“Yep, that’s me. Now, unless you’d like an impromptu trip to Faerie as a very short-term guest of the fey king, I’d listen to what we have to say.”
The warlock assessed the three of us, head cocked to the side. “Or what?”
“Or I’ll cut your fucking throat before you even have a chance to lift a magical finger against her,” Dean all but growled.
“Or maybe we’ll let Piper do what she did to Kingston and his boys when they tried to kill her,” Jase replied, his voice far more calm and terrifying than usual. “Maybe you’d like to be buried deep in the Earth, trapped alive for eternity.”
Their eyes went wide at his threat, and I shrugged, playing it off like it was something I did on the daily.
“He pissed me off,” I added, and threw in a playful wink for good measure. It always worked for Kat when she wanted people to think she was mildly unhinged, so I figured I’d try it out.
It worked like a fucking charm.
“What is it you want from us?” the man asked.
“To see if you’re willing to stand against the fey king when the time arises,” Jase replied. “To work with the rest of us until he and his minions are dead.”
“And to help find the other magical who can help break the spell that binds fey royals from killing their bloodline so it can be undone.”
The man’s lips pressed to a tight, thin line of resignation. “Then let us discuss the matter further,” he said, gesturing for us to follow. “I can agree to nothing in Drake’s stead, but we can discuss a plan and present it to him when he arrives.”
The brothers shared another silent conversation before nodding in agreement.
We had just started toward the fortress when I heard a familiar cawing in the distance. I looked up to find a black raven circling over the trees to my left. Apparently, Drake wasn’t absent at all—he was watching from afar—but for what purpose, I didn’t know.
But I was about to find out.
“I’ll be right back,” I whispered to the boys. “Seems like my uncle isn’t missing after all.”
Dean grabbed my arm to stop me, but Jase gave a curt nod. “We’ll negotiate out here until you return.”
“If anything seems off, remember to kill first and ask questions later,” Dean added, his unease with the situation clear.
I let out a nervous laugh. “You act like I’ve forgotten everything you taught me.”
I started off in the direction of the bird to the sound of suspicious warlocks demanding to know what I was up to.
“She’s securing the area,” Jase said.
“And making sure you motherfuckers aren’t up to anything,” Dean added.
I shook my head as I took off at a jog toward the call of my uncle’s guardian. It led me into the woods surrounding the bunker—so typical of Drake. It was as though he couldn’t have a meeting anywhere else. As though his magic was as rooted in nature as my own.
Maybe it was. I’d never really bothered to ask.
Once I was far out of earshot, I called for my uncle. “Do you always have to be so sneaky about things?” I asked, turning in place as I stared up at the trees, searching for the bird. “I mean really, this was your idea…” The bird called to me, his tone far more mocking than usual. “I see your guardian has been taking behavioral notes from Grizz.”
A gust of wind ruffled the leaves around me and I turned, expecting to find Drake standing there with his typical admonishing expression. Instead, I found nothing but forest and silence. A silence that raised every hair on my neck.
Before I could assess my surroundings, I felt cold, damp mud slide across my shoulder as a golem grabbed hold. I tried to slip out from under it, but its grip was like iron, holding me in place. I choked down my panic as I shouted for my magic to help me, but it was as if the golem sucked that sound from me, keeping my desperate plea from stopping it and its friends. By the time the others began to surround us, I was halfway inside the golem—and well on my way to being the fey king’s newest source of magic.
I struggled against the wet, sucking force drawing me into the creature, but it was useless, like trying to climb out of quicksand. The more I fought, the faster I disappeared. The brothers wouldn’t know what had happened to me, and they’d blame themselves for my disappearance—or the warlocks. They, and everyone I loved, would go mad trying to find the truth.
And they’d gladly kill the warlocks in the process.
Just as my vision went blurry with tears and mud, I saw a figure in the distance running toward me. Then I felt the thunder of his voice shake the ground the golems and I stood upon. The vibration shook me violently, partially dislodging me from my animated earthen tomb. With a freed hand, I frantically scraped the clay and dirt from my face and took greedy breaths as I tried to see who had come; who was powerful enough to stop a being I couldn’t.
I expected to find Drake staring back at me. Instead, I saw Liam.
“Release her, now!” he boomed. The golem hesitated. “You will release her by order of the king, and you will do it before I lose my patience.” He took a step closer, an eerie glow growing behind his eyes. “Would you like for that to happen?”
Liam cocked his head at the creature, and I felt it tremble. Seconds later, another iron grip was around my shoulder, pulling me free of the golem. I stumbled to the ground and scrambled away, stopping once I reached Liam. Without breaking eye contact with the fey king’s pet, he reached down and hauled me to my feet. His hands encircled my biceps and didn’t let go.
“Are you all right?” he asked, his voice so soft and quiet I barely heard him. Then I realized why—it was all part of the ruse. I gave a faint nod before struggling against his hold to keep up the pretense. “Return and tell him I have the prisoner. I have something I need to do with her before I follow.”
I looked up to find a salacious grin on Liam’s face as his hands slowly slid up to my shoulders, then my neck. The golems turned and slipped into the portal without hesitation. The second they were gone, Liam released me.
“Forgive me,” he said, “I meant no offense.”
“None taken—”
“I needed to get them to leave, and that was the only thing I could think of quickly.”
“No worries,” I said, still trying to wipe the thick crud of the golem off my body.
Liam let out a sigh of relief. “Good.”
“I think the fact that you just saved my life would overshadow anything untoward you might have done in the process, Liam, but if it would make you feel better, we can leave the shoulder molestation out of the story.”
“It would. Thank you.”
I let out a nervous giggle before the weight of what had almost happened started to creep in again.
“I need to get back to Jase and Dean,” I said, panic rising for the second—or third—time that evening. I could barely keep count.
Without further explanation, I darted off in the direction of the bunker, screaming for Jase and Dean as I ran. Liam stayed close to my side, his focus on the woods around us. Mine was on the boys I’d left behind.
“Jase! Dean!” I screamed, knowing they’d eventually hear me with their enhanced senses—unless they’d been taken into the bunker.
With that thought tightening my chest, I poured on speed, asking the nature around me to keep them safe. To let them hear me.
Seconds later, the boys appeared in our path. I ground to a halt with Liam just behind me. The boys took one look at me, then at Liam at my heels, and everything went to shit.
Jase disappeared in a flash, and I jumped behind Liam where I expected him to reappear, weapon drawn to kill the perceived threat.
“NO!” I shouted. I threw my arms wide to defend our tentative ally. Jase’s blow slammed into a force field of sorts, sending his dagger flying. “He just saved me from a golem! Don’t kill him!”
Jase raised his hands in surrender, and I looked over my shoulder to see if Dean had done the same. Stubborn and protective
to a fault, he stood there, blades still drawn.
“Come again?” he said, staring past me to the one he deemed dangerous.
“He stopped a golem that was about to take me back to the fey king. So before you carve him to bits, you need to take a breath and realize he’s why I’m still standing here.”
“You saved her?” Dean asked, taking a slow step toward us. His weapons lowered a fraction.
“As I have said more times than I can count, the fey king is no longer where my loyalties lie.” His eyes drifted down to me, and a small smile tugged at his lips. “I have found a better being to place them with.”
“Where’s Drake?” Jase asked, eyes scouring the trees for my uncle.
“My guess? It was a trap,” I said. “The fey king must have lured me with a raven, knowing of Drake’s connection to his guardian.”
Liam’s brow furrowed. “The fey king would not know this warlock’s identity, nor would he know of the bird. He isn’t like his wife. He does not keep track of such things as she does.”
Jase and Dean both looked back toward the bunker.
“I bet those assholes could make a raven appear out of nowhere and lure her away,” Dean said, heading in that direction.
“I bet you’re right, Brother.”
“Oh shit…”
They took off at a sprint, and I did all I could to keep up. Liam finally threw me over his shoulder and made up the distance between us just as the boys descended upon the warlocks. Drake, who looked as though he’d only just arrived, turned to face the attack with a confused expression. But it only lasted a moment. The second he realized what was happening, he threw up a shield of magic, as I had moments earlier.
Jase and Dean slammed into it, their anger fueling them as they tried to force their way past. They disappeared for a moment, then returned to their positions even more enraged than before; apparently, ghosting wouldn’t solve their conundrum, either. Liam set me down, and I quickly grabbed the boys by the backs of their shirts, trying to wrestle them away.
“I know you two are out for blood,” I grunted as I struggled to move them even an inch, “but for fuck’s sake, it is not the time to employ the ‘kill first, ask questions later’ strategy, okay? That’s mine, anyway. Your job is to get answers.”
They stopped in unison and looked over their shoulders at me.
“Someone is going to pay for what just happened,” Dean said, eyes wild with bloodlust.
“Agreed, but can we at least find out who that should be first?”
Jase took a deep breath and grabbed his brother by the arm to haul him back a pace or two. Not until they were behind me did I take my eyes off of them to find Drake staring at my mud-covered condition. Realization quickly dawned, and he turned to face the warlocks at his back, his spike in anger giving his force field a fiery glow.
“Who did this?” he asked. His calm voice belied the rage he clearly felt. His question was met with silence. The fiery shield burned brighter still. “WHO. DID. THIS?”
The man who had been in charge when we arrived stepped forward.
“I summoned the bird, but only to draw her away from the vampires—to distract her and separate them should their intentions have been less than honorable,” he said, hands raised in surrender. “I know nothing of what has befallen her.” To his credit, he sounded sincere. It would be hard to fake the horror in his eyes at the sight of me.
“You all but delivered her to the fey king,” Liam said, stepping toward the shield. In a disturbing show of power, he walked right through it, the sizzle of his burning flesh followed by the familiar stench that punctuated the act. Drake made no move to stop him as he approached the guilty warlock. “She is your greatest weapon against him and the fey queen both—she is born of your fallen leader—and this is how you would treat her? Trick her with your petty magic and endanger her in the process?” Liam had the warlock by the throat in a flash. He lifted him high over his head as the others looked on. Again, Drake made no move to stop him. “Do you know nothing of loyalty?” Liam asked as the warlock gurgled and sputtered in his hold.
With a look of disgust, the Original wolf threw the warlock into the crowd and walked away. Drake dropped the shield before Liam could burn himself again as he passed through. Once he was at my side, I put my hand on his arm and whispered for my magic to heal him. The warlocks looked on with wide eyes as his burnt flesh healed almost instantly. Jase and Dean gave the wolf a nod of approval as he joined them.
“Are you all right?” Drake asked as he stepped closer.
“Are you still pissed at me?”
His concern bled to a frown. “Not so pissed that I would ever wish you harm, Piper. Your actions were rash, but not without logic, unfortunate outcome or otherwise.”
“So we’re good?”
“We are. Now, how bad was it?”
“Well I was halfway inside a golem with no way to use my magic to stop him, so…bad?”
“I arrived just in time,” Liam said from behind me.
Drake’s curious gaze fell upon him. “How fortuitous. I wonder why that is.”
I felt Liam’s anger spike at the accusation, and I took a step backward with my hand outstretched toward him. He took it without hesitation.
“I can feel the fey king’s power on this side of the veil. I knew Piper had left with the brothers. I feared that somehow the king knew that as well.”
“And how is it you arrived so quickly?” Drake asked, taking another step forward.
“Because it seems that my father has not cut my access to his world,” Liam said. I looked up to find a sinister smile on his face. “Or perhaps he can’t.”
“Dude, are you saying you portaled your way here?” Dean asked, honest to God shock in his voice.
Liam’s smile widened. “It seemed the quickest route.”
“And you never thought to mention this ability to Piper until now?” Drake asked, suspicion thick in his tone.
“It didn’t seem pertinent,” he replied with a shrug. “No one was searching for a way to go after the king in his realm, and it seems some of the enforcers are able to travel to places in the blink of an eye, so why would they need another method of fast transport?”
Everything about Drake’s expression said he was less than satisfied with Liam’s answer, but he couldn’t refute it. None of us wanted to go back to the king’s land—not since Liam had showed up at the mansion. And if Liam was right about the witches, there was no point in going after them. They were long gone already.
“Wait,” I said, trying to keep up with the onslaught of freely-given information, “aren’t you supposed to be in a cell right now—in a mansion warded against you breaching it magically?”
“It was warded against me breaching it to get in, not out. Or so it seems…”
Fucking magical semantics.
Drake, Jase, and Dean all turned to stare at the wolf once again. Apparently, they’d all overlooked the little matter of his escape in their fascination—or suspicion—at his appearance. Liam, however, just shrugged again.
“I never said I couldn’t escape my cell. I just didn’t see fit to. I have much to make amends for. Imprisonment for the time being is hardly a severe punishment.”
Given his ties to the fey king, I was pretty sure he was an expert on that subject, so I left it alone. The others did, too.
“Well fuck me,” Dean said with a laugh. “I didn’t see this coming.”
“Should we get on with this?” the warlock who’d been choked asked. His voice sounded a little worse for the wear, but I didn’t offer to heal him. He could suck it up.
“Get on with what?”
Drake looked at me. “Your initiation.”
“Sounds ominous.”
“You are one of us by blood. You must become one of us through magic as well.”
Thunder boomed as if the heavens agreed.
“So what do I have to do? It’s not something gross like drinking the blood of an animal
sacrifice, is it? Because I’m out if it is.”
“Our anti-coven’s power must recognize and accept you,” he explained. “Come, stand here.”
“Anti-coven?”
“It is to warlocks what a coven is to witches.”
Before I could overthink it, Drake took my hand and led me through the warlocks, who parted to let us pass, forming a circle around us in the process. Jase, Dean, and Liam hovered on the outskirts, looking as though they were itching for a fight. One wrong move by anyone there and shit would pop off for sure.
“I call upon the elements to accept and christen Piper—to fold her into our anti-coven and make her one of us.”
Rain poured down on the center of the circle, pelting me with its fat drops. The wind came next, swirling the rain into a funnel around me, hemming me in. It drew in leaves and dirt along with it, a tornado of the elements revolving around me. Then came the fire. It started as a smoldering at the base of the storm but soon spread, mixing with the rain and dirt and wind until it was a wall of orange around me.
I reached out to touch it, the sight of it drawing me closer, but the second my fingers brushed against the magical funnel, it fell away, leaving nothing but scorched, soggy ground in its wake.
“So…does that mean I made the cut?”
The shocked looks of the warlocks around me said I’d passed with flying colors.
“What is she?” I heard one mutter under his breath.
“I’m the bastard child of Reinhardt and the fey queen, remember?” I punctuated my statement with a glare that would have made both Merc and Knox proud—Kat, too. “Anyone have a problem with that, now’s your chance to say so.”
Not surprisingly, nobody said a word.
“You are now one of us,” Drake said, taking my hand. “Just as your father would have wanted.”
I swallowed back my tears. “Do you think…he would have been proud of me?”
Drake forced a sad smile. “Prouder than you can imagine.”
Jase and Dean broke through the circle to join us, much to the warlocks’ chagrin. Apparently, that was frowned upon, and the boys were quickly made aware of that fact. While they bickered, my phone buzzed in my pocket. I gave Liam a look that begged him not to let the boys start too much trouble, and I stepped away to answer the call.
Beneath the Dust (Force of Nature Book 4) Page 11