My pride and anger insisted I stay put and not give Ronan the satisfaction of seeing me run, but my legs were on the verge of mutiny. I commanded myself to stand strong against him. This was the fucking monster who had played me, tricked me into having sex with him, then nearly killed me. Not just me, but he had set up a trap to kill Lochlan and was helping to let Fae onto Earth.
“Did you kill the brownie?” I asked with gritted teeth.
“Ah, so you found my little present. It wasn’t very nice of him to interfere in our discussion the other night, something like that can’t go unpunished.”
“You’re just a fucking coward hurting those who are smaller than yourself. And if you can’t outright hurt someone, you weasel your way into their lives and stab them in the back when they least expect it. How long have you been lying in wait, leaking information and plotting to hurt the men that were your brothers?” My calm façade quickly slipped away and temper got the better of me as I shot accusations at him.
Ronan stepped forward, his features rigid and hands clenched. “You walked into our world five minutes ago and you think you know anything about us? I’ve known them for centuries and they deserve everything they get and more.”
“If anyone deserves anything it’s you—you deserve to die.” I didn’t think more hate-filled words had ever left my lips and I felt zero remorse.
“That’s probably true, but it’s not going to happen, not anytime soon.” His lips curled up in a vile grin.
What an injustice for someone so evil to have dimples. Only kindhearted, good-humored people should be allowed to sport dimples, otherwise it was false advertising. Like a vampire bunny or a rabid puppy, dimples and insanity just didn’t go together.
“The Hunt is after you, they’ll find you, and when they do you’ll wish you had never even considered turning your back on them.”
“It’s not turning my back on them if I was never on their side.”
“So whose side are you on? Who is it you’re working with?”
His hand shot forward and a blast of energy slammed into me, throwing me back against a large tree. The air wheezed from my chest upon impact and I fell to my hands and knees struggling to breathe. As soon as air began to filter back into my screaming lungs, I scrambled for my purse where I had stashed the knife Lochlan had given me. Relief flooded me when my fingers wrapped around the hilt of the knife and I threw myself backward sitting against the trunk of the tree.
When my eyes flew up to Ronan’s, his grin widened with sick delight. Not only was he not deterred by my knife, I was pretty sure he was turned on by the sight. My hand shook violently and my heart was close to pounding out of my chest.
Just then a feral growl sounded from around the side of the tree I had leaned against, so deep and guttural that it resonated through my chest. My eyes cut to the right, wondering what new horror I had to face. Well above my head was the enormous white muzzle of a dog. His snarling lip was curled back with his teeth bared and saliva dripped from his jowls. Head low in warning, his black eyes were trained on Ronan as he slowly advanced.
I was stunned, not only because the beast had Ronan retreating, but because I would have bet money that the wolf-like dog was the same one I had seen out at the Beltany stone circle. A month prior I would have said that it was impossible, but that word no longer fit in my vocabulary.
The beast was enormous up close, weighing nearly two hundred pounds, and each of his coiled muscles was poised and ready to leap at Ronan.
“Get out of here,” he spat at the dog, sweat beading on his brow as he tried to assert his dominance over the dog with his command.
It hadn’t worked. In fact, the beast snapped his teeth in Ronan’s direction before growling even louder and positioning himself between me and Ronan.
Ronan’s maniacal eyes flew back and forth between us, his face screwed up in anger and frustration, before he spat at the dog. “A mutt and a human girl aren’t going to stop us. I’ll be back for you, Rebecca.”
And then he blinked out of sight.
As quickly as it had started, it was over. The giant beast continued a low growl as he scanned our surroundings. Once he was convinced the threat had gone, he relaxed and turned to face me.
I wasn’t sure if I had some innate sense that the dog wouldn’t hurt me or if I had reached my maximum tolerable terror level and passed into a state of shock. Regardless of the reason, I couldn’t bring myself to fear the dog and instead relief swam through me with dizzying effects. I sank back into the tree and my shaking hand that had still brandished the knife dropped to the ground. The dog sat back on his haunches and gave a small tilt of his head as if I intrigued him.
“Thank you. You’re quite the knight in shining armor coming to my rescue like that,” I offered to the dog, who then tilted his head to the other side. I gathered my purse and tote, continuing to hold the knife in my sweaty palm. When I gingerly stood on my shaking legs, the dog stood too and looked at me expectantly. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”
I hobbled back toward the gate with my giant white shadow in tow. “You can go home now.” I waved my empty hand toward him, attempting to shoo him away, but it had no effect. On a defeated sigh, I turned and slowly made my way home.
When I reached the front door to my apartment, I held it open as my new companion trotted inside and then proceeded to make himself at home on the couch. I gave a small laugh as I shook my head and walked inside but my smile instantly fell as my eyes landed on the kitchen table. The tissue box coffin lay empty, leaves undisturbed. I assumed his family had retrieved him hoped they knew how heroic the little brownie had been. It was with a heavy heart that I lumbered upstairs to change.
By the time I was ready to go to Lochlan’s for our training session the dog was out cold. “Hey big guy, time to get up. I need to leave so you have to go back outside.”
His eyes peeked open but he made no move to separate himself from the couch.
I walked over with the intent of pulling the dog off my sofa but chickened out at the last second—he was enormous and while he had helped save me, that was not necessarily a guarantee that he wouldn’t decide to eat me.
“Here’s the deal, if I let you stay inside you had better mind yourself. If I come back and find so much as a cracker out of place or a single thing chewed up, your ass is gone.” I looked at him as sternly as I could with my hands on my hips but he seemed entirely unimpressed.
With one more warning, I closed the door and prayed the giant beast wouldn’t destroy my apartment. I was completely sapped of energy, but that attack was exactly why I couldn’t afford to skip training. However, there was no reason I had to walk all the way there and waste what little energy I had left so I caught a cab and enjoyed a moment of calm silence to process what had happened.
Fergus had sent me out into the graveyard—had he known Ronan was there? I couldn’t believe that Fergus had intended me any harm, but two weeks ago I wouldn’t have imagined Ronan would have tried to hurt me either. We desperately needed to get the sword to help us determine who was friend and who was not.
When I walked into the building lobby I found it empty. I took the elevator to the club level where I tracked down Lochlan busy in his office.
“You ready?”
In response he simply stood and led the way to the elevator. Heaven forbid the man engage in an exchange of standard pleasantries, but I was too worn down to give him a hard time. All I could muster was an eye roll aimed at his back as I followed him down to the basement.
After my warm-up and more work on punches, we added in a couple of evasive maneuvers to break free of an attacker’s hold.
“How did you feel after yesterday’s practice?” Lochlan asked as I worked some punching combinations.
“Fine. I thought I might be at least a little sore or worn down, but my body feels great.”
“As a Fae your muscle recovery rate will be significantly faster, but I suspect it will take some time before you
r mind recalibrates to your new abilities. Until then you may expect to tire faster than you actually do or think an injury is worse than it is.”
“Ow!” I had failed to block one of his strikes and he tagged me right in the cheek, again. While my body was in prime condition, my mind was distracted from Ronan’s attack and my performance with Lochlan was less than stellar.
“Pay attention, where’s your head tonight?”
“I am paying attention, you’re the one talking to me about muscle fatigue and distracting me.” I forced as much energy as I could into my next series of punches, angry at myself for making unnecessary mistakes.
“You have to be able to focus better than that. I shouldn’t be able to touch you no matter what I say, now get your hands up to guard and pay attention.”
My frustrations peaked and my sloppy form left my right side open to attack. Not being one to go easy on me, Lochlan took full advantage and knocked me on my ass on the mats, not for the first time that night. Instead of jumping back up as I had each time before, I stared at the ceiling lost in my chaotic thoughts.
“Want to tell me what’s going on?” he asked as he sat next to me on the mat.
I was quiet for a moment before I laid out the earlier events of the evening. Not that I wouldn’t have told him at some point, I just hadn’t felt like talking about the incident but I knew he needed to know. “Ronan showed up tonight.”
He sat very still and his features became chiseled granite. “What happened?”
“Not much, it was over pretty fast. He did say something about not being able to stop ‘us.’ There’s definitely someone else working with him.”
I watched as Lochlan’s eyes carefully scanned up and down every square inch of my body, most likely checking for signs that Ronan had harmed me. I wasn’t about to read into his actions so I lifted my eyes back up to the ceiling.
“Come with me.” He stood and began to walk away and a small snort slipped from me at his caveman behaviors. Lochlan was all alpha-male, commanding asshole—not your typical prince charming. So why, oh why did I find it so attractive? What was wrong with me?
I rose and followed after him with a smirk. “Should I grab my gear?”
“Yeah, we’re done here. Training isn’t going to do you any good if your head isn’t in it.”
“Where are we going then?”
“Life would be so much easier if you would just follow a simple instruction.”
“I could follow your instructions if you would just explain things.” He leaned back against the elevator wall and I stood opposite him. The temperature in the confined space ratcheted up along with the tension in the air.
“I think you might like taking the right kind of orders, you might even find that surrendering that control would be enlightening.”
The elevator dinged our arrival. Sweet baby Jesus. I had no idea what to say in response to his statement so as soon as the doors opened I bolted out.
Once we were in his office he opened a desk drawer and pulled out a set of keys, holding them out in my direction. “Take these. If you’re going to be out after dark, you need a vehicle.”
I stared at the Audi key fob in astonishment. Whenever this kind of thing happened in books and movies, which is the only place it ever happens, the chick always refuses and claims the gift is too much. I never did understand what would make those girls refuse an expensive gift. I mean, really. Here’s a million dollars! Oh, no, I simply couldn’t. BULLSHIT! Give it to me, I’ll take it. In this situation I figured Lochlan was lending me the car rather than giving, but either way, there was no effing way I would refuse.
“Thanks, that would be a big help.” I offered what I hoped was a grateful smile. “It’s been an incredibly long day so I’m going to head out if we’re done. I’ll see you tomorrow.” I started to walk toward the door but I couldn’t help from taking a glance back at him.
Lochlan’s eyes held a look so carnal and hungry that I gasped and my steps faltered. We had done so well our entire training session not to give in to the electric current between us and I thought I had escaped the elevator incident but his pull on me was as strong as ever.
As the voice of reason in my head chanted nonononononono, I forced my feet to continue toward the door and my eyes to turn from his. It was almost painful walking away, but I was better off on my own.
Parked directly in front of the building, the Audi sports car was a sleek black piece of automotive artwork. I wasn’t a car girl, but I wasn’t ignorant either. The car cost a small fortune.
My lips pulled back in a shit-eating grin and I got in behind the wheel. The black leather still smelled new and was smooth and supple. I had learned to drive a stick, thanks to my dad and his ancient Honda he had given me when I turned sixteen. However, driving a stick using my left hand on the wrong side of the road was an entirely different matter. I didn’t exactly grind the gears, but it wasn’t my most graceful performance. I stopped first at a pet store to get dog food and then carefully made my way home, still sporting a goofy smile.
6
I wasn’t sure if it was triggered by my utter exhaustion, or the attack by Ronan or the attempted break in, but I saw the shadow man in my dreams that night. As always, a thick cloud of smoke formed into the shape of a man stood over me. The dreams had haunted me during my childhood but had been dormant until I moved to Belfast. That night’s version had not been particularly bad but the dreams were yet another straw to add to the proverbial camel’s back.
When I walked into the museum lobby that morning, Cat was stationed at her post behind the visitor’s desk. She didn’t have to come to work until closer to opening but often she preferred to get out of her house and away from her overbearing mother.
The day before, during one of my breaks between tours, I had visited with Cat about my meeting with her elders. “Imagine my surprise last night when I walked into that room and saw Fergus—you couldn’t have given me a little heads up?” I chided her in a playful manner.
“You know I couldn’t. You saw how serious they are, if you hadn’t been surprised, they would have hung me out to dry.”
I rolled my eyes but softened the effect with a smirk. “The detective who interviewed me after the Draug attack was also there, Maura O’Brien. And I suppose you know that your mom was there.”
“Yeah, I did ask again if they’d let me go but they wouldn’t.”
“They told me about the queen teaching your ancestors magic, but how is it exactly that you see the Fae if they’re glamoured?”
Cat turned and lifted her thick mass of red curls to expose her porcelain neck. Near the hairline was a small symbol tattooed into her skin. “The rune is given to each child when they are old enough to understand what they see and not risk exposure. It’s a sort of truth rune that ensures the Fae can’t deceive us.” She dropped her hair and turned back to face me, one corner of her mouth hitched up in a smirk.
“Just how many runes do you have tattooed on you?”
She gave a small chuckle before answering. “Just that one. If we need to use a rune for a particular circumstance, we can paint them on or use other methods of magic.”
“You guys are pretty amazing—humans dabbling in Fae magic. Walking the fine line of having to use the magic and wanting to teach your children about it but not revealing that you know about the Fae. All of that takes guts.”
Cat looked shyly down at her feet for a second before saying with a wry smile, “When you’re brainwashed from infancy it’s not so much about bravery as it is being in a cult—once you’re in there’s no getting out.”
I burst out laughing at her characterization of the druids but I knew that despite her teasing, she loved her family. After a moment, I sobered and looked at Cat imploringly. “The other night I asked them for information on the Sword of Light but they wouldn’t help me. Cat, we have to find that sword.”
Her green eyes looked up at me helplessly. “I don’t know anything about it.”
She hung her head backwards and closed her eyes in defeat. “I’ll see what I can find, but I’m not guaranteeing anything.”
“Thank you, Cat!” I wrapped her in a tight hug and she laughed at my enthusiasm but continued to remind me that she doubted she’d find anything.
I had been so busy working with the school children for the rest of the day that I hadn’t talked to her again. That next morning as soon as I walked through the front doors Cat’s eyes lit up with excitement and she came bounding around the visitor desk.
“I did it! Becca, I got you a drawing of the sword. I was so worried Mum would find me digging in her chest, I’m not ever allowed in there and she doesn’t know that I know where she hides the key but I happened to see her put it away one time years ago and I’ve never forgotten.”
“Slow down, Cat—you’re going to pass out if you don’t breathe.”
She ran back to the desk and dug through her bag before triumphantly pulling out her phone. She thrust the phone at me to display the picture she had taken of an old drawing.
The length of the sword blade was embellished with ornate carvings. In contrast, the grip was surprisingly simple, drawn in brown tones that aligned with Lochlan’s description of a wooden handle. There was no guard, simply a bone-shaped grip possibly adorned with a jewel on each of the four nodules of the grip.
“Cat, thank you so much, this is amazing. Text it to me so I can use it for reference.”
My sweet friend beamed at me as she took back her phone. I started to thank my lucky stars that Cat and I were thrown together but decided it might be more appropriate to thank my Faery godfather instead. Merlin had been noticeably absent, but I had no doubt his physical presence was little indication of his actual involvement. He had proven himself subtle and crafty with a phenomenal ability to set plans in motion then patiently wait for those plans to percolate and eventually come to fruition.
Twilight Siege: A Dark Fantasy Novel (The Fae Games Book 2) Page 6