by Kelly Meding
I learned that one about thirty minutes of silence later, when Jaxon texted that Will and Irena had arrived at the motel. I sent back a thumbs-up.
Bored and tired, I sat with my back against a tree. I’d be blessed if I knew how long this would take, and I was ready to say screw rudeness and play a game on my phone. But the battery was low, and our middle-of-nowhere location didn’t exactly have a charging station.
I didn’t realize I’d dozed off until a shock of magic jostled me awake. Danu and Rosalind had shifted back, and while Rosalind dressed right away, Danu just stood there in her birthday suit—although I guess goddesses don’t really have birthdays—and frowned at the ground.
“I sense so many across the world,” Danu said. “It’s been so long since I’ve connected to my children. I didn’t realize how much I missed it. Even the forced wolves are clear to me in their joy or distress.”
Rosalind blinked hard at that one—probably because born wolves assumed their goddess had no time or inclination to protect the unnatural werewolves.
Lots of shocks tonight for her.
“But the twenty-eight I feel in my bones exist,” Danu continued, “I cannot find. Not clearly. I feel cornfields and open spaces. The center of this country. The heartland.”
“Would looking at a map help?” Chandra asked.
“Perhaps. I’m only familiar with coastal states in America.”
Chandra brought up a map on her phone and showed it to Danu. Danu studied it, closing her eyes several times, probably reaching out. Testing borders and boundaries. Finally, Danu opened her eyes and said, “Kansas.” Although her pronunciation was more like “can-sass,” but whatever. Goddesses didn’t know everything.
“Thank you, Goddess,” Rosalind said. “This is the best, tightest lead we’ve ever had.”
“You’re welcome, child,” Danu replied. “You do your Alpha proud. Return to him with my words of peace and joy. And the best of luck in finding your people.”
“I don’t suppose you could flash your way to Kansas,” I said, “and help us find them?”
“I cannot interfere in mankind in such a way. All I can offer is information.”
“Worth a try. And it’s been a really long day.”
Danu put her clothes back on. “Come. Let us return to Java Bytes. I have a tournament to complete.”
She winked us back into the game room and the goddess facade faded away, leaving behind a surly young woman intent on playing her video game. She opened the door and her adoring fans swarmed in, so our little quartet left. I considered a coffee for the road, but Tennyson was driving, so I slept instead.
I woke as the first hint of the sun appeared on the horizon. We were back in Etna, close to the motel, and Tennyson had his hood up. After he parked next to an unfamiliar SUV, I stretched as I climbed out. Novak had given me two different room numbers, side by side, so I knocked on one.
Novak opened the door. I’d never assigned the phrase “bright-eyed and bushy-tailed” to the incubus before, but I’ll be blessed if he didn’t kind of glow. He’d also taken off his gloves, and his hands looked nearly back to normal.
“Someone got laid last night,” I said.
He winked, then stepped aside so Tennyson could bolt inside. With public places, he didn’t need an invite. Chandra and Rosalind followed us inside. The small room had two double beds and décor that hadn’t been updated in at least thirty years. Jaxon stood from his bed and came over, me clearly his target. He looked me over as if expecting to find a mark or blemish, or some other proof Tennyson couldn’t be trusted.
“How did it go with the wolf goddess?” Novak asked.
“We got Kansas out of her,” I replied. “But that’s as close as she can get. Whatever is protecting them is strong enough to keep a goddess’s nose out of their business, and that’s kind of scary.”
Someone must have texted them, because a knock echoed on the door, and then it opened. Will entered first with a slender, pale woman behind him. She had long, dark brown hair and wore a belted tunic over a colorful peasant skirt.
“Shiloh, it’s good to see you in person again,” Will said. “You look well.”
“Thank you, same.” I shook his hand.
“This is Irena Petrova. She’s a good friend, so be gentle with her.”
“Hi, Irena. Shiloh Harrison.”
“Pleasure,” Irena said in a small voice. For being a powerful witch—and she did snap and buzz with magic—she seemed extremely timid. Maybe it was all the supernatural people in the room. “Will told me everything. I owe the world a few good deeds, so I have agreed to assist you in any way I can.”
“I appreciate it, thank you.” I introduced them to Chandra, Tennyson—they both seemed crazy wary of him—and finally Rosalind.
Rosalind stared at Will with the start of a sneer on her lips, and too late I forgot that born wolves generally despised forced wolves—until her expression softened. Hopefully, she remembered Danu felt and loved all her wolves, not just born ones. “I’m second of the Homme Alpha’s California Pack, and I thank you for your assistance on his behalf.”
“You’re welcome,” Will said. His expression suggested he hadn’t expected such a polite response. “I may live in a Pack-less state, but I understand wanting to protect your family.”
“Your daughter?”
“Yes, and others.”
“Are you good to fill everyone else in on our visit with the goddess of video games?” I asked Chandra. “I desperately need a shower, a change of clothes, and coffee, in that order.”
“Certainly,” she replied.
“Your bag is in the room next door,” Jaxon said.
“Thanks.”
The shower helped wake me up, after only about five hours of sleep in the last twenty-four. I wasn’t unused to strange working hours and long periods of no sleep, but I also had jet lag from jumping coasts and time zones.
I exited the bathroom wrapped in a towel and yelped when I saw Jaxon sitting on the bed nearest the door. “Do want me to hurt you?”
Jaxon tilted his head, lips twitching. “You’ve said that to me before.”
“Yeah, well, maybe learn boundaries.”
“I’ve seen you naked, Shi.”
“I don’t remember being naked in front of you, though, so close your eyes.”
He did. I retrieved clothes from my closet and dashed back into the bathroom to dress.
“Do you remember last week when Piotr was first captured at our gate, and you were bit by that magic spider?” he asked, apropos of nothing.
“Yeah, hard to forget nearly dying of a spider bite, drinking Tennyson’s blood to fight off the deadly infection, and then going vampirey on my mom and trying to bite her neck.”
“Touché. Do you remember when you were healing? Your first shower after?”
“Yeah, Mom braided my hair and helped me get in.”
“Who dried you afterward and helped you get dressed?”
I paused to think. Those memories were fuzzier. I’d somehow dried off and put on clothes, and then struggled downstairs to join my crew. But they were less distinct than the memory of my mother’s help. Clothes on, I returned to the bedroom and crossed my arms. “Let me guess. You?”
He nodded. “Do you remember any of it? The things we said to each other?”
“No. You know I wish I did.”
Wish. Ha ha.
Jaxon’s face fell. “Yeah. I guess this situation was similar and I hoped it might jog your memory.”
“Except for the nearly dying part.” I sat beside him, close without touching. He was still a stranger, known to me less than thirty-six hours, and yet . . . not. And those two things together continued to drive me nuts. “My memories were magically taken from me, Jaxon. And unless whoever took them decides to give them back, I’m pretty sure they’re gone, and that sucks for both of us. I hate that everyone in my life remembers us together, but I don’t. It’s disorienting and frustrating, and I don’t
—”
Warm lips cut off my small rant, and I froze in place. Jaxon’s kiss was tentative, curious, and undemanding. I didn’t kiss him back, but I also didn’t rear away and slap him for being so bold. To me, we’d met a few days ago. To him, we had six years of history, both professional and sexual. I wouldn’t shame him for this boldness.
When he pulled back, he clearly expected to be smacked or berated. All I could do was touch his cheek and say, “Sorry, Prince Charming, you didn’t break the spell.”
He laughed, and it broke the tension in the room. “Figured it was worth a shot. Come on, we’ve got breakfast and coffee in the other room.”
“Fantastic.”
We returned to the slightly crowded room, where breakfast sandwiches and fast food coffee were being passed around. I accepted a sausage and egg biscuit, which pleased my rumbling belly. Tennyson hung off in the corner, his nose wrinkled against the greasy food smells. And maybe the strong mix of paranormal odors. It wasn’t every day a Line Master was squished into a motel room with two werewolves, a skin-walker, two witches, an incubus, and me.
Fun times.
“So—plan for the day?” I asked after starting on my second sandwich.
“We return to one of the missing’s homes,” Chandra replied, “and we allow Irena to explore.”
“I must check in with Alpha Kennedy posthaste,” Rosalind said. “He must be informed of last night’s encounter with Danu.”
I glanced at Will, who sat with Irena on the opposite side of the room from Rosalind. “Probably a good idea,” I said. “Considering some of the things Danu said.”
“Agreed.”
“I would like to remain here,” Will said to me. “Irena trusts you because I trust you, but I don’t think I’ll be welcome on Pack land. Keep her safe for me.”
“I will, I promise,” I replied. Some sort of genuine affection existed between the pair, but I didn’t get the sense they were romantically involved.
Chandra’s phone beeped. “Results on the werewolf fingerprints we sent last night.” She scanned the file. “Every print is registered except one. There is no information in our database about the unregistered print, or who it might belong to.”
“Which house was it found in?” Rosalind asked.
“Davis.”
“An unregistered wolf was on Pack lands without the Alpha’s permission and absconded with our people.” Her expression promised bodily harm to whoever that print belonged to.
I truly do not ever want to be on a werewolf’s bad side.
“If everyone’s done eating,” Jaxon said, “let’s get this show on the road.”
Since we couldn’t all fit comfortably in the Jeep—Jaxon had borrowed the SUV from the Pack—I, Irena, Jaxon, Tennyson, and Chandra headed straight for the Davis house. Novak drew the short straw in driving Rosalind to the Alpha’s house, and then joining us. Irena watched through the window as we entered the protected lands and took in the beauty of these mountains and forests.
Northern California in all its natural glory.
Plus the occasional blur of a passing werewolf sentry.
At the Davis home, Irena stood in front of the front door with her eyes closed. For the first time, I noticed a small burlap pouch attached to her wide leather belt. “There is an unnatural force here,” she said. “I don’t have to enter to sense it, but I cannot pinpoint it yet.”
I opened the door and let Irena go inside first. She settled on the floor of the living room, cross-legged, and opened the pouch. Our group watched from a slight distance, giving the witch room to work. She removed two bundles of dried herbs, a leather cloth, and a matchbook. Lit a match, then held one bundle over the leather cloth until it caught fire. An acrid odor stung my nose.
“Angelica root enhances natural abilities for a brief period of time,” she said without looking away from the smoldering leaves. Once it had burned to the tips and made Jaxon cough twice, she did the same to the second bundle. “Bay leaves will protect me from the source of this unnatural power.”
Pro-tip: don’t ever burn bay leaves in an enclosed area. Just don’t.
None of us opened a window, though.
Irena put the matches and burnt end of the bay leaves on the leather, rested her hands on her knees, and closed her eyes. Deep, even breaths marked by the gentle rise and fall of her chest. Power snapped around her and caressed my skin. Everyone seemed affected in some way by the strength of Irena’s magic. Tennyson’s eyes gleamed like cobalt blue headlights. Jaxon’s entire body trembled in a way that suggested all he wanted to do was let his stag skin take over.
She was from a powerful line. An old, powerful line.
How had she and Will met?
We waited.
Novak showed up with Gideon in tow, and Chandra shushed their questions. No one wanted to break Irena’s concentration, and within moments of being exposed to her power, Novak had a boner he couldn’t hide. I simply let the magic dance across my skin, its strength second only to the power of the djinn.
Or a goddess herself.
I lost track of time and was almost disappointed when Irena’s eyes snapped open.
“There is an object in this house that does not belong here,” Irena said. “Check beneath the floorboards under the marriage bed.”
I beat everyone and shoved the bed against the far wall, out of my way. Jaxon and Chandra joined me, and we poked at the boards until one came loose under Chandra’s hand. She lifted it out of place, and a waft of something sour hit me—but it wasn’t a smell everyone could detect.
It was the odor of black magic. Necrotic magic.
I looked up. Tennyson hovered in the doorway, cloak up around his head to protect himself from the home’s many windows. He met my gaze and nodded.
“Looks like we found our whammy,” I said. “Anyone have a tissue handy? I don’t want to touch that thing.”
Novak handed me something, and it took me a second to realize it was a sock from a laundry basket. I turned it inside out, picked up the pulsing copper square inside the recessed space, and pulled it out. Looked innocent enough, but the power filling it worried me.
“Has anyone seen anything like this before?” I asked.
“I have,” Tennyson replied. “About three hundred years ago now. A scorned witch used it to punish her philandering husband. She put a similar rock beneath their bed, and over the course of weeks, he was subjected to boils on his nethers, as well as infection. In time, they were removed by a surgeon to save his life.”
Jaxon and Novak both made faces. Gideon looked flat-out appalled.
“And how do you know this?” I asked Tennyson.
His lips twitched. “I was one of the men helping him cheat on his wife. In my own defense, I did not know he was married until our liaison ended due to . . . faulty equipment.”
“You’ve got an interesting way with words.” I rolled the sock up and around the cube, but it did little for the power still dripping from it. “On to house number two?”
Irena didn’t have to mojo any other homes. We split up to search not only the houses of the three missing couples, but also the other young mated wolves having trouble conceiving. In each one, we found another copper cube beneath the couple’s bed, hidden in the flooring somehow. Socks worked well to wrap them up, so we had eleven cotton bundles by the time we finished and met up at the Chandler house.
“You need to contain their power so it doesn’t affect anyone else,” Irena said. “It needs a natural container.”
“We don’t really have time to carve a box for them,” Jaxon said.
“I have an idea,” I replied. An idea that would hurt, but I’ve had worse. I walked to the nearest thickly branched tree and yanked on it. A heavy branch of black oak wood fell to the ground. One of the handy things I do as a half djinn is vibrate my body fast enough that I can pass through solid, natural materials, like wood or dirt. Not metal, though.
Two at a time, I inserted those wrapped cubes i
nto the center of the tree branch. My hand was on fire, scorching from the inside out by the time I finished, and I collapsed onto the lawn, clutching my right hand to my chest. Jaxon knelt beside me and rubbed my back, and Sweet Iblis, that felt amazing. A warm, grounding touch.
“Wow,” Gideon said. “That was amazing.”
“I get wild applause at parties,” I deadpanned.
“You okay?” Jaxon asked.
“I’ll live. So we found the source of the infertility.”
“The question now,” Chandra continued, “is finding out who put them here.”
“Bingo.”
“You may be able to use their magic signature to trace them back to the missing wolves,” Irena said. “But that is beyond my power, and I must rest.”
“Of course,” Chandra said. “You’ve been incredibly helpful, thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Irena went into the Chandler home to rest, while we hashed out the problem in a circle on the lawn.
“So we found cubes in every home that was having fertility issues,” Jaxon said. “Seven other couples had one, so why were the others taken and not them?”
“Good question,” I said. And something else occurred to me that I’d never asked before. “Gideon, did your mated couples disappear all at once, or was it over a period of time?”
“We figure based on when neighbors last saw them that the disappearances happened over the course of about a week. The last couple, the Riggses, went missing about a day before the vampires taking a trailer park hostage broke on the news.”
“Coinciding with the same time the Para-Marshals learned any werewolves had gone missing, thanks to Tennyson.”
“So, theoretically,” Jaxon said, tracking my thoughts, “whoever did this had plans to come back for all the infertile couples. I will bet the bank on that.”
“Agreed.”
“Hopefully the cubes did not cause lasting damage,” Chandra added. “I do hope the young couples who were affected have luck conceiving in the future, and that their infertility was only a temporary side effect of this black magic.”
So did I. I wasn’t maternal and had no real desire to have kids—heck, I didn’t know if my dual nature would allow me to conceive in the first place—but I understood the Pack’s need for continued offspring in order to remain strong and viable. Djinn could live for up to a thousand years, and my dad had other full-djinn kids I’ve never met.