by Lisa Ladew
One hour and a half later, Trevor came awake with a start. Trent was nudging him.
Funeral.
Trevor stood and rushed out of the room. He’d overslept and he’d have to go looking like he did. He had a dark jacket in his truck.
“Are you leaving?” Ella’s voice drifted out to him. He froze, then turned back to her. She was standing on the other side of the bed, her hands clenched.
“Yeah, there’s a funeral today…”
“Oh no.” Her sad face broke him. “Someone close to you?”
“Yeah, a cop I knew.”
Her face lit up with alarm. “A cop died? What happened?”
“That incident on 15th that I told you about two days ago, there was an explosion. He got caught in it. He didn’t have a chance, really.”
Ella’s face lost all its color. “Oh no,” she moaned. She collapsed onto the ground and buried her face in her hands. Trevor could hear her sobbing. He rushed to her, but the wolves surrounded her, licking her and whining to get her attention, blocking him completely. She held on to them tightly, but would not lift her face.
“Ella, what, what is wrong?” he asked gently, crouching down next to her.
She shook her head and continued to cry. He watched as she pulled herself together forcibly, with a great effort of will. When she looked up at him, her face was streaked with tears and her eyes were red. “I, ah, Trevor, I have to tell you something. And if you have to take me to jail, I completely understand.”
“Take you to jail?”
“Trevor, I lied to you. I was there. During the explosion. I was in that store. I-I can’t tell you exactly what─” She buried her face in her hands again and began to cry softly.
Trevor just stared, unable to process what she had said. If she had been there, that meant she had seen Khain. Could that be why he had gone to her house the next day? Trevor knew he could mark humans. But why?
“How did you escape?”
She looked up at him again, actively sobbing, as the two wolven whined and rubbed their heads on her. She took their comfort gladly, wrapping her arms around each of them, then shook her head. “I have to tell you something else first, so maybe you’ll understand. I-I’m crazy.”
Trevor smiled until he saw the emotion on her face.
“It’s true. If I’m not totally there yet I’m heading there. I hear voices. I black out sometimes, just lose my grip on what’s going on and when I come back, it’s minutes or one time, hours later.” She scrambled to her feet, Trent and Troy jumping out of her way as if they knew it was coming. She eased past Trevor to the other side of the room, then paced. “I’ve started sleepwalking. Doing weird things in my sleep. I painted something on the side of my house.”
She stopped and stared at Trevor, her face crumpling. “I think I hurt your friend. The cop who died.”
Trevor shook his head. “That wasn’t you.”
“You don’t know that! I did something. I─ There was another man. He came in the place and he was scary and big and I saw his face change─ that’s part of the going crazy, I know, and when he came after me I did something.”
“What?”
She threw her hands in the air and stared at the ceiling. “I don’t know!” She dropped her hands and stared at him. “I think I caused the explosion.”
“How could you possibly─?”
She shook her head and tears dripped off her face. “I don’t know. Maybe I… made a bomb in my sleep or something.”
Trevor stepped to her, not quite daring to touch her. He hovered his right hand over her shoulder but dropped it and tried to catch her eye instead. “Listen to me. That… man who was there? We know who he is. He’s done this before. He’s the one who killed the officer. I recognize his handiwork. Believe me, Ella, it was not you.”
Ella sobbed again and dropped her face into her hands, although in relief or disbelief, he couldn’t tell.
“The funeral starts in a few minutes. You should come with me.”
Her tears dried up, leaving only sniffles, but she still wouldn’t look at him. “But I lied to you. Don’t you have to arrest me for obstruction of justice or something?”
“No. No way. I know you had a good reason. And you’ve told me now. I’ll need to hear the whole story but I don’t want you to be so upset. Would you like to be hypnotized?”
She looked at him then. “Really? You can do that?”
“Not me, but I have a coworker who does it often. It will keep you calm. Help you remember everything.”
Something dark passed over her face that he couldn’t decipher but she pushed it away. “Yes,” she said firmly. “I do want that.”
Trevor stared at her, even as his phone started to go off. He was late, but what he wanted to know was the only thing more important than the funeral. He had to know if she knew. “Ella, I have to ask you. The man who broke into your house, was he the same man at the store, where the explosion happened?”
She nodded slowly, absolute terror in her eyes. Trevor nodded back.
He would have no problems getting her to come back to the safe house after the funeral.
***
Ella slid out of Trevor’s truck at the cemetery, not surprised at the sea of blue she saw. It looked like the entire police force had turned out for the funeral, most of them in their dress uniforms. She hated that she was dressed in ordinary, everyday clothes, and not something befitting of a funeral, but they hadn’t had time to get her different clothes. She pulled her jacket tighter around her, dismayed that the day was unseasonably warm for fall. The sun beat on her hair and her shoulders and she could already feel the heat of it, but she would deal with it.
Trevor and the dogs came around to her side of the truck. “We’ll stay towards the back,” he told her, motioning for her to walk towards the crowd.
She did, and they arrived on the edge of it just as a police officer was finishing his speech. “That’s Deputy Chief Lombard,” Trevor whispered. “My boss.”
Ella looked him over. An older man with just-beginning-to-gray hair and a kind face. He looked wise and thoughtful.
“… Officer Pickett will be much missed, but his spirit and dedication will live on forever in his memorial. We have lost many brave males to this fight, but the fight is not lost, because of the braveness of those who have gone, and those still on this earth. If I could say one thing to Bardron Kato Pickett, it would be this. We remember you standing tall and true, brother. We watch you as you go into the Light and we envy you your peace. May your fight be forever over, and may your image forever walk with us, in friendship.”
Ella felt tears threaten for this man she didn’t know as the crowd moved and began to break apart. She clung hard to the hope that Trevor had given her, that she couldn’t possibly be the one responsible for his death. She heard the sighing of the crowd and looked around, surprised that she didn’t see any women. Well, one maybe, up at the very front, staring at the deputy chief, as the men around her stared at her with something like awe, like she was a celebrity. She turned to Trevor to ask him who she was, but Trevor’s face held a sadness that made her forget everything but him. A small tear ran down one cheek to his chin.
Ella reached up and laid her hand on his shoulder, not realizing her life would change when she did so. The touch rocketed through her body, starting in her fingertips and almost shooting out her toes and the top of her head, like a wave of soft pressure rippling through her. A wave that brought clarity and calm emotion flowing after it.
Trevor Burbank was not just some cop doing his job, keeping her safe. He was the answer to everything that was wrong and off in her life. He was her other half, and now that they were together, she was ok. The slow crumbling of her mind would stop and reverse. He was for her, she was for him, and together, they would build something good, pure, and unbreakable.
She stared at him, unable to speak, or look away, even when his eyes met hers and she could see that he was feeling everything she was.
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***
Contentment and joy swept through Trevor like a cold fire, burning away everything that had been there before. He turned his eyes to Ella. His renqua burned with her touch, even though her hand was on his other shoulder, but somehow he knew that she was causing it. The burn was soothing, and it brought a message. But did he dare hope the message was true?
He reached up and took her hand from his shoulder, lacing his fingers into hers, not caring that his whole world could see them if it just turned around. This was their moment. It belonged to no one but them and he wasn’t going to miss it─
“Trevor, your eyes…”
“What?”
“They’re yellow.”
Trevor pulled his hand out of hers and grabbed his phone, turning on the camera and pointing it at himself.
But no, his eyes were the same color he saw every day when he looked in the mirror. He looked down at Trent and Troy and they both shook their head slightly. They hadn’t seen it.
You smelled different, but only for a second, Troy sent. Actually, you both did.
Ella frowned and looked down at the dog and for a moment, Trevor had to wonder if she had caught any of that. But no, how could she? Only a few wolven could communicate telepathically with other wolven they were especially close to, and no humans could that they knew of, and she was not wolven, was she?
A thought hit him. What if she was a half-breed? That would explain his attraction to her.
He grabbed her hand again, but the sensations did not return.
Chapter 21
Harlan coming, Trent warned a split second before Harlan called out to him.
“Trev,” Harlan’s deep voice called from behind him. Trevor whirled around, dropping Ella’s hand and positioning himself between Ella and Harlan.
“The felen have hit up dispatch. We’ve got a disturbance.”
A week ago, Trevor would have been thrilled to hear such news, would have taken off like a rocket towards it, even though it didn’t make sense. Now though, all he wanted to do was stay with Ella. “What do you mean, a disturbance?”
Harlan drew close, tall and big, like all of the KSRT, but not quite as tall as Trevor. He peeked over Trevor’s shoulder at Ella. Trevor tolerated it, but barely. He eyed Harlan’s jugular and lifted his lip, feeling his fangs try to grow.
Harlan spoke softly. “They think he’s trying to cross over.”
“Trying?” He turned to Ella and gave her an apologetic look. “Will you excuse me for a second?” She nodded and looked around nervously. Trent and Troy drew close to her sides and she threaded her hands in their fur, relief strong on her face.
Trevor walked ten feet away with Harlan. “Since when does he try to cross over? Khain doesn’t have any difficulty getting out of the Pravus.”
Harlan spoke quickly. “The felen’s exact words were, ‘there is a disturbance in the Pravus. Either he’s having difficulty crossing over, or something big is happening over there. We request wolven backup just in case.’”
Trevor watched Ella, noticing the vulnerability of her pale skin, the beauty of her form. “Just in case of what?”
Harlan shook his head. “I’m not the expert. What the fuck is wrong with you? I thought you would have asked me one word, where? And then you would have been gone.”
Trevor faced Harlan. “Yeah, sorry. Where is everyone else?”
“Mac, Beckett, and Crew are already on their way, riding together. You can ride with me.”
Trevor shook his head. “I’ll head out by myself. Got a meeting with Wade in two hours and other important things to do today. Where?”
Harlan gave him a funny look, then recited the directions and headed to his own vehicle. Trevor made his way back to Ella.
“You have to go, don’t you?” she asked as soon as he reached her.
He almost called it all off. Let the rest of the team handle it. But in the end, he couldn’t do it. He was the boss. He was the one that Wade thought would end Khain once and for all. He couldn’t pick and choose his battles. He had to be there for all of them. He nodded slowly. “Listen to me, Ella. You have to go back to the safe house. I’ll send Trent and Troy with you and there will be two other officers there too. You will be safe there, I promise you.”
She nodded slowly and did not argue. “Sorry you have to send people to watch me.”
He shook his head. “Don’t ever be sorry. You’re…” He wanted to say so much more than he could actually bring himself to. “You’re worth it.”
He took her hand, feeling a thrill go through him when she didn’t resist or pull away from him. “Come on, we have to find Officer Adin. I’m not leaving you until I put you in his car myself.” He pulled her towards the crowd, scanning it with his eyes and nose. Trent and Troy followed.
You two, don’t you leave her side. She’s top priority.
Roger.
Got it.
***
Three hours later, Trevor drove slowly back into Serenity, passing the statue of the red wolf at a near crawl. He stared into the wolf’s eyes, keeping only the barest of his senses on the road. When he drove far enough that the connection was broken, he stepped hard on the gas. He was already late for Wade’s meeting.
Report, he sent out to Trent.
All quiet. She’s napping.
An image of Ella’s pretty face relaxed, eyes closed, body curled up on the small bed in the safe house swam in front of Trevor’s eyes. What he wouldn’t give to be with her, even sitting close to her, watching her as she slept.
The disturbance had proven to be a waste of time. Mostly. All of the KSRT and six felen, most of the Pumaii, had gathered on Blue River Bluff just to the north of town. Trevor had to admit that he felt something as soon as he got there and walked out to the bluff. Something that made him itch to shift right there, shift and run, shift and howl, shift and bite whatever there was to bite.
All the wolven had held their form, but barely, only by walking constantly and holding on tightly with their minds. Two of the felen had shifted and loped off into the woods as monstrous mountain lions that made Trevor’s fangs lengthen. In human form, felen were attractive in a strange way, but as big cats, he felt a strange repulsion towards them. Like he would just as soon rip them apart than share the same ground with them. When felen and wolven shifted near each other, if Khain weren’t around, it was always a bad scene.
When the disturbance, the ruinous scream from another world, finally stopped, Trevor was the first to leave. Let his team stay there if they wanted. He had a meeting he had to be at, so he had climbed into his truck and driven off, feeling his need to shift and to run only grow with every mile he drove away from the woods. Thank the Light there was a Zyanya scheduled that night. It would be an official wolven goodbye to Pickett, but also a running with the moon that Trevor had never felt he needed so badly.
And after that? The rut. Ella’s image rose in his mind and Trevor shook his head. He would turn away a thousand ruts for the chance to sit across from Ella in the dark for just one night. But if the others needed it…
Trevor was pulled out of his thoughts by the police station appearing on his right. Within three short minutes he was standing outside of Wade’s office, tucking his shirt, checking the creases on his pants. He raised his hand to knock, but Wade’s voice came through the door. “Come in, son.”
Trevor opened the door and pushed inside. A male sitting in one of the black leather chairs opposite Wade stood and faced him. Trevor stared him down coldly, afraid he knew who it was.
He was big. As big as Trevor, which was rare. His dark hair was cropped close to his head and he had no beard or facial hair at all. Trevor could see black tattoos on the man’s wrists, peeking out from under the cuffs of the full suit he wore, one he looked both comfortable and uncomfortable in.
But none of that was relevant. All Trevor cared about was the smell coming off of him. It was cold and hot at the same time which could not be.
“This
better not be who I think it is,” Trevor growled at Wade, his eyes on the interloper who should not be in the police station, much less inside Wade’s office.
Wade inclined his head. “Lieutenant Trevor Burbank, meet Graeme Kynock, Special Constable of the Police Service of Scotland, on loan to the KSRT, with possible future reassignment.”
The male held out a hand to Trevor but did not smile. “Good afternoon, sir. My name is actually pronounced gray-em” His accent was not thick, but definitely there. He rolled the R in his name which made Trevor want to bite him.
Trevor ignored the hand and turned to Wade, his brow furrowed, his fists clenched. “He’s not wolfen,” he bit out, barely able to control himself.
Wade didn’t give an inch. “He’s dragen. They have been valued members of the Police Scotland for centuries, working alongside our wolven brothers and sisters there.”
Trevor narrowed his eyes and turned to Graeme. “You have females?”
Graeme dropped his hand. “No. We lost all of our females when the Great Destroyer wiped them from the world, just as you.”
Trevor took a step forward. “I thought all the dragen were gone. Killed off.”
Graeme lifted his chin. “I am the last.”
Trevor turned to Wade again. “I would like to speak to you alone.” He was so angry he almost shook with it, his muscles tensed and full.
“Whatever you have to say to me can be said in front of Graeme. He should know what he is getting himself into.”
“Fine. How do we know we can trust him? What is he even here for? How am I going to explain to─ to anyone that we’re letting a non-wolfen into the KSRT?”
Trevor was distracted by a noise coming from Graeme and he shot his eyes back to the male, falling into a defensive position. Graeme’s clothes seemed to melt and twist and then merge with his body as his body grew to five times its size, quicker than Trevor could watch it. This was no shift. It was something else entirely. Before Trevor could even think about shifting, a red and yellow dragon with a hooked nose and leathery wings loomed in front of him, his scales brushing the high ceiling, two chairs flattened underneath him. The dragon opened its mouth and Trevor could feel its hot breath coating him. It turned its head to watch Trevor with one flat eye, then shot fire across the room at a chair. The top half of the chair disintegrated into ash as the bottom half continue to burn.