The Lion, the Witch, and the Werewolf

by Amy Sumida

  “Yeah, but the conclusion is not necessarily Narcissus,” I said. “So far, Narcissus has no tie to the Fates.”

  “Beyond the fact that they foresaw his entrapment and didn't warn him about it,” Momus huffed.

  We all stared at him with slack-jaws.

  “What?” He asked grumpily.

  Chapter Forty

  There was nothing more to be done. Momus stayed in the night-shrouded, Avatar territory, and the rest of us went home; Athena and the Greeks to their territory, and my men and me to ours. The Apollo trap had failed, but they were going to attempt it again; this time with bigger groups who could watch each other as well as Apollo. The Olympians were bunking at Athena's palace, all sleeping in one room so they could keep an eye on each other even before they laid their trap. I hoped it worked, but there was nothing I could add to the plan. Instead, I went home and tried to relax enough to let my mind come up with a solution to the Narcissus conundrum. Sometimes, when I worked too hard on a problem—when I thought too hard—I'd only draw a blank. But if I forgot about it for awhile, the solution would simply pop into my brain.

  So, I tried to forget about the disappearances. It took a lot of steady focus on my husbands to do that, but I was finally able to find some oblivion in their arms.

  In the morning, I awoke refreshed and relaxed. I stretched languorously and rolled onto my side to nuzzle against Odin, who had spent the night with me. Odin groaned grudgingly awake and opened his stunning eyes. He smiled at me softly; his gaze trailing over my face and then downward, where it stopped suddenly. Odin reached out took a lock of my hair between his fingers, and lifted it up to show it to me. It was my starlight streak and it ended far sooner than it should have.

  “What in the world?” I stared at the cleanly-cut tip. “How did that happen?”

  “It wasn't like this when we went to bed last night,” Odin said with absolute certainty.

  “Would one of the others—”

  “No,” Odin cut me off. “Perhaps Lesya?”

  “She shouldn't have access to scissors, and I don't think her claws could slice like this.”

  “Who the hell would come in here and take a lock of your hair?” Odin asked.

  The blood drained from my face, making me feel faint. At least I was lying down.

  “Vervain?” Odin asked as he sat up in concern.

  “A lock of hair, Odin,” I whispered. “Who likes to take locks of hair?”

  “Narcissus!” Odin hissed as he stared around the room warily. “But how would he have gotten in?”

  “I have no idea.”

  Odin got out of bed and started searching the room buck naked. When he circled back, he picked up his discarded pants and slipped them on, but he did it distractedly. I got out of bed and hurried to the dressing room to put something on before I went looking for Narcissus. The last thing I needed was a naked confrontation with that hair-stealing wanker.

  On my way out of the dressing room, I stopped by the intercom and hit the button. “This is Vervain, who's on duty?”

  “It's Jake, Tima,” my werelion said.

  “Jake, I need you to sound an alarm and get everyone searching the palace for intruders; specifically for Narcissus.”

  “Yes, Tima!” He didn't bother to question me, just did as I asked.

  Within seconds, the clanging of a bell echoed through the palace and then the sound of pounding, werelion feet joined it. The Intare were already searching the palace by the time Trevor carried Lesya downstairs with Kirill, Azrael, and Re hot on his heels.

  “What's going on?” Trevor asked.

  “We think Narcissus was here,” Odin said.

  “And could still be here,” I added.

  “Fruity Pebbles!” Trevor snarled.

  “Fruity Pebbles!” Lesya mimicked with her own snarl.

  And there it was; the very reason we used those silly curse words. I would have felt deeply satisfied if I hadn't been so upset.

  “Stay with your mother,” Trevor said as he handed Lesya to me. “Kirill, guard them! Odin, take the garden. Az, the left tower, and Re the right. I'll look through the bathroom and dressing room.”

  The men split up and went to search the rooms. Trevor hurried into the bathroom as Kirill came to stand before Lesya and me. He warily scented the air around us as if Narcissus might manifest suddenly. It was entirely possible. Narcissus could be using god magic to make himself invisible. I shivered and clutched Lesya closer as I took a few deep sniffs. Lesya's nose was doing double time too as she tried to figure out what had everyone so spooked. But neither of us smelled anything out of the ordinary.

  “He's not here,” I said to Kirill. “At least, not in this room.”

  “Nyet,” Kirill agreed as he kept up his guard. “But he may be nearby.”

  Trevor strode out of the bathroom and headed into the dressing room, not even sparing us a glance. I saw the gleam in his eyes; it wasn't Trevor after all. The Wolf was back.

  “Tima, the palace is secure,” Jake reported as he briskly entered the suite. “I've got four patrols out combing the grasslands. If anyone's here, we'll find them.”

  “Good job, Jake,” I said. “We're clearing the towers right now.”

  “I'll just wait here for the results,” Jake offered and relaxed into a bodyguard stance; arms crossed loosely and ready for action.

  “Nothing,” Azrael declared as he rejoined us.

  “The dressing room and bathroom are clear too,” Trevor said as he came out of the dressing room.

  “Garden is clear,” Odin added as he shut the French doors behind him.

  “No one's up there,” Re was the last to report. “He's not here. Why did you think he was, Lala?”

  “Because someone chopped a lock of my hair off last night,” I said as I lifted my shortened starlight hair. “And we all know who likes to take hair as a trophy.”

  The men went still.

  “I'm putting the palace on high alert, Tima!” Jake shouted before he ran off.

  I didn't know what high alert meant, but I was glad that we had it. I was scared. Sure, I'd been taken by the Mirror from my own dressing room, and I'd even pointed out that fact to Trevor, but I hadn't really believed that I wasn't safe in my home. I'd thought the Mirror was a one-time deal. There was no way for a god to get through my wards without knowing the chant, and the only god who could unmake wards was one of my trusted friends.

  “The chant,” I whispered. “I'd better go change it. Maybe the Mirror saw it in my head and told Narcissus.”

  “Sugar Puffs!” Odin snapped; going with the cereal theme. “Do it now, Vervain.” He took Lesya from me. “Come here, honey, Mama's got to change the chant.”

  “Mommy!” Lesya cried as children do when they're confused and scared.

  “It's okay.” I took her back. “I can change the chant holding her.”

  I hurried down to the tracing room as I bounced my daughter on my hip, my husbands trailing after me. We squished into the elevator together, none of them wanting to be left behind. Good thing I'd recently upgraded it to lion-sized.

  I scurried into the tracing room and quickly worked the spell to redo the wards with a new chant. It was going to be a huge pain in the ass and it wouldn't be nearly as cool as the original, not with me having to come up with it on the fly. I'd also have to make sure all the Intare learned it, plus the God Squad, the Froekn, and even Athena's damn owl. There were a lot of people who came through my territory. It got me thinking that perhaps it wasn't so safe even without Narcissus' threat. If an enemy got a hold of a froekn, they could torture them into giving up the chant. The same could be said for my lions I suppose, but they lived at the palace and they needed to be able to trace in.

  “What is it?” Odin asked as I stepped out of the tracing room after completing the spell.

  “It's okay, Lesya,” I cooed to her. “We're safe now. Here, go to Daddy.” I handed her to Kirill and gave him a heavy look.

  “Let's
see vhat Zariel's doing,” Kirill said cheerily to our daughter.

  As soon as the elevator was out of earshot, I told Odin my concerns about the chant.

  “You're right,” he agreed. “Perhaps we should take this as an opportunity to tighten our security and only give the chant to those who absolutely need it.”

  “All the Intare need to have it,” I said.

  “But not all the Froekn,” the Wolf said.

  I looked at him in surprise; he was the last one I'd expected to point that out.

  “I want you safe, Mate,” the Wolf declared. “I love my Pack, but I love you more. Only Fenrir and Ty need the chant. UnnúlfR hardly ever visits.”

  “Okay,” I said. “The God Squad should also have it.”

  “But that's it,” Re said.

  “What about Athena?” I asked. “If she needs to send Alex, he should have the chant.”

  “Athena can fucking text you like a normal person,” Re snapped. “She doesn't need to show off by sending her damn owl every time.”

  “Fair enough,” I agreed with a chuckle. “All right; we'll give those select people the chant and the rest can be escorted in if necessary.”

  “I'll text the Squad,” Re offered.

  “And I'll take care of Father and Ty,” the Wolf said.

  “I'll make an announcement to the Pride later,” I added.

  “You'd better mass text them now, Vervain,” Odin said. “Some of them aren't home.”

  “You're right,” I said with a shake of my head. I headed to the elevator; my phone was in our suite. “I should have thought of that.”

  “You're a little panicked at the moment,” Odin said gently. “Take a breath.”

  “Sure.” I stepped into the elevator. “Breathe. Yep; that's a good idea.”

  My husbands piled into the elevator with me again, two of them texting rapidly. I realized that I was a man short. I'd have to text Toby too. He was probably going to want to come over now. Shit; if I had been thinking straight, I would have realized that one of the most important things the Mirror could have shared with Narcissus was the chant to my territory. I was off my game, and I needed to refocus.

  “Perhaps we should take her to my place,” Re suggested. “Aaru is the most difficult territory to infiltrate.”

  “We've got a new chant in place,” Trevor pointed out. “We should be good; better than an open territory human souls journey through.”

  “But the mere fact that Narcissus got into this one unsettles me,” Re said.

  “He has a point,” Odin agreed. “But I think we should take her to Toby. He only shares his territory with Naye. And they don't have a lot of friends. I think only their parents and their uncle goes to visit. Five people total, not including us. That seems to be the most secure place that we can take her.”

  “The most secure place I could be in is Faerie,” I reminded them.

  They grimaced at me. No one wanted to hole up with me in Faerie.

  “We have to go for the Twins' birthday anyway,” I pointed out.

  “That's eight days away,” Odin reminded me. “Do you really want all of us in Castle Aithinne for eight days?”

  “Toby's it is.”

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Toby and his brother Naye shared a territory. They used to share a home in a cave high up on the mountain that overlooked their lush forest but Toby had recently moved out. He had wanted a place of his own that he could bring me to; one that didn't have bad memories for me or have his brother living in it. Especially since his brother had caused those bad memories.

  Now, Toby lived at the foot of the mountain in a Tuscan-inspired villa. He was more than happy to host all of us, and Doba, his Labrador, was even more excited to have company. Doba leaped about even after she'd stopped her happy barking; leading us into the house and through the hallways with the glee of a bumblebee in a field of wildflowers.

  Toby would have put me in the master bedroom with him but with all of us staying, that would have been awkward. My husbands would undoubtedly want time alone with me. So, everyone got their own guest room. I couldn't bring Nick with me since Doba was there, but Samantha said she'd watch over him while I was gone.

  I was finally able to take a breath.

  After everyone settled in, we had a quick meeting to talk about our living arrangements. Some of my husbands had responsibilities to take care of but they wanted as many people with me as possible. Trevor had to check on Moonshine, Azrael had school, and Odin had to see to Asgard. They decided to trade off days. Once that was worked out, we tried to relax and enjoy Toby's hospitality.

  “I'm going for a run through the woods to scope out the territory,” Trevor announced.

  “I'll join you,” Kirill offered.

  “Me too!” Lesya perked up.

  Yes, we'd brought my daughter. I wasn't about to leave her behind yet again. Especially not when Narcissus was gunning for me.

  “Okay, Kotyonok,” Kirill agreed. “Come here.”

  Kirill helped Lesya out of her clothes and waited for her to shift into her little lion form. I straightened in my seat when I noticed a black spot on her neck.

  “What's that?” I asked as I stood and went over to inspect my daughter.

  Lesya nudged and batted at me playfully, but I held her still so Kirill and I could look her over. Her tan fur had been darkening to deep golden-brown, but I hadn't thought anything of it until I'd seen that spot. It was nearly black. I searched her body and found a few more places where the fur was growing even darker than the pelt of an adult lioness.

  “She vill be black lion!” Kirill beamed at me.

  “Oh, you lucky girl,” I said to Lesya. “Did you hear that? You're going to be a black lion like your daddy.”

  Lesya gave her little roar, and we all laughed in joy. Black lions in the Human Realm don't exist. There are rumors of them and there is a type of Ethiopian lion that has a black mane, but there have been no validated claims of the existence of completely black lions. Black werelions obviously do exist but are rare; there was only one in our pride. But it looked as if soon, there would be two. After we took a moment to celebrate, Trevor and Kirill shifted into their animal forms and took Lesya out on a run through the forest.

  “Okay,” I said slowly as I looked around at the others. “What should the rest of us do?”

  “Well...” Re smirked.

  “That doesn't involve sex,” I added. “That Valentine's dinner was fun but I'm not up for a repeat yet.”

  Re grimaced.

  “You're a water god, right?” Azrael asked Toby.

  “Yes.” Toby looked pointedly around his home.

  His courtyard was built around an ambling stream that came in from the forest before winding its way out, there were numerous fountains around the villa, and Toby's master bedroom is one big water feature. But I understood immediately what Azrael was getting at.

  “There's no pool,” I explained to Toby. “The guys like to swim.”

  “Angels too?” Toby asked. “I'd think the feathers would hamper you.”

  “Birds like water.” Azrael shrugged. “And I don't have to wear my wings when I swim.”

  “Fair enough.” Toby snorted self-consciously. “Well, the lack of a pool can be rectified in a few minutes. Vervain, would you like to help me pick out a location?” Toby waved toward the terrace just off the living room we were sitting in.

  “Sure,” I got up to follow him through the French doors and across the tiled terrace.

  The terrace sported a spectacular view of the forest; towering trees creeping up on his villa like pawns on a chessboard. The treeline ended several feet away from the building, but their emerald peaks seemed to loom above us.

  “I don't want to remove the stream or I'd put the pool in the courtyard between the main house and the tracing chamber,” Toby said. “Maybe we can put it out here.”

  “Why don't you make a natural pool in the forest just there.” I pointed to a spot a
head of us where the trees thinned out and the stream flowed through. “You can move the trees back, add some rocks for diving, and even connect the stream so the water doesn't go stagnant.”