Som occasionally did business with the servants of the high fae. How they got into our world, I had no idea, but they did. And the fae, especially the rich ones, loved their drugs just the same as humans and shifters did; only opiates didn’t do it for them, no, it was the Digitalis Purpurea plant, or plain old Foxglove that sent them into a drug induced haze. Highly toxic and deadly to humans, fae reacted differently. It was like heroin to them. There were entire underground markets for Digitalis leaves and dried flowers—anything the fae could get, in any form, was in demand, and Som provided the lot—with a little help from me as a mule and dealer when he needed it.
It was nearing dawn when I slowed to a walk. My wolf’s muscles screamed and her whole body shook. The stench of rotten food and the sour smell of the Thames banks mixed with the smell of sewage and salt. My wolf balked, but I encouraged her to keep going.
Nearly there, brave one. It’s best if I take control now. I know the way well. She whimpered, her legs shaking.
Soon, a painted green gate appeared. Bolting around the corner, I leaped onto the old wall that followed the edge of the Thames. Brown water surged below, full of shit and silt as the tide ebbed. I teetered on unsteady legs, the bag I carried in my jaws unbalancing me. I stopped and straightened, calming my wolf’s anxious spirit, then inched along the wall. If we fell that would be it for her; not so much for me. Fire always stepped in to protect me if she sensed my end was near. It would still suck to drown in that swirling, brown mess though.
I took a breath and lowered my head. I’d done this balancing act many times before—and I could do it now—except I was shaking like a leaf and my wolf was new—and scared.
I sent a burst of warmth along her bones, trying to reassure her that we were in this together. The wind eddied around us as I took more careful steps. Slowly, we progressed along our treacherous route.
Som had no idea how I continually got into his compound. No matter how hard he looked, he’d never found my entrance—or at least that’s what he said.
About twenty feet along the river wall the boundary to Som’s compound appeared. The wall loomed twelve feet high and was topped with razor wire. I’d never attempted to go over it. Instead, I dropped down into a small space between the two walls. I shifted, and my wolf receded without hesitation. The shift was painful and far slower than usual. We were both drained and not yet familiar with each other, but I knew precisely how to twist my human body to fit into the confined space under the storage building. I pushed in through the hole in the wall I’d found as a child. I’d grown, but I still managed to squeeze through it. I crawled along on my belly, ignoring the pebbles and rough ground that scored my breasts and stomach, and scratched my limbs.
The space became tighter, but I didn’t panic. Instead I pushed through, dragging the bag behind me with my foot through its handle. About seven feet further along it opened out into a two foot high foundation space under another storehouse. I tugged on the wolf who was becoming a part of me. She scrambled to do my bidding, fear of what I would ask of her filtering down our link. I swallowed my anger. The shifter who had been gifted this beautiful spirit had really done a number on her.
I will never harm you, I reassured her gently. She whined in acknowledgement and pushed through my skin. I encouraged her to clamp her teeth around my bag, ignoring my need to fall down and sleep. Skulking through the foundations, I used my nose to push at the loose grate under the steps of the store room. It swung in the center like a flap, just as it had always done. Cautiously, I waited in the shadows for a moment and sniffed the air. The compound was silent. There was the faint scent of the two guards who patrolled, but nothing unusual. I grabbed the handles of my bag in my teeth and darted out. It took only moments to reach the set of metal stairs that led up to a heavy wooden door.
Once I’d negotiated the steps, I raised up on my hind legs and scratched at the door. Flakes of red paint floated down and stuck in my fur. My shaking body wouldn’t hold me up for long. My wolf’s determination to do as I wished filtered into me. We can do this. I shook the paint off and lifted on my back legs again, scratching harder. The hinges on the door were loose and old so it banged loudly against my assault. Above me a camera blinked, it’s red light like a tiny eye.
“All right! All right! I’m coming! Quit scratching my door!” Som’s raspy voice was almost a comfort.
I watched the handle. It moved down and the door was pushed open. I launched myself inside.
Som staggered back. “Jeez, give me a chance to open it, girlie!”
I skidded to a halt, my claws slipping on the old wooden flooring.
Som’s beady black eyes widened. “Yee gods! Where ya been, girlie? Ya stink like shit and death.”
I snarled. Of course I did.
I changed back and stood as naked as the day I was born in front of Som.
Yeah, I was way past being embarrassed about my nakedness. Plenty of people had seen it now—and I didn’t care.
Som raised his brows, but I knew he wasn’t in the least bit interested in my human female form. Bogwarts didn’t have sexual reproductive organs. They could not reproduce, they were a freak of nature said to be born from the womb of the Bogwart Queen herself, birthed into the mud and sludge in the darkest reaches of Orth, the dark realm of Faerie.
I didn’t care where Som came from. All I knew was that I was safe with him; well, from sexual attention, anyway. I didn’t trust him as far as I could throw him otherwise, and that wasn't far. He was about four feet tall and about the same in girth. His face was squashed and his teeth black. He wore an old, stained Queen T-shirt and trousers with braces to hold them up, and he reeked worse than I ever could, no matter what I’d rolled in.
He smoothed his wisp of greasy grey hair into his combover style and frowned at my naked body.
“Why d’ya stink of shit, blood and death, girlie?”
“I need a place to crash and work. Can you fix me up?” I sidestepped his question. Like most fae, Bogwarts could smell a lie a mile off. Som had told me the fae couldn’t lie, or rather that the high fae couldn’t, but it seemed many other castes were learning to—or at least learning to twist the truth very well. Thinking of Walker, I wondered if that stretched to betrayal, too. Perhaps that was why he hadn’t said much. Not speaking had meant he didn’t need to worry about lying.
Som rubbed his triple chin with his long spindly fingers. His attention narrowed in on my bag. “Depends how long you’re going to commit for. And remember who you’re dealing with.”
I cocked my head, ready for this negotiation. My family was gone. I was on my own again. Even if I wanted to go back, or was stupid enough to go back to that holding prison, Connor and Rawson would be gone. I armoured my heart against the pain that squeezed it and concentrated on my future. If I was going to survive, I needed help, money and anonymity. And if I was going to find Walker, I needed access to Faerie. “Depends what you're offering.” Striking a deal with a fae was binding. If I broke it, I’d belong to Som forever, and according to faerie law that would mean I’d have no rights whatsoever.
Som grinned, looking like the greedy fae he was. He could use me—earn money from me–and we both knew it. But I was using him just as much. “You sure you wanna do this, girlie?”
I swallowed and nodded.
“Fine. You can have a place to stay and I’ll give you paid work—plenty of it. But you have to be my mule; my little digitalis dealer, with my own kind.”
My mouth dried out. Not with fear, but with anticipation. “You want me to go through the gates? Into Faerie?”
Som grinned. “Sure do, buttercup. And you have to take an oath. A faerie oath to keep this quiet from the authorities. If you ever get caught—by either side—you cannot tell them who you work for. You cannot inform the authorities how you enter Faerie, nor who you get the merchandise from that you will sell. If you break this oath, you will belong to me until I am willing to dissolve my claim on you.”
I wante
d to laugh at that, but I didn’t. That threat didn’t hold anything over my head, not anymore. The only people who had ever given a shit about me were gone. Violently. Doherty was dangerous. He had an agenda that had nothing to do with the SBI and all I could do now was lay low and hope he forgot about me.
“Sure, Som. I’ll be your Yellow. But you have to pay me fifty percent of the take from any deals there.”
“Fifty!? No way!”
“Come on, Som, you can’t go into Faerie. They’d sense you straight away. I can get through your gate because of what I am, and I know Blue does it. She can teach me. You know it’s getting risky for your customers to send people here to pick up their stash. And the SBI is looking for illegal portals to Faerie, so unless you can send us and then close the gate after us, they’ll track you down.” I had no idea if that was true, but I needed to give Som a push to strike this deal with me.
Som continued to stroke his triple chins and he was silent for long enough to make my heart race.
I kept my face impassive.
“Fine, but ten percent.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “Don’t insult me, Som. I’ve known you too long, and I know how much I can earn you. Forty five.”
“Yeah, but you're more desperate than I am.” He inhaled. “I can smell it.”
I cocked a brow at him. “Really? Like I can’t survive on my own? You’re not the only dealer I know, Som.” I infused an edge of warning in my voice.
“Fine. Twenty percent.”
Hands on my naked hips, I shook my head. “Come on now. Forty.”
“Twenty five.”
“Thirty five. And I’ll use this to sweeten any deals in Faerie if our clients get awkward.” I gestured to my body. I had no intention of prostituting myself, but Som didn’t need to know that. Fae loved to lose themselves in human lovers. It was some kind of dominance or hormone thing—or something. I didn’t care; I just knew that no fae was getting me. Any potential clients didn’t need to know I wasn’t totally human, and I knew Som would keep my mixed blood quiet.
Som glanced over my body. Once I would have died of shame, but not anymore. A whole pack of alphas had seen my naked body less than forty eight hours ago. I was strong, fit and had enough toned muscles, hidden strength and fighting ability not to be too worried about going to Faerie, especially if I got to work alongside Blue. She’d teach me all I’d need to know.
Som grunted. “Thirty percent. And that’s only because I know I can trust you.”
I almost laughed out loud. No one could trust me, not even I trusted me. Instead, I smiled and held out my hand. “Deal.”
Som took it.
His skin was slimy and cold against mine. I tried not to balk.
“You sure, Yellow?” he said, using my new name.
“I’m sure, but I get to break the contract after two years if I’m still alive, not in prison, or just want to move on.”
“Three years. But I think you’ll want to stay, Yellow. After all, something tells me you ain’t got that nice safe human haven anymore. Have ya?”
I just smiled. Som didn’t know much about me other than I was a shifter and I’d been fostered by a lovely human family. Lies always helped with the fae. They thought humans were as bad at lying as they were. Besides the best lies were always based in truth, and I wasn’t about to give Som any information about what had just happened, or who might be searching for me. He’d drop me like a hot coal and then I’d have nowhere to go.
I was about to pull my hand away when Som gripped me harder.
“Hold on, Yellow, I’m not done yet. Let’s seal the deal, faerie style.”
Pain zipped up my arm and into the simmering core of my magic. I hissed. I couldn’t stop my other spirit reacting and heat burned through my blood. I closed my eyes, forcing Fire to retreat. Disgruntled at the surge of faerie magic, she curled back up, but not without spitting her displeasure at being bound to a magical contract.
“There.” Som wheezed a laugh, his belly jiggling up and down. “Now, go get a shower and cover your skinny human ass with some clothes. You can bunk with Blue.”
“Oh, I’m sure she’ll love that.” But I was already grabbing my bag.
Som chuckled. “I’m certain of it.”
The Bogwart waddled away. Wincing, I inspected the thick dark tattoo that had been burned onto my hand and arm. It wasn’t pretty. Thick vines and thorns twisted around my skin, drops of blood falling where they appeared to pierce my flesh.
I scowled and flexed my fingers. There was nothing to be done about it, so I made my way up the creaking stairs and threw open the door to Blue’s room.
I dropped my bag with a thud and grinned at the woman lounging on the single bed. “Hi, roomie!” Her slim fingers didn’t pause in their task of tossing and catching a small knife.
I didn’t flinch when the knife whizzed past my ear, taking a few strands of my red hair with it before it thudded into the door frame.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Blue’s pencil perfect brows dipped, joining the scowl on her face.
I met her gaze. “Nope. I’m here to stay, bitch, so get used to it.”
“Yay!” Blue squealed and vaulted off the bed. She ran across the small room, her bare feet slapping on the floor boards. It took some effort not to fall over when she slammed her much taller body into mine and wrapped me in a fierce hug.
I patted her back. “Well, okay then.”
Blue pulled back. Her dyed cerulean hair was plaited down either side of her head and she wore her signature leather trousers and a blue vest top. Her deep brown eyes darkened. “So that’s good and everything, but I know you, something bad happened if you’re bunking here. Wanna talk about it?”
I sighed, my stomach tightening. The events of the last few days were too raw to tell even my one and only friend. “No, not yet. But I need to stay under the radar of everyone, even the underworld, so I struck a deal with Som.” I shrugged even as her eyes narrowed. “I’m here for the foreseeable future.”
“You are?” Blue contemplated me, her expression dark. “You haven’t got yourself stuck in a faerie contract like me, have you? Not that I don't want you here—I do, I just don’t want to think of you as imprisoned, like me. I mean it’s so easy to make a mistake. Som owns me now. I don’t want him to own you, too.”
“Hey,” I said jumping on the other small bed. “I’m here and I’m fine. Let’s concentrate on that. I'll be his little digitalis dealer from now on, well, for the next three years anyway, so just call me Yellow.”
“Okay.” Blue sighed, but knew better than to push the subject. Then she grinned and reached under her bed. She straightened and dangled a bottle of vodka from her fingers. “Well then, Yellow, welcome to the beginning of your new life. Let’s celebrate and hope whatever you’re running from doesn’t find you and bite you in the arse, and that you live long enough to see the end of your contract and get out of here.”
I forced a smile on my face, my fingers closing around the bottle, then I took a long drink. The alcohol burned right into that hollow space inside my gut.
“That’s it, bitch. Drink it down and forget your last life. You belong to Som now.”
Once we’d drunk the lot and eaten a chicken sandwich Blue had conjured from the kitchen, I tipped my head back, closed my eyes and floated away on an alcohol-fuelled buzz. My bed and the room spun uncomfortably. Connor’s vivid blue eyes as he told me to run were all I could see. The ache in my throat was unbearable, and tears burned behind my closed lids.
I wouldn’t leave here even when my contract was finished. Where the hell else would I go?
I took a slow deep breath and gritted my teeth. It was fine. I was fine. This was just another beginning, one of several I’d survived in my life. Against my will, a stray tear escaped. Only there were no pink carpets, or fluffy bunny rabbits; no Lyss or Rawson, and definitely no Connor with this new start. I filed away my lovely memories of Lyss and Rawson, but reserved a special corner
of my soul for the man who had stolen my heart. Another tear trailed down my cheek. I knew I would treasure those memories no matter what else happened in my life. But now I had to try and piece together the broken shards of my heart and soul, enough to survive this new life. And survive I would. Life was fluid, forever changing, and when it turned to shit again, I’d fight my way through the sludge and move on to my next new beginning.
Epilogue
Connor
* * *
Snow swirled in front of me making it difficult to see. I rubbed the crusted blood from under my nose and studied the unimpressive building on the far side of the tarmac landing strip. It looked unassuming and small, but that didn’t mean a thing. My attention moved to the surrounding area. The whole place was covered in a white blanket of snow, the heavy flakes making it impossible to see clearly in the dark. Only the runway had been cleared and was illuminated. I squinted, pretty sure that trees edged the area of clear ground around the fenced compound. The double fence was too tall to jump, even for a shifter, and the thick posts told me it was fed with electric current.
I shuddered from the bone-deep cold and inhaled. Pine sap, snow and fresh air. No cloying exhaust emissions, or the stink of a nearby city. We were in the middle of nowhere.
I shivered. My shirt was a memory, burned by Ember in our escape attempt, and my naked chest stung from the vicious cold. With effort, I stood tall, trying not to curl into a ball to keep from freezing to death. My teeth chattered, so I clenched them together. This damn cold had no mercy; it slayed my skin and gripped my lungs, trying to rip them from my chest. On top of that, the silver collar burned, leaving blisters as my wolf tried to push through to save me. All he could do was howl and snarl against his forced imprisonment in my body.
Shadow Sentinels: Beginnings (A Paranormal/Urban Fantasy Wolf Shifter Romance) Page 13