by Honor James
“We’re waiting,” he told her honestly. “You need to be fully rested before we try this,” he said quietly. “It takes a lot out of the female in a dual mating,” he explained, turning the water off. Stepping out of the shower he took her hands and guided her onto the mat. Grabbing her a towel, Slade dried her hair gently before letting her take over to dry her body.
Drying her body slowly Parker frowned. “I don’t like that idea. What if I want it?” she asked quietly. “What if I am ready for this, no matter what you think?” She didn’t know what came with bonding but she knew that her body was buzzing with need for him. She knew that she really wanted and needed both of these men a great deal.
“Parker,” Rayne said from the bedroom as he stifled a groan. “Bonding is hard on the female, especially a virgin, to begin with. That’s with one mate. You have two. That means that we not only have to prepare you mentally but physically for our possession. Then there is the bite I’ll give you and whatever magical connection that Slade will form with you. It will wipe you out. A couple hours of sleep will not be enough to recover before we need to be on base. You will need a good, solid twelve to sixteen hours of dead-to-the-world rest.”
“Oh.” She didn’t know that one. “Well that makes sense,” she murmured. “So not tonight then.” She took a moment and then asked, “Okay so then when? There will always be something that’s out there, something that will not give us enough time, right?”
“In a lot of cases yes, but we’re planning on leaving the base early tomorrow and getting back here,” Slade told her, hanging up his damp towel and gently taking hers from her hand. “The longer we delay the less rational and in control Rayne will get. A changer tends to get edgy when they first find their mate and recognize them, but they degenerate within days to the more bestial side if the bond isn’t formed to even them back out.”
“Then we will do whatever it is that we must tomorrow and then come home?” she asked softly and allowed him to lead her out of the bathroom and felt Rayne’s hand touching hers and smiled. Gripping his hand tightly she moved in closer to him as well and sighed happily. “Sleep. Right, we need sleep.”
Guiding her to the bed Rayne helped her to climb in before he settled in on one side. He knew Slade had mentioned doing some work but the other male didn’t appear ready to leave. In fact he wasn’t surprised in the least when he settled on Parker’s other side with a sigh. Reaching out, Rayne doused the lights of the room and turned to look at his little bond-mate, running a finger down her cheek lightly.
Sighing as both men encased her in their warmth and protection Parker snuggled in closer and let out the breath that she had kept pent up. “Good night,” she whispered and closed her eyes to quiet the soft glow that came from the men whose auras, whose bonds reached out for her. With only the smallest of breaths she at last fell sound asleep.
Chapter Six
Quincy looked up as Slade knocked on his open door and smiled faintly. “What’s up?” he asked, checking the time. “Crap, I guess I’m running late, aren’t I?” He chuckled and got up but stilled on his journey to the door when Slade shut it.
“I need to ask a favor of you,” Slade said quietly. “I sort of goofed last night. Parker’s cheek is a little infected and I wanted to heal it so it wouldn’t get worse. I didn’t tell her what I was doing and she stopped me then refused my help. After a while she changed her mind but of course…” He trailed off and shrugged.
“Once she refused you couldn’t help her again without touching on the dark side of the magic or breaking several dozen of our laws in the process,” Quincy filled in and sighed. “I can take care of it if she’ll let me.” He moved to Slade and looked at him. “Are you doing okay with all this?”
“Yes and no,” Slade admitted softly. “I’m glad we found her, I’m glad she’s safe, but I feel like I’m floundering with her. Like last night, I acted before thinking. I’m worried I’ll do something even worse, Quincy.”
Staring at him for a time Quincy let out a breath. “I know how you’re feeling, Slade. When Maya and I first got together I did nothing but fuck up. But in time we found our way with one another and it all smoothed out. Just remember, she’s your bond-mate, too, Slade, not just Rayne’s. I know the pull of the bond-mate for those of the magic users is a little different. After all we won’t go all crazed and homicidal if we don’t immediately bond with them. But she’s part of you, the part that will complete you and smooth out all the rough edges. She’ll also test the limits of your control while giving you so much more you would never believe it possible.”
“Is there any other way for me to help her with magic, if she needs it without”—Slade shrugged—“you know, the usual?”
“There are a couple of ways. Really the easiest and least painful for you is during the bonding,” Quincy said, leaning back against his desk. “It seems to wipe out a lot of sins to a degree. You’ll need to let her know ahead of time that you’ll be asking for her forgiveness and she has to give it, at climax. If she doesn’t, the refusal will carry through until you come up with another way to get around it. On the other side of that coin, if she does give it you’ll need to always ask permission before healing or you’ll be the one injured. All that magic will snap back at you, just not as bad as if you tried right now.”
“Okay.” Slade nodded slowly and knew he’d have to talk to Parker about it. Of course they still had to cover just how the bonding would occur. Trying to get her to forgive him during climax wasn’t going to be easy, especially given she had two mates so she’d be doubly distracted.
“I’ll talk to her when I heal the infection,” Quincy told the Sorcerer. Slade was older than him by a good four hundred years and yet seemed so much younger. He knew why though. Slade didn’t trust his abilities very far any more. He used the tried and true ones of the Sorcerers but anything new, anything of a reach he was hesitant in case he opened the door to the darkness within to taint his abilities and run the risk of going Rogue. “For now, let’s go and get this party started. We need to find Nathaniel and the stragglers and ensure they aren’t going after any more of our mates.”
When she saw the glow of Slade coming toward her once more Parker grinned. She couldn’t help herself. Wincing at the pain that smiling gave her she didn’t let it affect her. Rising to her feet when he came closer Parker reached her hand out to him, waiting for him to take it. She knew someone walked at his side, just had no idea who it was.
Taking her hand in his Slade drew her in closer to him and hugged her tight. “Quincy would like to heal your cheek if you’ll let him, little one. I know it’s hurting you more this morning.” He’d watched her eating breakfast and she’d favored that side.
“It is.” She held onto him for a moment longer. “Right now I’m just happy to be in your arms for a moment or more if that’s all right with you?” she asked quietly. “I’ve missed you.” He was up and gone before she and Rayne had risen and she had missed him that morning.
“Of course, sweet,” he said and watched Quincy move to talk to his own mate with a grin on his face at whatever the woman said. Guiding Parker to a corner Slade leaned back and pulled her in close to him. Resting his cheek on her hair he breathed her in slowly, a hand gliding up and down her back in a slow rub.
“I would really appreciate it if you would please tell me before you leave from now on?” She stroked her hand up and down his chest, kept him close as she did so. “I didn’t like waking without you there,” she admitted fully, bluntly. “I don’t think that I’m going to like waking without either of you from now on. Just met you and already you are both turning my world upside down.”
“I’m sorry, little one,” he whispered, hugging her closer to him. “I had some work to do that I didn’t do last night like I’d planned,” he admitted to her. “I was loath to leave you but I knew it had to be done and you needed your sleep.”
“Well from now on you can wake me to tell me that. How does that sound?” sh
e asked and rubbed her cheek to his shoulder. “Did you get the answers that you needed from Quincy?” The name of her brother hovered on her lips. She had never had a brother before so she couldn’t trust herself to say that. Instead she simply said Quincy.
“Some of them,” he admitted, rubbing his cheek to her hair. Closing his eyes he breathed her in. “We should get settled in, darling, we have a long day ahead of us and we need to get the good seats or we’re going to have damned tired legs,” Slade told her quietly, giving her a squeeze.
That had her smiling. “I have a feeling that none of them would allow me to stand, honey. You maybe, me never.” Not with a room full of men that seemed to have been born from the chivalrous world instead of the bullshit dickheads that today’s life and times had settled them up with. “But still I think that you and I need to do this, darling, because I don’t wanna be sitting and you boys standing.”
Taking her hand in his since the room was too full of people to let her go wild with her cane he guided her to a chair. Rayne slid into one on her left and Slade took the one on her right, his hand still in hers. Rubbing his thumb over her fingers lightly he leaned back to wait as everyone else got sorted out.
“Okay folks,” Talon said to start the meeting. “Some of you have met her but this is Parker Michaels who is also Quincy’s sister and Rayne and Slade’s bond-mate, so behave yourselves,” he added pointedly looking at a couple of particular troublemakers in the room. “Down to business,” he said, pulling his datapad closer. “As you all know we raided a facility and, while we got a number of people, unfortunately we didn’t get Nathaniel, his main lieutenant, or their security tech guy. We have no idea where he went but that’s why we’ve asked Parker to sit in. She’s got a way with computers and we need all the assistance we can get.”
Parker’s skin flushed and she let her hair fall down around her face to hide herself from the beings that might be looking at her. “I will do all that I can but their security tech guru is a Mage as well. He’s good, but not as good as I am,” she murmured. “However…” She chewed her lower lip and admitted, “They know that I’m good, likely the best, so they may be totally low tech and if so I won’t be able to help you at all.”
“We’re hoping they left enough of a trail that we can work with,” Quincy said, sitting down, and slid a tablet across to her letting it touch her fingers. “This is one of mine, full access to everything on the planet, don’t ask,” he added with a grin. “Just see what you can find, Parker, you know these guys, know what they will likely do and we need that edge. See if you can figure out where they went during the raid, look at everything critically and with the thought in your head, is it them.”
Parker nodded. “Do you want to watch?” She let her fingers move over the tablet and took in a breath. “Connect via wireless projector.” At her words the tablet’s face showed on the wall. “If you have lights on you might want to kill them so that you can watch.” She didn’t know if it was light or dark so she would let them choose.
Her thumb moved over the tablet’s cover and she breathed softly. “Show me what I’m looking for.” Her eyes were open and sightless, looking across the room as she spoke. “Checking any and all cameras in the city for Nathaniel Silverwing.” She wished that she knew what the man looked like. It would be so much easier. “Checking any and all credit card numbers under the names of Nate Silverwing, Nate Prentiss, Paul Silver.” She rattled off name after name and when one caught she smiled. “There.” She could see the knowledge that was held on the tablet. “That’s the latest capture of him. I hope that at least gives you an idea of what he looks like?”
“That’s him,” Talon said in an emotionless tone. He had to keep all his emotions under wraps or he’d end up a bigger threat than Nathaniel was to those he loved.
“We knew what he looked like, sweet,” Rayne murmured quietly next to her ear. “But we need to know where he’s gone,” he said a little louder.
Quincy was working fast and furious on his laptop. “He purchased a number of medical supplies, water, rations, and a few other odds and ends.” He frowned as he read the list. “He has a female with him or he’s found a new use for tampons.”
Parker winced and swallowed hard. “He uses them with torture,” she whispered quietly. “He will soak them in gasoline and, well…” She flushed hard and then whispered, “He loves to watch them burn and also loves to watch the way that the gasoline leaks into their bowels and intestines. It’s terrible.”
Stroking his hand over her hair Slade shot the others a look in the low light of the room. “Can you track him from there, Parker?” he asked her quietly. He saw Talon fighting his Dragon, the man’s eyes flashing from normal to those of the beast. He was more than displeased by his son and yet they all knew the boy had to die. The death of Nathaniel would take a piece of the Dragon King with it but it had to be done for the safety of all.
“Yeah give me a second,” Parker murmured softly and swallowed hard. Taking a moment she tapped her fingertips to the tablet and then focused. “He will be looking for a place to buy quantities of gasoline as well as duct tape, barbed wire, and batteries.” She knew far too well the methods and things that Nate used to torture his captives.
After several tense moments she said, “There.” She pulled up the map and nodded. “He’s in a two-mile radius of that address.”
“Go,” Talon ordered and watched as half the room emptied out fast. The helicopters were on standby and had been as soon as the meeting started. Looking to Parker he nodded. “Thank you, Parker,” he said. “If you wouldn’t mind keeping tabs, though, until they can get there please.”
“I will do what I can. I can’t see him but I can train the cameras to look for his image for me from the dimensions I received earlier.” She paused, bit her lower lip, and then nodded. “There. It’s done. I will know the moment one of them catches even a small glimpse of him.” She saw in code, not vision. “Are you going to be okay?” She had heard the strain in the large man’s voice, had heard the pain and knew this had to be hard on him. “Remind them that he’s an Ice Dragon, not Fire. He loves fire, loves to play with it and one of his guards is fire but he’s ice.”
“They know,” Talon said, getting up, and looked to Quincy. “Keep me updated, I need to let the Council know what’s going on,” he murmured and headed for the door.
Rayne watched his King go and felt for the man. It was bad enough when the Rogue was a friend or companion. But when it was a son, even one that was never known, it had to be so much harder.
“I can’t even imagine how hard this is on him,” Parker whispered. “To know that your son is capable of such monstrosities.” She shuddered. “He has a bond-mate. Does he have other children? One with his bond-mate maybe?” She hoped for the big man’s sake that he did. “And what about Nate’s twin? How is she handling all of this?”
“Talina is in full denial but she also has her own twins to look after and they are keeping her busy,” Quincy answered her as his fingers flew over the keyboard and his eyes darted back and forth. “Cin and Talon have a little boy that is going to be just as sneaky and devious as his”—the Mage paused and grinned—“nephew and niece I guess it would be.” He chuckled and went back to typing. “Little man is already trying to figure things out at a rate that has Cin worried, paranoid, and proud in equal amounts.”
“Oh I could only imagine.” Parker grinned. “That woman.” She bit her lip. “She’s powerful. In a way that just is stunning. When she reached into me…” She had felt pure white heat, but good as well. There was a well of absolute purity that Parker had never, ever felt before. “She could become addictive, I’m sure. Just being around someone so good would be a heady feeling.”
“That she is,” Quincy agreed with her. “Cin’s one of the truly pure and good ones. Kind of part of her job description though.” He just didn’t say what that “job” was. It wasn’t his secret to share and he wasn’t going to give that one out for no re
ason or without Talon’s blessing. “She’s a sweetheart to have around, too, though we’re still working on her slang. Every now and again she comes up with a doozy that only Talon can translate.”
Parker frowned and tapped her fingers on the tablet. “Oh,” she whispered. She had asked a question in her mind, hadn’t meant to but she had asked the question and the answers came to her. “You set up her identity,” she whispered to Quincy. “She’s…” She breathed out softly and shook her head. “Oh God I pray that Nate doesn’t know about her,” she whispered. “Because if he does he will move hell to get to her, him and Chaos as well.”
Shooting her a look Quincy reached out to touch her fingers with his lightly. “Keep it to yourself, Parker. A large group knows but it’s our only very carefully kept secret,” he said softly. “The only reason you know is because you’re on the inside of our firewalls. Anyone else can’t find that so you need to watch your words on the subject.”
“Don’t worry, I’ve learned very, very well how to keep my mouth shut,” she admitted. “I’m very good at keeping secrets.” She had to be. She had to learn how to hide them early in life or else Nate would find them and that would be very, very bad.
Patting her fingers lightly he nodded. “Good. Keep searching little sister,” he advised, going back to what he was doing.
Getting up Rayne collected some water and juice. Passing a water to Quincy and another to Slade he sat with the juice and put a bottle of water next to Parker’s hand. “There’s a bottle of water by your left hand, darling,” he murmured to her softly.
“Thank you.” She frowned and cocked her head to the side. “This isn’t right.” She flipped the screen and pulled it even closer. “There are sewers under the area that Nate is in,” she whispered. “But his image just popped up on the screen six miles away.”