by Ann Gimpel
“Jer?” Chloe’s telepathy cut through the mush his thoughts had been. “Please try. We’re all rooting for you.”
“I’ll be okay.” He aimed for reassuring, but his words were strained.
“He heard me. He heard me!” Chloe shrieked from somewhere close by. “Renee. He finally heard me.”
“Excellent news.” Relief thrummed beneath Renee’s words. “Hang on. I’m not quite done.”
Jeremiah would have grinned if he could. He’d rejoined the world outside the lion’s body. “It’s all right,” he reassured the lion. “I don’t blame you for anything. We won. We killed them, and we’ll live to fight another day.”
“Spoken like a true warrior. I’m proud to call you bondmate.”
Gratitude surged. They’d moved past their initial feinting around each other. The lion may have chosen him, but neither had been sure of the other until their bond was tested.
Between burning mages and the vampire confrontation, they’d solidified their connection, forged it into an unbreakable pledge.
“Renee?” If Chloe could hear him, it boded well for telepathy getting through.
“Yup. You are one stubborn bastard, but you’re going to pull through.” She didn’t bother with telepathy. No need. He heard her loud and clear.
The words were so typically Renee, he wanted to pull her into his arms and never let go. Kiss her until she melted against him. He settled for, “Thank you. You saved my life. And my bondmate too.” Encouraged he summoned power, intent on shifting.
“Nooooo,” she screeched. “No shifting until I’m done. What began on one form must be completed on the same form. If you shift now, goddess only knows what the result will be. I haven’t worked this hard, expended gobs of magic only to—”
“It’s all right,” he cut in. “Tell me when you’re ready.”
“You’re not going to argue with me?” Incredulity underscored her words.
“Appears he has more sense than you give him credit for.” Niall’s brogue was welcome. Jeremiah wanted to hug him too. And Chloe and Stephan and every single mage.
He projected his consciousness beyond the lion lying on its side. They were in Golddust, but he’d known that part. His housemates sat in a circle around the lion. Stephan, Sarai, Niall, and Renee were bent over him, feeding magic into long cuts scoring the lion’s rib cage, rump, and chest.
He remembered when the eagle shifter had healed him. Different poison, same strategy. Provide exit points and lure the poison out.
“Will we need to roll over?” he asked.
“Think I liked it better when you were comatose,” Renee mumbled.
“He’s only trying to help.” Defensiveness ran hot beneath Chloe’s words.
“Sorry. I know. I’m tired, but that’s not a good excuse.” Renee exhaled in a whoosh.
Flashes of heat scored him where she closed the wounded places, sealing them with magic.
The lion purred and scrambled upright, swaying slightly on its feet.
“Hang on,” Renee cautioned. “I need to check the side that was in the dirt.” She ran her hands over the lion, dusting debris from its tawny coat. The lion purred louder, and the corners of Renee’s mouth twitched into something that looked suspiciously like a smile.
Jeremiah wished he was human, that her warm touch was traversing his flesh, not the lion’s fur. If he’d had a cock, it would have stirred, but the lion seemed impervious to sexual imagery. Good thing. He didn’t want to embarrass himself.
“We’re good,” the lion informed him. “A bit of residual toxin, but nothing I can’t clear on my own.”
Jeremiah waited for Renee’s permission. She’d risked herself when she didn’t have to. He’d told her to leave, but she’d remained by his side. Ceding control over when he shifted to her judgement was a small concession.
One he was more than willing to make.
“What are you waiting for?” the lion pressed. “I would return to the animals’ world where I can complete my healing.”
“Renee. I’m waiting for her.”
“I heard that.” Her tone was dry, but this time understated humor laced into her words. “Go ahead, shifter. Find your human form. I’ve done all I can. By the goddess’s grace, it was enough.”
He opened himself, letting the unfamiliar shift magic run through him. Bones reformed, skin reshaped itself. Fur fell away, replaced by the familiar planes of his body.
A roar blasted from his mouth, followed by a deep purr rumbling through his chest. “I shall return presently,” the lion informed him.
Jeremiah turned in a circle, gazing at men and women he’d known for centuries, staring at him gape-mouthed.
Chloe moved to his side and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “Does anyone have a jacket to spare?”
Johnny, Raul, and Liam shrugged out of theirs, offering them.
“I only need one,” Jeremiah said, moved by their generosity. “I’ll take Raul’s. It’s longest.” He shrugged into it, grateful for its fur-lined warmth. A quick glance at the sky showed the sun skirting the western horizon. It had been dawn when they’d arrived.
Realization carved a path through him. “We were here all day?”
Chloe nodded. “The healing took a long time.”
“Aye, mate,” Niall spoke up. “’Tis worried I was we were too late, that the poison had too great a toehold to defeat.”
“Had it been any bondmate other than your lion,” Sarai cut in, “we might not have been so fortunate.”
“Your beast is strong,” Renee said from where she’d sunk to a squat in the center of the circle. “Still, it was indeed nip and tuck.” An oversized gray-flannel shirt covered her, no doubt borrowed since she’d have been naked after she shifted. Her legs, long and shapely, were bent beneath her, and her bare feet streaked with dirt.
Jeremiah bent and offered her a hand. She took it and let him draw her upright. Lines of strain carved deep into her forehead and inscribed pinwheels at the outer edges of her eyes. If he assessed her with his own power, he’d find hers had run perilously low.
Still holding her hand, he bowed to her. When he straightened, he said, “I owe you my life. Words are inadequate, but you have my undying thanks.”
She shrugged, and color rose, dotting her cheeks. “I’m a healer. It’s what I do.”
“Bullshit,” Niall said succinctly. “I’ve never seen anyone work harder, draw deeper from themselves than you did today. My hat is off to you, Madam Healer. You refused to acknowledge defeat.”
“Even when it stared you in the face,” Stephan muttered. “I was here too. I felt death’s presence.”
Renee turned a deeper shade of rose. “I don’t like to lose.” She tugged her hand out of Jeremiah’s, leaving an empty spot he yearned to fill, and went to stand next to Niall and Sarai.
Johnny approached Jeremiah. “When were you going to tell us about your, uh, new magic?” The mage shook black hair over his shoulders.
“It’s a fair question,” Jeremiah agreed. “This transformation is brand new—”
“I told them that,” Chloe butted in. “I told them everything. How you thought it would be best to wait until after we visited Mitch’s stronghold, so as not to muddy the waters. How you—”
“Whoa.” Jeremiah held up a hand.
“It was all right,” Johnny said. “Chloe loves you. She wasn’t trying to steal your thunder.”
“You weren’t here to speak for yourself,” Raul pointed out.
“I’m not angry,” Jeremiah said, pleased the mages were defending his sister “Do any of you have questions? I wasn’t trying to pull something sneaky or hide my bondmate. In truth, I was still getting used to the idea of being a shifter. It’s a pretty big leap after being a mage for centuries and growing up steeped in hatred for the other side of our magical circle.”
There it was. He’d tossed the issue of their mutual ambivalence out on the table. More than ambivalence. They’d been at war with their shifter cousins. It
was one of the things that had driven all of them from the Old Country. The never-ending hostilities—along with rabid clerics out for their blood. America was a bigger place than the U.K. or even Europe. More room to spread out.
“I’ll admit I was plenty pissed when Chloe told us,” Raul spoke slowly. “But I’ve had all day to get past it.” He grinned crookedly. “If you scratch the surface and are honest, not a mage standing hasn’t wished for a bond animal at one time or another.”
“I believe things may be changing,” Sarai said.
“What do you mean?” Niall asked.
“My psychic pursuits don’t yield precise answers, but we’re at the tail end of all twelve of the major astrological ages, an epoch that takes almost thirty thousand years from start to finish. Significant changes are afoot as we embark on the next cycle. One may have to do with the schism between mages and shifters. It only showed up at the tail end of the current cycle, and it appears to be repairing itself.”
“My lion said much the same thing,” Jeremiah murmured.
“As did my eagle,” Renee added.
“Excellent news,” Johnny said. “I’m old enough to barely recall when we were one people.”
Jeremiah angled his head to one side. “Do you remember why some of us picked the mage path and others a shifter one?”
“Not with any level of precision. Naturally, mages who’d already bonded retained their mates. The new generation of magic wielders that came along around the time of the Crusades were different. Some bonded. Others never found an animal to link with. Over time, we evolved into mages and shifters. Rather than hanging onto our common magical roots, we became mired in distrust for one another.”
He stopped to take a measured breath. “On my side, I was one of those who never bonded. I recall being frustrated and angry, feeling cheated out of what should have been my birthright. It wasn’t a quantum leap from there to signing on with disgruntled mages who lost sight of our commonalities and homed in on our differences instead.”
“Maybe if we put energy toward repairing the breach, we can hasten healing and ensure we never have a repeat of today.” Jeremiah swallowed around a tight place in his throat.
“Today was pretty horrible.” Chloe grimaced. “I talked tough about killing the other mages, but the only way I got through it was by not thinking and powering forward.”
“It’s the only way any of us got through it, lass,” Niall muttered.
Jeremiah unclenched his jaw. “Other than Mitch’s relatives, did you recognize anyone?” He’d been so thunderstruck by the sheer numbers of shackled mages, he hadn’t taken the time to inspect them. To put a finer point on it, he’d been afraid if he identified too many, he wouldn’t have been able to call mage fire to kill them.
He gazed at the mages, seeing sad, slow nods all around the circle. His heart ached for his friends. “I’m not sure this will help, but even if we had another shot at today, I’d make the same decision. Not that evil can’t be salvaged, but we barely escaped the vampires as things stood.”
“They’ll still be a problem.” Johnny spoke flatly.
“Maybe not. We wiped out the magic that was strengthening them,” Chloe said.
“Nah.” Stephan walked closer. “They’ve had a taste of freedom. They’ll not retreat to their nasty shadows easily. Beyond that, we’ve pissed the crap out of them. They’ll be out for blood.” He skewered Jeremiah with his unremitting gaze. “How many did you kill today—after the rest of us left?”
“Six vamps showed up. Only two of them are dead for certain. The others are injured, courtesy of Renee’s beak and an impromptu trip down the river, but they can recover from most anything.”
Stephan raked his hands through his blond hair. “You can bet they won’t rest until they avenge your attack. Sarai and I were among the first to be captured as they experimented with their enhanced power. And Marie.”
Jeremiah bowed his head. “I am so sorry for the loss of your mate.”
Shadows flitted across Stephan’s face. “I vowed when I lost her, I wouldn’t rest until the last vampires were defanged—or ran from this country knowing if they stayed, it would spell their doom.”
“What happens next?” Renee asked, so weary she swayed on her feet.
“We go home and get some rest,” Jeremiah said.
“Good plan, but where?” Sarai countered. “After today, the vamps have all our scents. I hope I’m wrong, but I’d be surprised if they didn’t launch an attack. And sooner, rather than later.”
“Our house is big enough to accommodate four more,” Chloe said. “How about where you live?”
“Fourteen would be tight,” Stephan said. “I’d prefer to return to my home, but the prudent course is for us to join you.”
Jeremiah pressed his lips together to hide the smile that wanted out. Renee would be under the same roof with him. He could test the waters with her. Thank her again. Tell her how much he admired her. How beautiful she was. How brave. How much he wanted to protect her for the rest of their lives.
What a fucking coward I am. What I need to tell her is I’m falling in love with her.
A quick glance in her direction convinced him she needed sleep far more than a mistimed declaration of love. They were fighting on the same side, and they felt a whole lot more like allies than they had twenty-four hours before, but nothing else had changed.
She still didn’t like him. Yeah, she’d gone all out to save him, but it was the cave lion she’d been attending to. One of the most ancient bond animals. Of course, she’d do everything in her power to ensure its survival. His was ancillary.
He squared his shoulders. Weariness dogged him too. Nothing like engaging in genocide for a generation’s worth of mages, almost dying himself, and living through intransigent pain to sap a man.
“Ready to leave?” Chloe asked from where she stood next to him.
“Yeah. Ready to fall on my face is more like it.”
“We’ll meet at your place,” Niall called.
“Be there soon,” Sarai added.
Jeremiah didn’t like the sound of that. He leveled his gaze at the four shifters. “You’re going home first, aren’t you?”
Stephan nodded. “Yes, but only long enough to grab clean clothes.”
“We’ll be in and out of there fast,” Sarai said. She tried to smile, but it didn’t quite happen.
“Bad idea,” Jeremiah retorted. “What if vamps are there? They wouldn’t even have to track you. They know where you live. It’s where they nabbed you the day they killed Marie.”
Stephan squeezed his eyes shut, and Jeremiah chided himself for being so blunt, but these were harsh times. No latitude to sugarcoat anything. Not really. Before he could stumble through an apology, Stephan rolled his shoulders back.
“You’re right, of course. None of us are thinking all that clearly right now.”
“And nowhere is safe,” Renee mumbled. “It’s the hardest part for me to wrap my head around. I keep thinking it’s a normal world and business as usual because I want it to be true.”
His heart cracked open; the need to shelter her from harm ran fierce. It took all his self-control not to go to her, gather her close.
“Come on.” Chloe clapped her hands together. “There’s a pot of soup on the back of the stove and fresh bread. We’ll all do better with a spot of food—and a few hours of shut-eye.”
Jeremiah waited until magic boiled around the group, turning the air vivid with colors. Once he was convinced everyone was headed for their rambling Victorian in Silverthorne, he called magic of his own and set a travel spell to take him home.
Renee would be there. Even if she didn’t want him, just being in proximity to her made him feel whole. He’d take his victories as he could get them. They made the wasteland today had been easier to stomach.
Chapter 10
Renee barely remembered eating. Or dressing. One of the female mages had loaned her a pair of jeans, a long-sleeved T-shirt,
and underwear. Someone had scrounged a pair of sandals that almost fit, along with thick woolen socks. Once they were done eating, Chloe had led the way upstairs, opened a door, and showed her where bed linens and towels were, but making the bed felt quite beyond her. She’d pitched onto a double bed in a room on the third floor, not bothering to remove her borrowed garments beyond the shoes. Once she was prone, she rolled herself into a quilt and called it even.
She woke with a start, staring into the dark. Where was she? And then she remembered. They were all at Jeremiah’s house. It had been on the early side when she’d passed out, and now it was deep night. Maybe two or three in the morning. She unwound the quilt and found her way to a nearby bathroom, splashing cold water on her face once she got there. She’d never undressed, and she padded downstairs to the kitchen, intent on finding more to eat.
She still felt hollow inside, as if there wasn’t enough food or rest in the world to wipe out the day she’d lived through.
“Throw yourself a pity party, why don’t you?” she mumbled as she wandered into the kitchen, her stocking-clad feet cold on the hardwood floor. They’d finished the homemade soup, but a quick riffle through the pantry turned up a can of chili. She dragged a can opener off the wall and transferred the contents to a small saucepan.
While it heated on the stove, she cracked a beer, savoring the bite as it traveled down her throat. Deciding lukewarm was good enough, she turned off the flame beneath her pot and moved to the table, placing the small saucepan on a towel. She’d polished most of it off when footsteps caught her attention.
Damn. She hoped she’d been quiet and hadn’t wakened anyone.
Jeremiah walked into the kitchen, stopping shy of the table. He was wrapped in a threadbare white terry cloth robe that clung to his broad shoulders, highlighting muscles and the elegant lines of his body. He offered a perfunctory nod before looking away. “I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to disturb your meal.”
“You didn’t. I’m nearly done, or I’d offer to share it with you.” She grinned. “There’s more chili. I’m a whiz with a can opener. Want me to heat some for you?” Renee picked up the beer and drank deeply. She’d treated him almost like a friend. Probably a bad approach since he didn’t like her much. He was plenty grateful she’d saved his bondmate—and him—but it wasn’t the same as appreciating her for herself.