Macy’s excitement turned into confusion. “What’s up?”
“Just…” Charity shook out her arms, trying to dislodge that electricity. “I don’t know. I…”
“Out with it,” Andy said, standing and then putting his hands on his hips and bending at the waist, looking like he’d just run a mile. In the nude. “We’re all friends here.”
“Does it take a bunch of energy to change into a wolf or something?” Charity said, not able to explain the intense feeling.
“Yes. I’m tired. What’s up with that scratching at your chest? Your boobs falling off? Because that would be awful.”
Charity couldn’t help a smile at Andy’s jest. “My chest… It’s like there’s this fire trying to get out, or something. I don’t know. It’s been like this since last night, and it’s way worse today. It feels weird.”
“Magic,” Macy said as she refastened her pants. “Your body is trying to grow into its magic. It must be. It feels kind of like that when we go through the summons.”
“The summons?” Charity asked.
“Yeah,” Andy continued. “We’re shape shifters, right?” Charity nodded. As ludicrous as it sounded, she’d come to accept that. Mostly. “Right, okay. So we get to a certain stage in our lives where our bodies start to change. Like puberty, but for shape shifters. Mine came after human puberty, but a lot of people, like Devon, hit them both at the same time.”
“I did.” Macy raised her hand. “I got summoned the day after I got my period.”
“Anyway…” Andy steered Charity around a molehill. “Watch out for those.” He pointed at the small opening. “They’re not like Brink moles. They bite when you step on their front porch, and it itches for weeks. Right, so when you get summoned, your body gets all hot and feverish and strong. Way strong. You almost feel invincible. But your skin crawls, too, like it’s on too tight. Itchy, yo.”
Charity rubbed her chest. That sounded about right.
“I thought I had some sort of rash, even though I didn’t see any actual skin irritation,” Macy said.
“It’s uncomfortable.” Andy nodded. “But so is puberty in general, you know? So half the time you think everyone else is going through it, too. But then you get a, like, superhuman sense of smell. And bionic hearing. That’s not normal, right?”
“Don’t stare at that guy, Charity, he’s a jerk at the best of times.” Macy bumped Charity, knocking her stare off a being with green-tinged skin and fiery red hair.
“So then it’s up to our parents to talk us through our first change,” Andy said. “And if your parents didn’t get the gene or hate that they change and refuse to do it, like Devon’s mom—then another family member.”
“Devon’s mom?” Charity asked, remembering his look of soul-crunching loss.
“Shut up, Andy, that’s pack business.” Macy gave him a hard shove.
“It’s not like she won’t be pack soon. Or else why is Roger bothering to—”
Macy thwapped him upside the head. “Don’t get involved in whatever Roger’s got going on. Let Devon handle it.”
Andy rubbed his head, expression sour. “Let’s get this tour over with. Charity, do me a favor. If you see something that surprises you, stare at the ground.”
Chapter Fourteen
“Seriously, Devon, I know how to walk.” Charity ripped her arm out of Devon’s grip as they scaled the mountain of steep, twisty stone steps on the way to Roger’s office in one of the castle towers. Apparently they needed another powwow before she could go.
“You’ve stumbled twice,” Devon groused. “I can’t have you falling and braining yourself.”
Charity rolled her eyes as she reached the landing, tired of his attitude. “You should be more worried about me braining you.” Devon pushed her out of the way so he could shove the door open for her. “Oh yeah, real gentlemanly—abuse a girl so you can open the door.”
“Just get in, would you? I’m exhausted, and I can’t finish my mission until I get you off my plate. Sooner the better. Your magic and your attitude need a serious adjustment.”
Crazy heat flared within her, as if fanned by his words, and a smile tweaked her lips. Her hand itched for that sword.
“Yes. That.” Devon shoved her through the door and directed her down the hall. “Knock it off. It’s pissing me off.”
“Need to get me off your plate? I don’t want to be on your plate any more than you want me there, trust me,” she muttered. She entered the office, then hesitated, causing Devon to bump into her backside.
The barrel-chested alpha, Roger, stood behind a massive wood desk, tracking her movement with his different-colored eyes. A wave of shivers washed over her, her reaction to a predator in her midst. Any flare of defiance she had toward Devon dwindled as her flight reflex kicked into high gear. The whole situation was disconcerting.
“Please, sit,” Roger said, indicating one of two large leather chairs in front of the desk.
“How did you get leather in here?” Charity did as he said, lowering into the cushy chair. “I can’t imagine you kill cows in this place. Although that minotaur would probably deserve it.”
“We got the furniture here the same way we got you in here. Carried it,” Devon muttered as he sat in the chair beside her.
“Charity,” Roger began, ignoring Devon’s comment. “We need to discuss what comes next with you. Your presence at the house may have helped us derail Vlad’s plan, but as you are aware, it also created a problem. Six new vampires are now hunting humans. Given that we were able to extinguish some of their creators, they’ll have limited guidance and control. They’ll drain their food sources dry. Bodies will pile up. This is a very dangerous situation for the non-magical in the area.”
“Sorry about that,” she mumbled, because it felt like she should say something.
“I would like to employ you,” he went on. Devon shifted uncomfortably next to her. “I would like to use you to help clean up the overspill from that party. I think you could be an asset to our organization.”
Charity shook her head and pushed to the end of her seat. “Look, I’m really sorry that I got in the way, but I have a life I worked hard for. I don’t know what the status is with my roommate, but I do know I need to get back to my regularly scheduled program tomorrow. Right? Tomorrow’s Monday? Or does time move differently here?”
Roger clasped his hands on the desk. His biceps jutted out. “Time moves at the same pace, but travel time within the Realm fluctuates depending on the path. Getting from here to, say, the other side of the world could take merely an afternoon if the right paths were traveled. It could also take ten years if they weren’t.”
“I see. Okay, well, tomorrow I work in the admin office, and then Tuesday I have classes. So…I gotta go. It’s been…great, but I think it’s time for you to show me the way home.”
“You think you can just move on from this place and go back to a normal life?” Roger asked, and Charity couldn’t tell if it was a genuine question or a threat. Magic clearly existed in the world, and Roger’s job was to keep normal people from knowing about it. He’d done a bang-up job so far, since Charity still couldn’t wrap her head around any of this, but did what she’d seen incriminate her? Was knowing about the magic like seeing your kidnapper’s face?
“He wasn’t threatening you,” Devon said, as if reading her mind.
Charity didn’t mask her sigh. “Oh, good. Well, then…I think I can. I mean, I’ll always look harder—and probably avoid—the shadows, and I’ll certainly wonder about people’s secrets, but this is just one more speed bump on my life’s nightmare journey to dreamland. I can’t derail now when I’m three years away from graduating. I’ll never get another opportunity like this again. I have to move on, and so…I will.”
“I’m not asking you to give up your life,” Roger said with a glimmer in his eyes she didn’t much like. Her flight reflex kicked up a notch. “I am asking if you want to work for me.”
Roger’
s stare beat into Charity’s skull and then bounced around in there for a while, turning her defenses into jelly. Her body shivered from the strain of holding that ferocious, predatory gaze. Violent energy coiled within his skin, threatening to break free.
Devon sat unnaturally still, probably to keep from drawing that intense, commanding stare. Good Lord, Roger was terrifying.
“There are a few reasons why I don’t think that would work,” she began slowly, working through what felt like lockjaw. “First, I don’t turn into anything besides grumpy—”
Devon snorted.
“Second, I barely got out of that house. I would constantly be a hindrance. And third, I don’t have any spare time. I’m working and studying constantly. That party was a rare occurrence.”
“Quit your job at the administrative office,” Roger said. “You can’t be making much there.”
“It’s a cushy job that lets me study while I work. I need it. My scholarship won’t cover all my expenses.”
“You have a scholarship?” Roger leaned back with a quirked eyebrow. “Impressive. How much does it cover?”
“It was a full ride, but that’s just for school, books, and a meager stipend for rent. I still have to come up with money for food, clothes, and other supplies.”
Roger’s eyebrows nearly brushed his hairline now. “Wow. You must be extremely intelligent and hardworking.”
Heat filled Charity’s cheeks, and she squirmed in embarrassment. Although he was clearly trying to butter her up, it was nice to get recognition. Only her mother had ever praised her for doing so well in school.
“I did what I had to, plain and simple,” she mumbled as she picked at her nail. “But you can see now why I need to treat my education like a gold bar.”
Roger leaned forward against the desk. It almost looked like he was ready to pounce.
She gulped audibly, her whole face hot now.
“My organization pays more than your job at that school,” he said. “Much more. Quit the admin job and work for me. Devon and his men will keep you out of harm’s way”—Devon jolted, clearly hearing that news for the first time—“and I’ll make sure your balance of school and work is perfect. All you have to do is help extinguish a few vampires. Your life will only change for the better.”
He wanted to send her into battle against those nightmare creatures, and her life would change for the better? Was he joking?
She scrubbed her stupid palm against her leg, trying to quell that insufferable itching.
“Any day,” Devon grumbled under his breath.
Devon wanted her to say no. Desperately. She could see it in the tightness around his eyes, in his sagging lean against the elbow he’d planted on the chair arm, feel it in his magic beating on her, trying to subdue her. To put her in her place—beneath him.
She gritted her teeth and turned away, fighting that flame within her. This was crazy. All of it. She didn’t care about the pack social structure and where she fit within it. She didn’t care about pretty-boy jackasses with a dominance complex. And she certainly didn’t have a problem saying no when it went against everything she was working so hard for in her life.
So why couldn’t she get the words out? Why did she want to take the job just to shove it in Devon’s face?
“I want to go back to normal,” she told no one in particular. “I want to go back to when my life made sense.”
“You can get back there, you just have to accept a new normal,” Roger said. It wasn’t helpful. “Devon’s team has to work out the location of the new vampires, anyway. How about I give you a day to think about it?”
No.
It was there, right on the tip of her tongue. So easy to say, normally. Easy to say to anyone but the alpha staring at her, that was.
Then another thought occurred to her. “If all this really happened, then my roommate is a…” She couldn’t get the word out. Her voice rose in panic. “Where am I going to stay?”
“You’ll stay with Devon.”
“What?” the two cried at once.
“No,” she said, finding it easy to deny Roger this time. “No, that’ll never work. This kid has a temper problem that I don’t want any part of.”
“If you’d stop getting in my way and assaulting me with your magic, I’d—”
“I didn’t even know I had magic until today. I still don’t believe it. So clearly it is your—”
“Enough,” Roger said.
Charity’s mouth snapped shut, but not even the sudden chill freezing the air could disengage her glare from Devon. He stared back just as intently, the green and gold specks in his beautiful eyes dancing. Fire blazed between them, demanding action.
The silence lengthened.
“You have a lot of power locked up inside of you,” Roger said calmly. His eyes glinted with humor. “It lightly stings my skin when you let it out. It also calls to us—shifters, I mean. Our magic complements each other, yours and Devon’s and mine. Our style of fighting does, too. Or, at least, it once did.”
She pushed Roger’s words away. She’d had enough. “So…I have some studying to do…”
“I know this isn’t ideal for you,” Roger said, “but if your roommate has been turned, that house is no longer safe for you. Eventually she’ll return, if only because she’s hungry—”
“Hungry?” Charity squeaked.
“You’re human. You have blood. Hence, you are food,” Devon said.
“But I thought you said I was magical. Macy and Andy said— Oh my god, Andy! He’s in one of my classes. Jesus, I’m tired. I wonder why he didn’t say anything.”
“Stay on topic, please,” Devon muttered, his face pale.
“Vampires can feed off most anything,” Roger said, “but you are a human with magic. And let’s not forget that you were invited to that party. Or, at least, you were allowed to go. You could very well be in their sights. Even if Samantha doesn’t return, that doesn’t mean you’re out of danger.”
Charity’s heart sank. She’d known that, of course. They were interested in her, the vampires. That fear had been in the back of her mind the whole time; she just hadn’t wanted to bring it out and into the light.
She dropped her head into her hands, not sure where to go from here. “What kind of magic do I have? Andy and Macy seemed to think you’d know.”
“For simplicity, magical people call you a warrior fae,” Roger said.
“A warrior fae,” Charity repeated slowly. “Like a fairy?”
“A fairy is a type of fae. Warrior fae is another type,” Roger said.
“I see. Aren’t I supposed to have wings? And be short?”
“You are short,” Devon replied.
“Five-five is not—” Charity breathed through her nose for a moment, trying to ignore him. She dared not meet his eyes again. She didn’t trust herself not to flip his chair back and kick him somewhere soft.
“We’ll go over all that in time,” Roger said softly. “For now, you two need to get back to the Brink and get a good sleep. After that, Devon will create a plan that will, hopefully, include Charity.”
“You want us to go back now?” Devon jerked upright. “Not stay here until it’s time to act?”
“I think Charity has had enough excitement. Why don’t you grab some of her things from her old house, help her get comfortable?”
The vein in the Devon’s jaw pulsed. Oh no, he did not like this any more than she did. Which soothed her. At least he wouldn’t hit on her or demand constant homage to his glossy good looks.
“Charity,” Roger said, giving her a smile that seemed out of practice. “I hope to work with you soon. You are an extraordinary woman.”
The embarrassment was back. Charity tucked a lock behind her ear.
Devon stared at Roger like he’d never seen him before. In a moment, he shook himself out of his astonishment and turned to Charity. His frustrated scowl came back immediately. Charity couldn’t help but laugh.
They wouldn’t g
et along, that much was obvious. She wondered how long it would take for one of them to punch the other in the mouth, and who would break first.
Chapter Fifteen
“Charity, wait!”
Devon must’ve been a serial killer in a past life. Karma was really screwing with him. He had six newbie vamps to hunt, school to attend, a pack to lead, and somehow he had to host, protect, and keep tabs on a chick who wouldn’t stop arguing with him. The woman constantly shot him scowls barely masking her desire to clock him.
He wanted to reciprocate with all he had. But he wasn’t allowed to. Roger had made that clear. He was to be her protector—it was on him to keep her alive.
“Wait for me,” he said through gritted teeth, running across the plush green grass of Samantha Kent’s small front yard. He held his Glock low and close so as not to alarm any neighbors who might be peeking out of their windows. The last thing he needed was for someone to call the cops on him. His usual recourse—changing into a wolf and fleeing—wouldn’t be possible now that he was on protective duty. Charity would never be able to keep up on foot.
On second thought, a serial killer wouldn’t have been bad enough for karma to land him in this detail.
“It’s fine. I’ll be real quick,” she said as she reached the door.
Shadows draped across the dilapidated front porch. They’d spent far too long at the crossing between Sector Eight and the Brink thanks to Charity’s damn questions.
“Why do they call it Sector Eight?” she’d asked as they stood in front of the crossing. “And why the Brink?”
“The Realm is divided into eight sectors. Our headquarters are in Sector Eight. The Brink…just is. I don’t know. Will you come on?”
She pointed at the portal, refusing to walk right up to it. “What is this fuzzy line in the air? And is that a bench circle over there? Do people come to the border and hang out, like teenagers at a 7-Eleven?”
“It’s the tear in the fabric of the worlds that allows us to pass from one to the other. And yes, if they get tired or are waiting for someone, they hang out and rest for a while. Will you please come on?”
Warrior Fae Trapped: A DDVN Book Page 10