Dylan Morrissey was the only one not rushing around or shifting or shouting. He had halted a few feet from Ben and Rhianne, hands on hips, watching the confusion with emotionless eyes.
“Dylan, honey.” Carly wrenched herself from Ben and marched to him. “You’d better be thinking of a way to rescue my mate.”
Dylan glanced at her, not in rage but understanding.
His own mate, Glory, slid clothes from her tall and beautifully curved body, dropped into wolf form, and moved off to join the other wolves gathering on the opposite side of the green. The wolf pack parted to let her in, welcoming her.
Dylan turned to Rhianne. “Ivor?” he asked.
Rhianne’s lips were stiff. “It’s me he wants. If I return to Faerie with him, your Shifters will be safe.”
Ben’s furious, “The fuck!” was joined by a chorus of “No way in hell,” and other negations from Carly, the goblin brothers, and Kim who’d tensely joined them.
“Rhianne, love, if you go to him, he’ll squelch you,” Ben snapped. “Or imprison you, and then I’ll have to rescue you again. It was no cake walk the first time.”
“Cake walk?” Even in the midst of terror, Ben could befuddle her.
“I mean it wasn’t easy. A shitload of trouble. Not doing it again, because you’re not going anywhere. You’re my mate, remember?”
Rhianne stilled as joy eased through her cold and fear. Ben’s denial of what was between them had evaporated.
She smiled widely. “I remember.”
Ben’s face went scarlet as he realized what he’d said. “We can argue about that later. This argument is an extension of the first one. You are not going anywhere near that asshole Ivor. He’ll either kill you or use you, and you know it.”
“And if I don’t go?” Rhianne planted her hands on her hips. “You’ll let him destroy good Shifters like Tiger? What about all the cubs sitting here, vulnerable? What about Tiger-girl and Connor?”
Both Tiger-girl and Connor had been stopped outside the circle of trees by Liam, who’d become a giant lion, his black mane full. Between himself, Sean, and Pierce, the two older cubs and Andrea were not getting through.
“I didn’t say I’d let the dickhead wreak havoc,” Ben said. “I’m going to go all goblin on his ass.”
“Sweet!” Darren shouted, and Cyril high-fived him. “We’re with you. Millie? You in?”
“Of course I am.” Millie opened her handbag. She carefully took off her glasses, folded them, tucked them into a glasses case, and set the glasses case back into her purse. “I will happily join you boys in kicking Fae butt.”
“Tuil Erdannan,” Rhianne said. “Never forget that.”
“You are Tuil Erdannan too, dear,” Millie said.
Darren and Cyril high-fived each other again and laughed.
“Meanwhile, my mate is the Goddess knows where.” Carly bounced on her toes, barely containing herself. Rhianne had to admire her self-restraint. “Dylan?”
“Working on it, lass.” Dylan had his cell phone in hand and started punching in numbers. He lifted it to his ear as someone on the other end answered. “Kendrick? You busy? Good. We have ourselves a little situation.”
* * *
Once upon a time, Ben had been dragged from his workshop by Fae soldiers using spells, ropes, bronze chains, shackles, and anything else the hoch alfar bastards could put their hands on in order to capture Ben. They’d taken him to a hill and tied him to a post, hoisting him up to hang from the chains and observe their savagery.
The hoch alfar had proceeded to put to death hundreds of goblin warriors, using explosives and magic. The goblins had fought valiantly to the last, but they’d not been able to save themselves.
The hoch alfar had then rounded up the survivors—women, children, and men too feeble to have joined the battle, and marched them through a ley line gate to the human world.
As the procession had faded through the tear in the sky, the hoch alfar had taken Ben from the pole and sent him through the gap, the last of his kind to go. All others were dead.
“This is what being friend to the dokk alfar has gained you,” the hoch alfar general had sneered, and then he’d shut the gate behind Ben forever.
The hoch alfar sorcerers had cast spells on the gates and the ley lines, barring Ben from ever entering Faerie again.
The small group of goblins in this world that he’d found and joined hadn’t castigated him, though they, like Millie, blamed him. At the time, they were too busy trying to stay alive to do much arguing.
Monsters, the humans who saw the goblin refugees in their true forms called them. Devils from hell, come to devour their children. Goblins were hunted and slain.
Ben and the others soon learned to change their appearance, but even this was not enough. Most human communities at the time were small and close-knit, everyone knowing everyone. Strangers were unwelcome unless affiliated with someone familiar.
So, the goblins scattered, searching for larger cities where they might fade into the crowd.
Ben had become a master of dissembling, inventing connections and plausible stories about where he came from to relax the humans frightened of the unknown. They had reason to fear, as a thousand years ago, bandits and raiders cut swaths across countrysides, killing indiscriminately. Humans had been very much like the hoch alfar in that respect.
Ben had soon lost track of all other goblins. He’d done his best to hide and fit in, laughing with humans over their ale and weeping in desolation alone at night.
Later, he’d met Shifters, beings who also lived in hiding. Some trusted Ben, some didn’t, but things had grown easier after he’d come to know them. The Shifters had won their freedom from the Fae, but they’d been forced to retreat to the human world, and like Ben, learn to survive there.
Shifters weren’t as long-lived as Ben, and he’d mourned the passing of very good friends. He’d moved from country to country, town to town, never staying long enough for people to realize he didn’t age. He couldn’t afford to make ties or put down roots.
Throughout his life in the human world, Ben had never entered a long-term relationship with a woman. He’d had plenty of sex, yes. Coupling had been a way to forget his troubles for a time, but the ladies were never permanent partners. They shared his bed to escape their own loneliness, and then they moved on. Ben had fancied himself in love a time or two, but he’d always believed he’d never start a real family.
And then he’d met Rhianne.
Ben now watched Rhianne draw herself up, fear and determination warring in her eyes. Her stepfather had come for her, would kill to get to her. Rhianne couldn’t let that happen. She was telling herself that she needed to sacrifice herself so that the Shifters, and Ben, wouldn’t be hurt.
Ben couldn’t lose her. Not after the years and years of emptiness, of searching for something he could never have.
He did not want the Shifters, his friends, people who’d aided and supported him, to be casualties of this personal war. But nor would he sacrifice Rhianne to save them.
He had to save them all instead.
There was only one thing to do. One thing that Shifters would understand, and would instinctively champion.
“Rhianne.” Ben raised his voice to be heard over the maelstrom that was beginning. “Rhianne mac Aodha, before the Goddess and in front of witnesses, I claim you as mate!”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Rhianne jolted as Ben’s words fell around her. At the same time, she felt something inside her click, as though two parts of her that had always been asunder at last joined.
“I don’t …” Rhianne coughed, found her voice. Her heart skipped and thumped, her chest tight. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”
Ben said nothing, only held her with his gaze. His dark eyes, usually so unfathomable, now showed her triumph as well as hope and a little bit of trepidation.
Dylan, the phone to his ear, glanced over at her. “You don’t have to do anything.” He
snarled into the phone, “Where is that damned polar bear?”
“That damned polar bear is right here,” boomed a large voice.
A huge man in a long duster strode toward them from Liam’s yard. Two thin braids of white hair strung with beads hung to his shoulders, the hair on his head cut short and white-blond. In contrast, his trim beard was black, and so were his eyes.
At his side was a young woman with very dark hair, intense gray eyes, and a Sword of the Guardian slung across her back.
The big man halted a few feet from Rhianne. Ben had fallen silent, waiting, body quiet.
“You can answer one of two ways,” the tall man said to Rhianne. “You can agree to accept the mate claim, or you can tell him to go to hell.” He swung to Ben. “How are you, old friend? I catch you at an awkward moment?”
“Zander,” Ben said tightly.
The young woman addressed Rhianne in a melodious voice. “You’re not obligated to accept the mate claim, and you don’t have to say anything yet. But the tentative claim keeps all other males from being able to take you for themselves. I think Ben just wants the ability to tell you what to do.” She smiled at Rhianne. “Ben’s not Shifter, but he’s picked up a lot of their habits.”
“This is my mate, Rae,” Zander said. “Like she lets me tell her what to do.” He peered at Rhianne. “Who are you, by the way?”
“Lady Aisling’s daughter,” Ben said, while Rhianne stood tongue-tied.
“Yeah?” Zander’s black eyes opened wide. Ancient wisdom lurked in that gaze, but Zander strove to hide it under his banter. “Cool. Hey, Dylan, why are you still on the phone?”
“Reinforcements.” Dylan had punched in another number. “Tiger’s missing. Sucked into something near the ley line.”
Zander’s eyes widened in true alarm. “Seriously? No shit. Then why are you standing around? Rae, sword time.”
“I’m not standing around,” Dylan growled. “I’m rounding up my army, and then we’ll go take down a Tuil Erdannan who’s made the mistake of becoming a pain in my ass.”
“Sounds like fun. You round up and I’ll go check out what happened to Tiger.”
“No.” Rhianne quickly put herself in front of Zander. Ben joined her, his warmth at her side bolstering.
“Agreed,” Ben told Zander. “If you rush after Tiger, we’ll lose you too, and we need you. You’ll have to be rearguard.”
Zander’s dark brows snapped together, but Rae touched his shoulder before he could speak.
“They’re right, sweetie. A healer and a Guardian have to be held in reserve.”
Even Carly, hovering on the edge of the conversation, anguish in her eyes, nodded. “When we find Tiger, he might need healing. Please, Zander.”
Rhianne noted that Carly said when, not if.
Zander glared mutinously but finally heaved a sigh. “Gotcha. Good advice—don’t run to the spot where the most formidable Shifter ever created disappeared without a trace and see if it happens to me too. But we can scout.” He brightened. “Scouting with stealth. Coming Ben? Rhianne? You’re something different, aren’t you?” He looked Rhianne up and down. “I have the feeling I missed a staff meeting about you, but I haven’t been checking my messages.”
“We were in Alaska,” Rae explained. “Fishing.”
“Yep. My old friend Piotr looks after my boat, but I like to take it out once in a while. Have alone time on the water with my mate.” Zander winked.
How he’d known to transport himself from Alaska to Austin and so quickly, Rhianne didn’t understand, but she didn’t ask. Zander had called her something different, but she sensed he was too.
Ben’s hand found Rhianne’s. He squeezed her fingers, the new bond between them weaving around Rhianne’s heart.
“I’ll show you where he disappeared,” Ben said. “We’ll find him, Carly. I promise you.”
“Find him, haul his ass home, make him good as new,” Zander said, pointing his forefingers at her. “You sit tight, sweetheart.”
Carly nodded tearfully. Seth, in her arms, wore a scowl on his baby face, his eyes the gold of his father’s. Rhianne wondered how much he understood—Shifter cubs seemed at the same time both younger than their human and Fae counterparts and more astute.
As they approached the green, Rhianne’s sense of forbidding grew. The ripples had ceased, but the center of the common was deathly still. Wind ruffled Rhianne’s hair as they walked, but no leaf stirred within the circle of oaks.
Just outside the ring of trees, Sean had his arms around Andrea, as though keeping his mate from darting into the circle. “Father!” Andrea cried in desperation. “Where are you?”
The only answer was silence.
“This is bad,” Ben murmured to Rhianne. “They rely on Fionn to be a bastion between this world and Faerie. Hoch alfar have come through before to be their usual bastard selves.”
Rhianne drew Ben apart from the others. “If Ivor is doing this, then no one here is safe. Tell the Shifters to get out. If Dylan brings in reinforcements, those are just more Shifters who will die.”
Ben scowled at her. “Don’t start telling me again that you should run through the gate in the ley line and sacrifice yourself for the rest of us. I’m not going to lose you, Rhianne. I don’t care if Shiftertown is razed to dust—you’re not giving yourself up.”
“There are children here. Cubs. Ivor will care nothing for them.”
“I agree the cubs need to be protected.” Ben raised his voice. “Sean, we should get all the cubs indoors on the far edges of Shiftertown.”
“Just what I was thinking,” Sean answered. “Andrea, love, you can see to that, can’t you? We’ll do everything we can for Fionn.”
Andrea nodded, wiping away tears. “If Fionn is …” She gulped. “… compromised, then we have to save the cubs.”
“Connor and Tiger’s daughter included,” Ben said.
That pair were currently prowling outside the ring of trees, wisely keeping their distance from where Tiger had disappeared. Rhianne had heard the frantic note in Tiger-girl’s voice when Tiger had vanished, as though she’d watched her world collapse. It spoke much of Connor that he managed to keep her from simply following Tiger and vanishing with him.
What exactly had happened? Rhianne scented no air of Faerie, did not feel its magic. She sensed the gate itself between the trees, but it was closed.
Andrea broke from Sean and headed for Connor. Sean, his face bleak, turned and made for the houses.
“Sean and Andrea will look after the cubs,” Ben told Rhianne in a low voice. “They all will.” He took her hand again. “I’d love to tell you to evacuate too.”
“It won’t matter.” Rhianne knew this in her heart. “Ivor will find me wherever I am. I’m not certain why he wants me so much, but I know he’ll hunt me down.” She turned to Ben. “If you stay with me, he’ll take you too.”
Ben shrugged. “Then he takes me too. Good thing I have a few tricks up my sleeve.” He wriggled his hand, his arm bared by his T-shirt.
“Ben, do not go up against one of the strongest Tuil Erdannan alive. My own mother couldn’t best him.”
Ben sobered. “I know. But you’re my mate. It means I defend you, no matter what. Do you expect me to say, Okay sweetie, you go face the badass, and I’ll be over here downing a brew. Let me know how it goes?”
“Not what I mean.”
Zander, passing them, shook his head. “It’s the mate’s dilemma, Rhianne. I lose my mate or I lose my life. We all have to choose that sooner or later.” He paused. “So this bad guy is your stepdad? Wow. I really did miss a staff meeting.”
He strode on, Rae at his side, to examine the trees and the stillness within.
Andrea had finally convinced Connor and Tiger-girl to follow her toward the houses, Andrea’s face grim.
“Warrior.” Millie’s sensible voice called. She approached them, followed by Darren and Cyril, and addressed Ben. “You’ll not have to face the Tuil Erdannan alone.
We’ve talked about it, and we’re pledging ourselves to you.”
Ben gave them a puzzled look. “Pledging? I thought you blamed me for everything bad that’s happened to you.”
“We blame you for giving the hoch alfar a target,” Millie said primly. “But that was then. This is now. You are the warrior, and we will fight with you.”
Millie, glasses restored, every hair in place, did not seem like a woman who should be in a fight of any kind. She should retreat home and roll bandages for the wounded instead, perhaps bake them a pie.
But Rhianne had seen Ben’s true form, and Millie’s as well, when she’d begun to attack Ben at the haunted house. Neither were weak.
“Yeah,” Darren put in. “You’ll need some goblins on your side. The badass-est of the badasses.”
Cyril nodded. “So, we’re pledging. It’s what our people did in the old days, so says our mum. She was there. She’s very old.”
Millie sent him a severe look. “My son is a smartass, but he is correct. I am even older than Ben. In the bygone days, we’d pledge our loyalty to the warrior who could lead us. Which right now is you, Ben. One for all and all for one.” She adjusted her glasses. “I stole that from The Three Musketeers, but the sentiment is the same.”
Ben’s expression was a study of longing and alarm. Rhianne sensed that he wanted to accept Millie’s pledge, that it was important to him.
He also worried he wouldn’t live up to the pledge, but he was wrong about that. Rhianne had come to realize that Ben had more strength than anyone understood, perhaps more even than Tiger. He’d be formidable in battle, underestimated by all, until it was too late.
Even Ivor, Rhianne thought smugly, would be surprised by him.
“Better accept,” Darren said. “Our mother is one determined lady. She usually gets what she wants.”
“I don’t want to lead you if it’s to your deaths,” Ben said quickly.
“Young man.” Millie drew herself up. “You let us decide that for ourselves. We’ve been in this world a long time. A very long time. If we meet our ends following you in a just cause, so be it. I believe slaying a Tuil Erdannan too big for his britches is a just cause. No offense, dear,” she added to Rhianne.
The Last Warrior: Shifters Unbound Book 13 Page 23