by India Amare
My gaze caught on a path beyond the gardens. “Does that lead to the falls?”
“It does.”
I knew exactly how I was spending my next hour.
I dropped my feet into the water and relished the cool water. It was a shock for sure, but it also felt good to ice my weary feet. Maybe I’d regret it when I had to walk back, but for now, I’d enjoy what felt good in the moment.
The falls were as beautiful as I remembered. Even at this time of day the light sometimes cast the water in varying shades of orange and pink as it cascaded over the edge above. It was a remarkable sight to behold. Would it be warm enough to swim here? I could picture picnics on the grass and swimming all afternoon.
I hoped I would be able to visit again one day. So many things here felt natural. My easy friendship with Gigi, my connections with all the siblings, and of course with Dray.
But first I needed to take finals and close up my human life for a little while. And then...then I needed to figure out what it meant to be the heir to the House of Axl. It was easy to hide here with the people I’d come to like, but I really didn’t know what to expect with my grandfather. Maybe I’d find similar friendships and maybe even family?
“You’re going to freeze,” Dray said.
I yanked my feet out of the water realizing I was starting to lose some feeling. “They hurt.”
His eyebrows rose. “There are ice packs in the freezer.”
“The freezer doesn’t offer such beautiful scenery.”
He set a bag on the grass and jumped up on the rock, coming to sit beside me. “It is beautiful here.”
“I think I would come here every day if I could.”
“I do. When I’m here. We used to spend a lot of our summers here too. Can you imagine all nine of us running around with all our cousins? It was like our own country club or something.”
I was stuck on that number. It had been jumping out at me all weekend. “I see nine around here a lot and you all mention it, especially in reference to the family. Is there a reason?” They said it the same way my freshman roommate stroked her crystals and stones for power.
He nodded slowly. “It’s our number. Every family has one. It’s when you’re the most powerful. We already had eyes on us because of how many of us there were, but when the twins were born our universal energy with the Plane intensified. There were nine of us. It’s a convergence of power and energy.”
“So you have family Houses, great swords, and power numbers? Anything else?”
“Plenty,” he laughed. “Our family symbol is the griffin and there’s an unspoken agreement that when all else fails, choose the color blue.”
I flashed back to Gigi floating through my shop dressed like Cinderella. “Got it. The griffin, huh? The lion with wings?”
“Depends on the time period. Mostly it represents our duality, our existence in two forms.”
The bat, the butterfly, the cat, and… “Why don’t you shift?”
He paused; the muscle of his jaw ticked. And then he sighed. “My other form is extreme. It’s why I heal easier than most. I have to. I don’t enjoy shifting, but more than that...I hate what I become. So I don’t.”
He sounded so upset. Not quite sad or angry. Something much deeper. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.” I slid my fingers next to his and let them rest just barely touching.
He stared down at them. “It’s a logical question to ask. As far as I’m concerned, shifting is for emergencies only. The only reason I’d unleash that beast again would be to save my family.” He swallowed hard, some sort of deep connection developing between us. I felt the warmth of his energy, the power of his gaze sweeping up to meet mine.
I’d do it for you, too.
Chapter 14
I dropped my bag on my bed. “Home sweet home.” Except my cute little cottage didn’t feel like home anymore.
“You ready for finals?” Gigi made herself comfortable on my pillow.
“Well enough. I already turned in my final project for one class, so it’s surviving two essay tests, an easy multiple-choice test, and a not-so-easy multiple-choice test. Oh, and my last day of interning and bookshop duty.”
I was already missing my nights at the bookshop. It was probably the one and only thing I truly cared about losing.
“I suppose I better let you get settled and ready.” She pulled herself back to standing and wavered. Her hand shot out to steady herself on my headboard.
“Whoa. What just happened?” I put up my hands in case I needed to catch her.
She forced a smile onto her lips. “It happens sometimes when I’m pinging the Plane. Just making sure all is well and good here and bam it’s suddenly like I’m in freefall.” She rubbed her temples. “Like...I’m walking along thinking I know what the Plane is and then suddenly the rug gets pulled out and I realize I’m this little speck of dust in the vastness of the universe.”
That sounded terrifying. “Does this happen often? Will it happen to me?”
“No, no.” She shook her head and pulled herself back upright. “You’ll be fine. It’s only me for some reason. Aunt Bethany even brought in specialists decades ago to make sure it wasn’t something else. But all they can see is that sometimes my connection to the Plane fritzes a little. It doesn’t hurt me.”
“Sit. Let it pass before you get behind the wheel of a car.”
She eased back down onto my bed. “Can I have some water?” Her voice was smaller than usual and it set my nurturing instinct into action.
“Flat or sparkling?”
“Sparkling, please.”
I grabbed a can from the fridge and a sleeve of crackers while I was at it. She watched as I unpacked my bag and stacked my notes on the desk beside my laptop. The color began to return to her face.
“How did you and Dray leave things?” she asked.
Definitely feeling better. “He’ll come Friday and then Saturday escort me to the House of Axl.”
She waggled her eyebrows. “I know that. I meant how did you leave things?”
It was clear I was going to have to confront this head-on if I wanted her to give us some space. “I know you think Dray and I are Fated, but it’s not going to happen right now. Maybe never. He is fundamentally opposed to pursuing our connection while there is so much hanging in the balance. And I agree. There is no need to rush into anything.”
She arched an eyebrow and folded her arms over her chest. “Said no samhain ever. We’re a deeply passionate species. When we find a mate we do not hesitate.”
“Well he is. And I am. I barely understand my connection to the Plane. I’ve never met my mother and I’m about to spend time with my grandfather for the first time. I walk between lines I can’t see. Adding an emotional roller coaster on top of all that? It’s too much.”
“Fine. I just...I haven’t seen a connection like this in ages and it’s exciting. I can feel the electricity flowing between you two, the invisible threads that bind you. It’s intoxicating.”
“Are you sure it's Fated Mates and not some other destiny that binds us?” Now that I knew we were meant to meet for other reasons I had begun to doubt Gigi’s belief.
“Oh, it’s Fate for sure. And of course there are other destinies that bind you. We’re all threaded together in many ways we don’t yet know about. But the type of connection you and Dray have is unique to being Fated.”
“Who else was Fated?”
Her eyes unfocused. “Our parents. Even as a child I was blown away by their love. It was as if a warm bubble surrounded them at all times. I loved being near them.”
“How did they die?” I kicked myself the moment I said it. It was such an ill-advised question to ask, especially since she was reliving a good memory.
But she didn’t flinch or move away from the memory at all. “I don’t know exactly what happened. I was so young but my memories of that day never fade. Something happened. We were in the lower meadow playing and picking flowers and then there
was a big flurry of activity at the house. They kissed us goodbye...and never came back.” She blinked, bringing her gaze back into focus. Back to now. “All anyone would ever tell me was that there was a great accident and they gave their lives to save others. But I know it was bad, whatever it was, because we all felt it when they died.” Her gaze snapped to mine. “Like when you awoke. It sent a shockwave throughout the entire Plane and I swear it fundamentally changed some things. Dray. Me.” Her brow furrowed. “And...I think...you.”
Me? That shook me a little. “What do you mean?”
Her eyes unfocused again and I wondered if she was retreating into her memories or to the Plane where she could pull on strings and see what it brought up. “In that moment, something inside me changed. I felt it. Dray too. But not Bo or Leena or anyone else. I always wondered why my other form is a butterfly. Why a butterfly? And Dray. Why…” She cleared her throat. “Never mind that.”
“And me?”
She cocked her head to the side. “I think...it feels like the timeline shifted. Because of what changed that day, the timeline had to shift. It had to make you...you. Now. At this moment in time. The timeline still isn’t right, but it is aligned finally.” She blinked a few times and shrugged. “Sorry. I know that sounds like a lot of pieces of information but the Universe is hard to interpret.”
“No, it’s fine.” In a weird way that explained some of my feelings. Sometimes I was baffled that I could be so strongly connected to people fifty years older than me, but feel like we were supposed to be in the same place at the same time. Maybe I needed to be human for the first part of my life to meet this moment, be the right age physically, for whatever was to come.
I was just about to leave for class when there was a knock at my door. “Olivia! What are you doing here?” I glanced at Hecta in all her armor standing in plain sight just a few feet away, then back to my mentor, wondering why she wasn’t freaking out.
“It’s finals week. I came to make sure you were ready and to give you a ride. How are you?”
I glanced at Hecta again and then let Olivia inside, fully expecting her to freak out and ask me what was going on.
That didn’t happen. She babbled on as if nothing was amiss. “Did you get enough sleep? Food? Do I need to restock your fridge?”
“I’m sleeping well and my fridge is good, but thank you.”
She pulled a breakfast sandwich out of her bag and handed it to me. And even though I had already eaten, I was still hungry, so I devoured that too. “How was your weekend?”
“Relaxing. I saw lots of nature.” All of this was technically true.
“Good. It’s probably just as useful to relax before big tests as it is to review information.”
“I feel ready.”
She smiled. “I’m going to miss seeing you at work but I’m excited for you to take some time.”
My human life seemed so inconsequential now. Would I truly finish my senior year? Yeah, probably. No matter what came I wanted my degree. But after? It felt more up in the air than ever.
“We should probably head out.” Hopefully Hecta made herself scarce.
But no. She was right where she always was with Olivia standing not three feet away from her while I locked up.
“If you need a ride home from the bookshop tonight, give me a call.”
“Thanks. I should be fine, but if something changes, I’ll call.” I gave one last glance at my guard before climbing into Olivia’s car.
Between classes I tracked down Gigi to ask her about the Hecta thing. “She probably made herself invisible to humans,” she explained with a shrug.
“That’s a thing?”
She chuckled as she changed out samples in her microscope. “It is, especially for those good with magic.”
“So I could possibly do it. Good to know.”
“I know we weren’t particularly useful in helping you learn to use your gifts, but your family should be able to teach you the things we couldn’t.”
I adjusted my backpack and checked the time. I needed to get going. “I don’t know how you would have had the time. See you tonight?”
“I’ll bring the cake.”
We celebrated my last night at the bookshop by gorging on pizza and cake while assembling a display of our all-time favorite books. “Mysteries, Murder, and Mayhem get special treatment,” I declared, positioning the first book front and center.
“When you get back we should do our own little book club. Go book by book and dissect them for fun.”
I held up a forkful of chocolate cake. “I am so down for that. We can pick a food, a dessert, and a drink to pair with each one, too.”
“Are you sure we aren’t twins separated at birth? I swear sometimes I feel closer to you than my own sisters.” She positioned a steamy paranormal in an open slot to the left.
“I think someone would have noticed that.”
“I suppose that makes us soulmates then.” She turned to me with a warm smile. “I’m going to miss you.”
I swallowed hard. “I’m going to miss you too. Expect a lot of phone calls.”
“At least once a day,” she demanded. “I hope they treat you well.” A little worry crept into her voice.
“Can you keep an eye on Olivia for me? She won’t tell me if something happens.”
“Of course.”
This wasn’t our last night together. I wouldn’t leave until Saturday. But somehow this felt like the night for goodbye. Just the two of us in our favorite place with our favorite food. “I’ll be okay.”
Gigi nodded. “I believe that. It’s just...I can’t see what happens for you next. It’s black to me. I always feel uncomfortable when something is hidden.”
“Maybe there are too many variables in play.” It certainly felt that way. Like anything could happen next.
She purposefully kept her attention on the book display. “I hope that’s all it is. But that’s why you have to check in every day. I need to know you’re okay.” Then she huffed and glanced at me only with her eyes.
“And I will. I’ll call every day. I’ll text you so much it annoys you.” I moved to her and placed my hand on hers.
She covered mine with her other hand. We stood like that for several long beats, then she threw her arms around me, squeezing me tight. “I love you, Rhysa. No matter what happens with your family or Dray, you and I are best friends for life, whether you like it or not.”
And even though the moment felt heavy, I laughed because that was the most Georgiahana Wren thing to demand. “I love you too, Gigi.”
Chapter 15
Dray seemed to dwarf my cottage. My living room looked like a dollhouse with tiny furniture beside him. “You’re sure you want to sleep on my couch again? It can’t be comfortable.”
“I’ll be fine,” he grunted as he glanced around. “Something doesn’t feel right and I’d rather be close.”
“Okay then.” If his danger radar was going off—even a little bit—then I’d like more than an Axl bodyguard on my side. “You don’t have to go with me tomorrow. I’m sure Hecta and Andromeda are more than capable of giving me a lift.”
He stared me down. “You are not going alone.”
“Won’t it be dangerous for you?” Goosebumps rose on my arm even thinking about it.
“Possibly. I’m counting on traditions and rules to keep me safe. If not, I can handle myself just fine.”
I remembered him fighting Bo and wondered how many fighters it would take to overwhelm Dray. Six? Seven? “Don’t do anything stupid. You have your own house to look after. I will be fine.”
He kept up that stony stare. Then he went to his bag and pulled out a small phone. “Hide this in your bag. Just in case.”
I stared at it. “Why?”
“So you have an emergency phone in the event you need it.”
I didn’t move. “What about your super mind conversation power?”
Since I wouldn’t take the phone he sighed and crossed over
to me in a step and a half and took my hand in his, then placed the phone in my palm and curled my fingers around it. “There’s a lot of magic that can block that kind of connection. So take this, just in case. It’s not on.”
He was close enough now that I could hear his heart beating faster than normal, his breath deeper. His wide, muscular shoulders were right in my eyeline. “Why would anyone want to cut me off?”
“You’re the psychology major. Can’t you come up with a half-dozen reasons?”
I studied the muscles that wrapped up his neck from his shoulders rather than chance looking up into his piercing blue eyes. “Yes I can.” From control to abuse, there were many reasons to sever someone’s ties to support and outside opinions. Control the narrative completely and you can make anyone believe anything.
“I don’t think he’ll make such a big move so quickly, but it’s best to be prepared.”
He was right. Of course he was right. Preparation was everything. I took the phone to my bedroom where I had my bag mostly packed, pulling out my laptop.
“What are you doing?” Dray asked from the doorway.
I waved him over. “When you never know when you’ll be asked to pack up and move, when you have no one to trust, you take care of yourself.” I flipped the laptop over and slid what looked like a button aside, then pulled the secret compartment free. “I have a few places I keep things hidden.” The phone fit perfectly. I slid it back into place. “Even if someone goes through my stuff they shouldn’t notice this.” I caught Dray’s smile out of the corner of my eye and felt a little surge of pride.
“Very smart. Did you make this yourself?”
“Naw. An old friend got into building computers and she made this for me and a couple other girls we grew up with.”
“What else do you have hidden in this bag?”
Only because I trusted Dray completely did I offer to show him my books. “This soft cover has cash hidden in the covers and this hard cover has more, plus two credit cards and my passport.” I’d never left the country. Not yet anyway. But it was a good form of ID to have available, so I got it.