by Ann Gimpel
Sarai offered a lopsided grin. “Is that a general, open-ended question?”
“Aye because the lass has always been a wee bit on the eccentric side.” Niall winked.
Renee rolled her shoulders back. “I wasn’t exactly here this past little while.” A quick glance at a wall clock suggested half an hour had ticked by.
“What do you mean, not here?” Niall’s smile faded. “By all the gods, woman, you were sitting in the same place on the floor while I cursed my book from front to back.”
“No wonder it refused you knowledge,” Sarai mumbled.
“I didn’t begin by cursing it.” Niall rolled his eyes. “Even I know better than to antagonize magical accoutrements.”
Before the two of them sidetracked into a theoretical discussion about how to coax power into action, Renee jumped in and said, “My magic, it built a shelter around me. Both books were extremely responsive. When I looked with my third eye, their energy had joined with the ley lines, and the whole thing pulsed and throbbed. It wasn’t unpleasant. Rather like being in a magical cave.”
“What happened then?” Sarai’s question held tense edges.
“The first book was a replay of what transpired with the vamps today. At least according to the book, vamps on their own are mostly a nuisance, but them joining up with mages is a fucking disaster.”
The door flew inward, and Stephan joined them. “I heard that last part,” he bellowed. “What I want to know is if the three of you came up with something we don’t already know.” He kicked the door shut behind him.
Breath hissed through Renee’s teeth, her first clue she’d clenched her jaws. Here it was. Rubber-meeting-road time. “Um yeah.” She faced Stephan. “Apparently, it wasn’t sheer bad luck—wrong place, wrong time—behind my abduction. I’m linked with Jeremiah in ways I can’t totally wrap my mind around, and we were together before the vamps zeroed in on me. If I’d remained with him, none of it would have happened.”
She was babbling, but she couldn’t stem the flow of words. “See, it wasn’t accidental he hatched up that plan to kill the vamps, either. Everything is part of this huge gameboard, with the strategies already mapped out—except we don’t fully know what they are. He and I are supposed to team up, work together. Without our joined energies, the vamps will win.”
When she looked at the others, Sarai was nodding, a somber expression on her face. “Matches up with what I saw in his chart. And yours.”
“What were you doing mucking around in my chart?” Renee’s voice held a shrill note she didn’t care much for, but she couldn’t seem to modulate it.
Sarai shrugged. “Call it intuition. It’s how my magic works. I dug deeper into his chart, saw some gaps I was certain your chart would provide complements for, and went for it. Synastry in action.”
“That’s the game changer part?” Renee asked.
“Yup. Turns out your Aquarius is an almost perfect mating for his Leo. The energy the two of you could unleash would be enough to change any world, not just mitigate the vampire problem.”
“Whew. That’s a lot to absorb,” Niall said. “Maybe we should get your mum back here—to doublecheck the astrology parts.”
“I do not need my mother for that.” Sarai sounded pissed with a definite edge to her tone.
“Sure and I wasn’t meaning to discount your skills, darling.” Niall got to his feet and wrapped an arm around his mate. “But before we go shoving two folk who aren’t seemingly too fond of one another together, we’ll want to make certain ’tis the proper course.”
Renee stood tall. “My book intimated he and I needed to work together, not that we were necessarily mates.”
“That’s why it’s useful to have more than one magical stream in play.” Sarai smiled benignly. “You can fight it all you want, but you two are destined for one another. Remember. A shifter’s mate is in the stars.”
“I’ve never believed that, and I am not letting you run my life. Or ruin it, for that matter.” Renee turned away from her friend, wanting to strangle her. “If you’re not ready to leave, I’m teleporting back to my car.”
“The hell you are.” Niall glowered from where he stood next to Sarai.
“Who’s going to give the groom—er, Jeremiah—the news?” Stephan asked.
“No one!” Renee shrieked. “There’s no groom. No bride. No fucking mates. If any of you open your mouths about this, I will leave. And you’ll never, ever be able to find me.”
“Aye. Because you’ll be dead.” Niall let go of Sarai and dropped a hand onto Renee’s shoulder. “We have enough problems without you turning into a prima donna. Pull yourself together. Now.”
“We’re going home. We all could use food and rest.” Stephan’s voice was gruff. “Things will look better after a night’s sleep.”
Renee let them herd her out of Sarai’s shop. The way things were shaping up, things wouldn’t ever be better. One of the big plusses about the twenty-first century was no arranged matings. Women could be unmated if they chose. Or sleep around. Or have two or three mates—at the same time.
She settled into the back seat again. Anger traded turns with resignation, but her eyes kept closing. Somewhere between Denver and Stephan’s ranch, she fell into an exhausted sleep.
Chapter 7
“Ooooh. Shift for me!” Chloe danced around Jeremiah, bouncing with enthusiasm. Her unbound hair swirled around her looking like burnished gold. Tall and broad-shouldered for a woman, she wore an ancient pair of black running shorts and a long-sleeved blue shirt blazoned with, Magic Rocks, Live the Dream in hot pink lettering edged with silver gilt.
He leveled stern eyes on his sister. “Stop it. Shifting isn’t for showing off or airing a performance.” He tucked a hand beneath her upper arm and spun her so she faced him. “I didn’t ask for this. It came to me unbidden.”
“Yes, but why?” Her blue eyes glowed with keen interest.
“Not sure. Probably has something to do with that eagle shifter who healed me.”
Chloe narrowed her eyes and tilted her head to one side. “Our magic shares common roots with shifter power. If what I’ve read is correct, mages could shift too, a very long time ago. I have no idea why our ability took a different road, but it did. Except maybe that phase is behind us.” She clasped her hands together. “I’m going to do everything I can to attract my own bondmate.”
Jeremiah’s heart hurt for his twin sister. She’d spent much of their childhood playing with a series of imaginary animals. First a bear, then a wolf, and finally a coyote. He wanted to be supportive but needed to redirect her energies, so he said, “I’m impressed by your knowledge. You’re far better versed in our history than I am, but how about relegating your shifter project to a back burner? Not forever, but for now.”
“Hmmm. I know that tone. Means you have something you want me to do.” She crooked two fingers his way. “Out with it.”
He hastily sketched out what he’d discovered about the captive mages who’d moved from voluntary recruits to prisoners.
Chloe’s smile faded, replaced by a harsh expression. “Too bad for them, but nothing those bastards don’t deserve. I can see the problem, though. So long as they’re detained, they’re providing fodder for vamps to use as they will.” She slithered out from beneath his grip. “What will we do when we find them?”
He exhaled noisily and winced. “Good question. The prudent course would be to kill them, but maybe they’ll be ready to see reason and—”
“Nope.” Chloe shook her head emphatically. “You’re an old softie. You always have been.”
“I am not.” He bristled at the implication and started to launch into the difference between compassion and stupidity, but Chloe wasn’t done.
“Be that as it may,” she hurried on, “we can’t take the chance. They turned on us once. They could do the same thing again. For all we know, something about their time with the vamps might make them more susceptible to vampire coercion.”
&n
bsp; He offered her points for quick thinking. “Maybe you’re right. Vampires are good trackers, which means they could locate the mages without much effort. If they can find them, then they’d find us, and—”
“I knew you’d see it my way,” she broke in. “Do you have any idea where to start looking?” She headed toward the stairs.
“Yes, I do. Where are you going?”
“To change clothes. We’re leaving immediately, right?”
“Hold up there, sister. We’re not doing this alone. I want to include as many mages as want to ride along. Shifters too.”
Chloe turned at the foot of the stairwell until she faced him. “What are you now? One of us? Or one of them?”
He thought back to Niall’s terse pronouncement about it no longer being an us and them proposition. Not anymore. He met his sister’s direct gaze. “I’m me. Just as I’ve always been. I wield magic, and now I have an alternative form. We have to move past our residual antagonism toward shifters. If we don’t play on the same team, things won’t go well for us, and the vampires might win.”
She looked as if she’d bitten into something bitter. “There was a time when we said the same thing about shifters. That if we didn’t remain at the top of our game, they’d overtake us.”
“I know. Hard feelings take a long time to resolve, and there were a whole lot of them up until very recently. In truth, there still are. They haven’t gone away—on either side.” He stood straighter, remembering Renee’s antagonism toward him. “Do you have any idea when everyone will be back?”
“An hour or so, maybe less. They went out to dinner.”
“How come you didn’t go with them?”
She shrugged. “I was worried about you. If you hadn’t shown up when you did, I was going to track you with magic and go after you.”
He smiled crookedly. It was good to be cared about, but she was being way too overprotective. “Thanks. I’m going to do a little digging between now and when the others return. Check on my theory about where the mages are being held.”
“Not by yourself, you’re not.”
“Oberon’s balls, woman. This will be dangerous. Definitely a job for one person. I have a far better chance getting in and out unnoticed on my own.”
She stood tall. “It damn near killed me when you went off alone with all that poison on board. I stayed strong because I didn’t want to make your decision harder than it was, but I swore if a miracle happened and you returned alive, I was never swallowing my reservations again.”
Chloe strode to him, covering the distance fast. “Two choices, bud. Either you bring me, or I’ll use magic to pinpoint your location and come anyway.”
“I can bind you, force you to remain here.”
She furled her brows. “Try it. You might have a surprise or two in store.”
Fire sparked from her gaze, and Jeremiah stared hard at the grim-faced woman he thought he knew. Chloe was usually agreeable. When had that changed?
“About two hundred years ago.” She snorted. “Yeah, I was inside your mind. You’ve always treated me like a kid sister. It was convenient to have you underestimate me. Made my life simpler when I needed to slip something past you, but I’m over it.”
He started to ask which things she’d deployed beneath his radar but closed his jaws with an audible clack. Now wasn’t the time for a family squabble, and no matter what she said, he was certain he’d be furious. “Fine. I’ll start a travel spell brewing. Be back downstairs in five minutes.”
Chloe slugged him in the shoulder almost hard enough to hurt before bounding out of the room and up the stairs. She’d won and knew better than to ruin her victory with words.
He opened a channel to his power, chanting softly. Magic bubbled around him, iridescent and pregnant with promise. The lion’s presence added a significant boost to his ability. Spells came easier—a whole lot easier.
Immersed in his own casting, he was slow to notice other magic nipping at the edges of his spell.
“We have company,” the lion informed him.
Jeremiah’s head snapped up. His bondmate hadn’t suggested they’d need to defend themselves, but the fact it had to say anything at all was worrisome. He gritted his teeth. Nowhere was safe. He wasn’t in the habit of being vigilant in his home, but that had to change.
Once he refocused beyond the edges of his travel spell, he picked up the distinct magical tang of shifters. Before he could sort out who was almost upon him, Niall, Sarai, Stephan, and Renee shimmered into focus on the far side of the room.
“At least you guessed right about his location.” Renee sounded as sour and out of sorts as she had earlier.
“I did not guess.” Niall’s response was pointed.
“No, you wouldn’t have had to,” Jeremiah agreed, using words to cover his surprise at the impromptu visit. “You’ve been here before.”
“We didn’t expect to find you,” Stephan said, “but Niall convinced us to begin here, so we could track whatever path your magic left.”
“Who’s here?” Chloe called, followed by, “Never mind. I figured it out.” Her footsteps clattering down the stairs coincided with the last of her words. She’d put on scuffed boots, dark trousers, and a black, hooded jacket zipped to her chin. “Nice to see all of you again.” Chloe nodded pleasantly at the shifters and held a hand out to Renee. “I’m Chloe, Jeremiah’s twin.”
Renee shook her hand and replied, “I’m Renee.”
“We got here in time.” Niall directed his comment to Stephan.
“In time for what?” Jeremiah kept the question bland.
Niall rolled his eyes and crossed to where Jeremiah stood. “For the love of the Fae, man, we’re on the same team. You have suspicions about where the mages are being held. Judging from the feel of the magic bouncing around this room, you were about to leave to search for them.”
Jeremiah opened his mouth to deny it, but his bondmate spoke up. “Not a good idea. Allies hold no secrets.”
“At least your bondmate has decent instincts,” Renee snarled. Dark circles sat beneath her eyes. She looked like she could do with an uninterrupted night’s rest and a few square meals.
“You’re trashed.” He didn’t mince words. “You should go home and get some sleep.”
“None of us will remain by ourselves. Not after what happened to Renee this morning.” Sarai skewered him with her blue eyes. “We didn’t think you should have left, either.”
Chloe had let go of Renee’s hand, but she still stood near the eagle shifter. “What happened this morning?”
“It’s an unpleasant story. The short version is I wasn’t paying attention and ended up captured by a passel of vampires.” Renee sucked in a tight breath. “Now they’re out for my blood.”
“Damn! I’m sorry.” Chloe nodded briskly. “Good thinking on your part to outfox them.”
Engines rumbled as cars pulled into the driveway. Jeremiah reorganized his priorities. His nice, clean, secret reconnaissance was off the table. With all of them here, they could launch a raid, but it would get side railed once he told them about the lion.
“Listen up,” he said. “Once my housemates are inside, we’re going to plan an offensive to locate and destroy the captured mages. I want us to be on our way in short order, though, so it would be best if you didn’t mention my lion.”
A long, rumbling snarl burst from his mouth. Apparently, his bondmate didn’t think much of his plan. “We need to get moving.” He directed his comment to the lion. “It’s been hours since Renee conned the vampires. They’ll be on the move soon, if they aren’t already. If we tell everyone I’m a shifter, they may not trust me. We can’t afford to blow an hour—let alone three or four—talking this through. I promise I’ll tell them—it’s not something I’m ashamed of—but I’ll do it afterward.”
Another growl ripped through him. He tensed. Would the lion force its way out again? Not much he could do about it. The beast’s power trumped his.
Voi
ces drifted from outside; the front door flew open.
“Jeremiah!” a slender, dark-haired man named Johnny exclaimed. “Good to see you. You’ve been spending so much time with shifters, we’ve been worried you sold out to the dark side.”
“See what I mean?” Jeremiah told his bondmate, switching to telepathy. He braced for the roar that would give him away, but it never materialized.
Stephan turned the full force of his tall, burly presence on Johnny and glowered.
A thread of magic flared from Johnny as he assessed Stephan’s brand of power; his eyes widened. “Um, no harm no foul. I misspoke.” He tugged a denim jacket closer around his spare frame.
“For the love of the goddess, don’t compound things with a lie.” Jeremiah sharpened his tone. “We have a problem, and it’s not shifters. I was with our ‘dark side’ cousins earlier today dealing with it.” He took a measured breath. “Some of you know Stephan, Niall, and Sarai.” He pointed at them as he said their names. “You haven’t met Renee yet.”
Liam, one of the oldest of them, hastened toward her, arms extended. “I remember you from before we crossed the sea—and before the war. It’s good to see you.”
“Good to see you too.” She hugged the white-haired mage, and a quick, hot pang of jealousy caught Jeremiah square in the chest.
A murmur of names rolled through the room as the mages extended introductions. Five of them, including Chloe, had been with Jeremiah when they’d hidden in a deserted mining town. That had been when he’d played sacrificial goat with his poison scheme.
“Now that we all know one another,” Jeremiah cut in, “our task is to locate a group of imprisoned mages. Things are far worse than we thought. Out mage kin are no longer free. Vampires have mesmerized them and are siphoning their power. We must cut their source off at the roots.”
“Cut it off, how?” Mariel, a red-haired mage, asked in a strangled=sounding voice.