time in her life, she had friends and felt like she was part of something.

  Dee sighed, pulling Gabby out of her own head. “I only disagree with you a little bit.”

  “That’s because Cody’s usually on the inside of the shield with you.” Another mutter from Suz, and Gabby couldn’t deny that she also felt a little jealous of her friend and the fact that she’d found someone who shared her life in such a meaningful way. It made Gabby ache, though she was happy that Dee had found someone to love her. Her friend deserved to have everything.

  “True.” Dee smiled. “But when everything calms down, I’ll show them to you. The actual falls are quite beautiful. The water rushes by incredibly fast and not only can you feel it in vibrating through your stomach, but you can actually walk right up to their edge. Cody took me there before we had to shrink the shield.”

  Suz snorted, but Gabby was entranced. “Are they really loud? And big?” She’d never seen a waterfall, not outside of a book, that was.

  “Not huge,” Dee said. “But still pretty impressive. When it’s safe we’ll go.”

  “I’d like that,” Gabby said and snagged Suz’s popcorn. “How’s your man?” she asked the doctor.

  Suz scowled. “He’s not my man.” She grabbed the bowl back even as her face softened. “But he’s fine. And speaking of men, did you see the sad look on your bondmate’s face when we kicked him out of here, Dee? Downtrodden puppies had nothing on Cody.”

  They laughed even as Daughtry got the slightly glazed-over look on her face that Suz had recently dubbed as “Cody drunk.” It happened every time Daughtry and Cody were communicating along their bond.

  With a groan, Suz turned to Gabby. “We’ve done it now. Pretty soon Dee will be blushing and shooing us out of here so that she and Cody can get their friskies on.”

  “Never!” Dee said even as her cheeks went beet red, which, of course, made Gabby and Suz burst into hysterical giggles that Daughtry was hard-pressed to ignore. Eventually they were all laughing, unable to hear the show and not caring in the least.

  “What did Cody want?” Gabby asked once they were in control of themselves again.

  Daughtry smiled and her violet eyes went soft. “Oh, he was just saying he missed me—”

  “And asking how soon he could come back,” Suz interjected. She turned to Gabby. “It’s always so much worse for the guy in a bonded relationship.” A shrug. “Or at least, that’s what my records say.” Bonding was rare, and had gotten rarer over the years, until Dee and Cody were the first bonded pair in centuries. “The man gets all manly and animalistic and possessive, and needs to check and make sure his maiden is locked up in the tower.”

  “Oh, shut up.” Dee smacked Suz’s arm. “He does not.”

  Silence.

  Because Cody was nothing if not possessive, and he was also a LexTal, which meant he put the P in protective as well.

  “Fine.” Dee huffed. “He can be a little overprotective, but I’m protective of him right back.” A shrug. “Plus, I happen to like it when Cody gets all animalistic. Rawr.” Daughtry pretended to have claws, cackling when Gabby and Suz gagged. “Okay. Fine, Suz. You’re right,” Dee said once they’d stopped. “He was asking how soon he could come back. Doesn’t matter though. He’s with Tyler, John, and Morgan watching a game. They even convinced Mason to grab a beer with them, so they won’t let Cody leave for a while. We can binge more librarians!” She shoved a chocolate into her mouth. “Sports, blegh,” she mumbled around the mouthful. “How can that compare with overdue library books and stock-room drama?”

  Gabby chuckled even as her mind spun. Just hearing Mason’s name did something to her insides, made them both squishy and alert. She wanted to ask about him, even when she knew she shouldn’t.

  “What’s his deal anyway?” she blurted.

  Apparently shouldn’t didn’t matter when it came to her fascination with Mason.

  “Who’s deal?” Daughtry asked.


  Suz didn’t need clarification. Her golden-brown eyes were too perceptive. “Mason is a good man,” she said, fixing Gabby in place with her stare. “But he’s had a difficult time of it. His wife and son were murdered by the Dalshie. He’s broken, hun. Not someone you should let yourself be interested in. He—” Her expression went sad. “I think that part of him is well and truly shattered, and will always remain that way.”

  Daughtry gasped. Gabby’s shock was quieter but no less heart wrenching. The poor man. Too have lost so much—

  “How awful,” Dee said.

  “It was a long time ago,” Suz replied. “But . . .”

  “Someone doesn’t just get over that,” Gabby said, her own pain, her own dark memories blatant reminders of that fact.

  Suz held her eyes and nodded. “Exactly.”

  A burst of noise from the TV drew their attention. They watched as a fight broke out and books started flying. Daughtry made a light comment about that being sacrilegious and the tension broke. Still, they were subdued and—except for the occasional snarky comment regarding a character they despised—they watched the show in silence.

  Gabby’s silence came from being lost in thought about Mason, about what he’d suffered, and how someone could survive that. Which got her thinking about Daughtry and how Dee was bonded telepathically with Cody. What would happen to the other if they were separated, if one of them died? Loss was hard enough, but to be so connected to a person and then lose them?

  That was a terrifying thought.

  “Dee?” She bit her lip, wanting to ask but scared it might hurt her friend.

  “What is it?” Daughtry asked, pausing the show and setting the remote down.

  “I—” Gabby shook her head. “Never mind. I’m being nosy.”

  Dee smiled. “You mean you’re being a Rengalla, since being nosy is pretty much in our DNA.” She nudged Gabby’s shoulder. “Ask me. I’m an open book.”

  “I was just . . .” Gabby wrinkled her nose, sighed. “I was just wondering about bonding. I mean, I know you and Cody can communicate telepathically, but what does the bond actually mean? What does it do?”

  “I wish I understood it completely,” Dee said. “I have the book on Bond Magic, but it talks more about what we can do with our powers than why bonding exists in the first place.”

  “But . . . the Rengalla—I mean, we’re—” Gabby bit her lip, hating she’d almost revealed something that shouldn’t be revealed. She wasn’t a normal Rengalla, didn’t consider herself one in a lot of ways, considering how she’d grown up. But these were dangerous times with the Dalshie hovering at the gate and Gabby couldn’t afford for anyone to know.

  No one could know.

  She shrugged. “We’re big on records and books,” she finished lamely. “Can’t you just look it up? Or ask another bonded couple?”

  Dee smiled ruefully. “A lot of the bond information was destroyed by the former Council”—leaders of the Rengalla who’d been infiltrated by the Dalshie—“and as far as I can tell, the book I have and the records from past healers Suz has in infirmary is the extent of knowledge remaining.”

  “And,” Suz said. “I’ve used the records to tried to locate every bonded couple in my registry, but many of them are older and isolated and nearly impossible to reach. Or—” She broke off and Gabby read between the lines. Either they eschewed email and cell phones and had moved, not bothering to update their information with the Colony . . . or something bad had happened to them. “I’ve even reached out to those Rengalla whose parents or grandparents had recorded bonds,” she said softly, “but the bonding between Cody and Dee was the first in almost five hundred years.”

  Gabby blinked. She hadn’t realized it had been that long. “Wow.”

  “So no one to talk to, and the only useful thing I have is Suz’s records declaring Cody a possessive beast.” Dee huffed. “And a book I can barely decipher.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Another huff. “The only thing the book I’ve been able to make heads or tails of is that supposedly a bond’s purpose is to increase our ‘offspring’s’ power.” She rolled her eyes. “Like the only thing I’m good for is being a freaking magical incubator or something.”

  Gabby snorted.

  Dee flashed her a smile before sobering. “I just think there has to be more to it than creating Rengalla with stronger magic—”

  “Dear God,” Suz said, interrupting her. “I just had the image of tiny Daughtrys running down the hall whipping violet strands of magic around. We just got the place back together after your last magical exploding shenanigans, give me some time before I have to start considering your spawn coming into the picture and destroying it.”

  “First,” Dee pointed out. “The exploding was because of the Dalshie—or well, me trying to protect myself from the Dalshie.”

  “Po-tay-to, Po-tah-to,” Suz teased.

  “Plus, you love kids,” Dee said, adding with a slightly evil grin, “But, rest assured, if Cody and I ever get to the point where we’re ready for little magical geniuses, you’ll be the first to know.”

  “Don’t remind me.” Suz groaned even as Gabby laughed. “Being the birth control guru amongst the Rengalla is already uncomfortable enough.”

  But the doctor was grinning.

  They all laughed, but then Dee sobered and grabbed Gabby’s hand. “The bond is the best thing that has ever happened to me,” she said. “I mean, don’t get me wrong — there are drawbacks. Privacy is an issue because your thoughts are never only your own again.” A shrug. “But Cody and I are working on that, on building some layers of privacy between our minds. Still, even if that doesn’t work, the intimacy, the connection, the soul-deep link to the man I love is worth it any loss of privacy.”

  Gabby’s breath caught as she was hit with such a pang of longing that it actually hurt. Because the terror of being so closely tied to someone aside, she wanted what Daughtry and Cody had.

  Connection. Love. Acceptance.

  But as much as she might want it, Gabby knew she would never have it.

  With her past, her secrets, it would be impossible to ever allow herself to get so close to someone.

  “Ugh.” Gabby jumped when Suz groaned. “Enough of this true love stuff,” she grumbled. “This is supposed to be a Girl’s Night. I need more TV and chocolate.”

  “Well birth control guru,” Dee said with a grin. “That was the last episode of When Librarians Attack. It’s your turn to pick the next show.”

  “Yes!” Suz snagged up the remote. “Time for Wedding Dresses from Hell.”

  Gabby and Daughtry made a few obligatory comments about poor quality television—they had to pretend to have some taste—but neither of them protested when Suz cued up the show, the thumbnail a garish pink and fluorescent orange confection overwhelming a petite bride. Instead, they shared a grin, grabbed their snacks, and settled in for the ride.

  As the show played and the drama ensued, Gabby thought she was lucky to have such good friends.

  Once she would have never thought it possible to have people accept her, to enjoy a quiet night like this.

  Things had changed.

  Yet, she knew that deep-down, they hadn’t changed enough.

  Because if anyone found out the full truth, she would lose everything.

  A few days later, Gabby stared at her hands and listened to the excited murmuring of the students around her. She was in the gardens, surrounded by the freshly replanted grove of pine trees.

  he gardens were magazine-perfect.

  Then again everything in the Colony was.

  And Gabby, a girl who’d grown up in a rusted, falling apart double-wide, with Formica countertops and a shower that was one step shy of ice cold on its best days, never felt more ill at ease then when surrounded by luxury. So while the gardens didn’t have the crystal chandeliers and chocolate hardwood floors, nor the marble and bronze finishes that populated the rest of the Colony’s design, they were still n
ice enough to make her feel uncomfortable.

  It wasn’t nature or even the trees that did so.

  The winding, sun-dappled paths brought contentment. But the main gathering spot—the clearing dubbed the Circle with its Colorado lodge feel—did. A humongous slate-covered fire pit sat in the center encircled by benches, each sanded so fiercely that their finish was velvet soft. Add in the cashmere throws and silk pillows and—

  At least Francis, her instructor, seemed to not be swayed by such details. She, along with every other student in the class, sat on hard-as-nails upturned logs in a small clearing just around the bend from the adult’s gathering spot. Cashmere and fire pits weren’t welcome here, only textbooks and questions.

  It was such a departure from the Colony’s normal furnishings that Gabby had initially been shocked. Until she’d understood the purpose.

  Ignoring discomfort to focus on magic had been the first lesson Francis had taught them.

  It was an important one. Because magic was often conducted under stressful, or at least distracting, circumstances. If the Rengalla couldn’t even ignore an aching bottom in order to use their powers, then they would be in trouble if the Dalshie ever decided to attack again or if they had to act in a hurry.

  A giggle drew Gabby’s focus. She glanced over to see two boys poking each other and laughing like it was the most hilarious experience on earth.

  She didn’t find it amusing.

  Of course she was also a good twenty years older than any other student in the clearing.

  There was nothing quite as humiliating as being in a class filled with six and seven-year-olds. But since Gabby hadn’t grown up in the Colony, she didn’t have any magical education to speak of.

  So she was starting at the beginning.

  Billy Madison had nothing on her.

  Dee had insisted on showing her the so-bad-it-was-good comedy the night before, and Gabby couldn’t ignore the similarities. A grown up in children’s classes. A failing grown up in them.