by Leia Stone
He nodded and focused back on the crystal. “It’s even more powerful than last time.”
We both took a few extra minutes to let the strong energies settle into us, to allow the royal power we already owned mingle with the stone’s power.
“So we just touch it and see what happens?” It was more a statement, but came out like a question.
Kade grinned. “Let’s do it.” He grabbed my right hand, placing his other hand on the crystal.
Energy sizzled up my spine as the mecca power rolled into me. Kade swiveled his head to see me better. “Now you touch it. Don’t let go of my hand. I’ll filter it if it starts to overpower you.”
I nodded, trying to even my breathing before placing my left hand on the crystal and keeping my right firmly in Kade’s strong grasp.
I sucked in as the crystal pulsed, nearly throwing us both back. I was so focused on the purple hue of my arms and the power coming through the crystal I didn’t notice anything else. This was at least twice as strong as it had been during the Summit. The energy was everywhere, smashing against my wolf, against my alpha blood.
“What. The. Hell. Is that?” Kade’s confusion broke me out of my spell and I looked up, following his gaze. Before me, on the far wall a … mirage had appeared. The wall was gone and a field of green grass now stood a mere six feet from us. The edges of the mirage were fuzzy but the picture inside so clear, so real. In the distance seemed to be huge mountains, lots of vast wilderness, and colors beyond anything I’d seen before. Everything looked like I could reach through and touch it. I had seen images during my Summit task, but nothing like this. This was almost … real.
“Beware!” That familiar mecca voice echoed within the room and I froze, chills running up my arms. It sounded like my mother – I would swear it was her – but my instincts were telling me it wasn’t. Kade looked at me with one eyebrow raised.
“Did you hear that?” I asked him, unsure of what to do now. No one else had heard the voice before so I was astonished when he nodded.
“Yes,” he said. “And I’m not liking this.”
The image shifted slightly then, and a figure ran into view. My eyes were locked on, drinking in all the details. He was tall, wearing tan, fitted leather pants, a vest made of something similar, and tall soft looking boots. He held an intricate bow in his hands, ivory colored, looking like it was carved from bone. There was an arrow nocked in it. The male was looking away from us, his head turned to the side, which gave me a perfect view of his slightly pointy ears.
“Is this a memory, or something more?” Kade said, his voice low. He was doing that thing again where he tried to step in front of me.
At Kade’s whisper, the hunter went still. His body going rigid, he whipped his head around and looked right at us.
“Not a memory,” I said in a rush. Holy heck! This was an actual portal into the Otherworld.
The fae’s brow furrowed, and before I could even think, he released the arrow.
“No!” Kade ripped his hand off the mecca crystal, and in a move almost too fast for me to track, thrust his arm out to intercept the projectile. It shredded through his hand, coming out the other end to rest against my chest. That bastard fae had been aiming straight for me, without thought or remorse. He had wanted to kill.
I tore my hand from the crystal, stumbling backward, and the mirage winked out in an instant. Finding my feet again, I rushed to Kade’s side. He was just standing there, blood dripping from his hand, staring at me.
“Are you okay?” I tried to see his wound better. He was still staring at me.
“Kade! We need to get a healer to look at this.”
He finally snapped out of his stupor, wincing as he looked down at his hand. “This is no normal arrow. It is laced with something that hurts like hellfire.” Gritting his teeth, he reached with his uninjured hand and gripped the tip of the arrow. In a quick movement, he snapped the head off and then pulled the arrow out. As soon as it was gone, blood spurted out of the wound and flowed easily as I rushed to apply pressure.
“It’s not healing!” I said.
Kade shook his head. “It’s doused in something … magic or poison.” His eyes darkened then. “You would have died, Ari.”
Finn, get Violet and have her come to the mecca crystal room. Kade’s hurt. No matter how far in the world I was from my familiar, I could always call on him. I could have called on Violet too, as her queen alpha, but it would have taken too much time to sort through all the pack bonds within me. Time I didn’t have right now.
I leaned in closer, my voice shaking as I said, “You saved me. Again.”
My hands were pressing hard, sandwiching his injured hand, trying in vain to stop the bleeding. Kade was right. This arrow would have eviscerated my heart and kept it from regenerating.
He lifted his uninjured hand and cupped my face, those stunning eyes swimming with emotion. “Don’t take a mate. It would be a mistake.”
It got even harder to breathe than normal, but before I could do anything or reply, Violet was with us inside the room. She started toward us but couldn’t make it all the way.
“Let’s get out of here!” she shouted, her face crumpling as she fought the energy. In my panic over Kade I’d forgotten how strong the mecca energy was here. Either I’d gotten used to it, or Kade was shielding me from the worst of the effects.
Definitely Kade. He was always protecting me.
Keeping a tight hold on his hand, we waded through the magic to reach the tunnel and make our way out. Violet was already gone, no doubt waiting for us on the other side. Once we were all in the library room, and the pulse of mecca shut off behind the now closed door, Kade took a seat in one of the large reading chairs. The magic born wasted no time examining his hand. The first thing Violet did was smell it, her delicate nose crinkling prettily. Then she ran her palm over the top of it, hovering about half-an-inch from the wound.
She whistled low, her head coming up so she could see me. “Nasty old magic. I can fix it though.”
She produced a bottle of liquid that resembled molten gold. Sometimes my friend was a walking apothecary; she almost always had the right elixir on hand – part of her extra-sensory, see the future thing. She focused on Kade. “You ready, King Kade? This is going to hurt like nothing you have ever experienced before…”
He looked at me. “I doubt that.”
My heart clenched and ached. His meaning was clear, and so was the sorrow between us. Duty came first, for us both, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t painful. Our moment was broken when Violet poured the molten gold onto his palm and it began to smoke and sizzle. The bellow out of Kade’s mouth had me and the magic born taking a big step backward; it had been the deepest bear roar I’d ever heard. My guards rushed into the room with weapons drawn, but upon seeing Kade, gritted teeth, rumbling chest, and bloodied hand, they lowered their weapons.
Violet looked impressed. “The last guy I did that to cried like a baby and passed out.”
Kade took a deep settling breath and turned his hand over to see both sides of it. There was a shining gold filling the hole, and after a few moments the gold faded, turning into fresh pink skin.
“I cried a little on the inside,” he said with a wink. Violet and I laughed at the same time, a nervous yet relieved sort of cackle.
“Okay, let’s never do that again,” I said.
Kade shrugged. “Not the most pleasant experience, but we might have just found our greatest weapon, and possibly a way to fix the mecca.”
His meaning hit me then. Holy crap. We had a way into the fae lands. Could we fit soldiers through that mirage portal? If an arrow came through to our end, then surely we could send things into their lands. But why would we want to? Unless he meant…
“So if we could figure out how to manipulate the mecca, we might be able to use the stones to send the energy back to their side of the veil?” I asked, not sure if that was his way to fix the mecca.
As Kade nodded, Vi
olet clapped her hands together. “I was in the newly unsealed magic library when you called,” she said, her voice trilling with excitement. “I might have actually found some information to help with that.”
She took off. I was right behind her, and even though he was quiet and graceful, a two hundred and fifty pound male couldn’t follow without making some noise, so I knew Kade was there too. My guards fell in next to him, all of us chasing the magic born. Violet’s hair whipped around her as she ran, and more than one surprised face turned in our direction. When they saw me in the midst, most of them averted their eyes, but some couldn’t seem to turn away. Couldn’t really blame them. We were an odd bunch. Especially the blood-spattered bear king.
Violet let us up three flights of stairs, past the late queen’s private storeroom and into the small room filled with magical tomes, most of which were unreadable for all except magic born.
Jesabele and Seamus were already in the room, both of them with their heads bent over studying books, white hair reflecting off the magical light they must have all created. The room was very well lit, much brighter than the lighting originally in here. Everything was actually really clean too, which had to be their doing since this room had been sealed under the Red Queen’s reign and only just now was opened. Walking deeper in, the room was much larger than I originally expected. At least ten by ten foot, shelves lining each wall from floor to ceiling. There were thousands of books. Some small, others huge. The moment I crossed into the room I felt a heavy pulse of magic; these books had old magic hidden within their words, I could sense it dancing across my skin.
“Are all of these about the Otherworld?” I asked, my voice breathless. “All fae magic?”
Violet shook her head. “Not directly. Most of these books are the long lost magic of the witches, but many of those spells are still fae in origin.”
“Not so long lost after all,” Blaine said, staring around. He’d fallen back with my other dominants near the doorway, all of them peering in to get a better look.
Violet’s expression went dark then, shadows crossing over her. “It annoys me greatly that they have kept all of this information hidden. This is the rightful domain of magic born shifters. We’re the descendants of witches.”
The gene which triggers a magic born shifter to be born runs in a few specific family lines. They were the long-ago children of shifter and witch couples, and even though witches have not been seen since the dark war, random magic born continue to be born. Genetics are a funny thing.
“So tell me everything of importance you’ve learned.” I took control of the room; the other two magic born were on their feet now, staring at me. “I want to know absolutely everything which might help us defeat the fae in battle.”
Seamus crossed in front of me, and I wondered what he was doing as he disappeared behind a bookshelf. He was back in moments, dragging this huge white board across the room so we could all see it. I focused on the writing, recognizing my friend’s messy scrawl. The words Operation Nuke Fae were up the top, underlined five times. I shook my head at Violet; this was typical of her, completely not-politically-correct. Beneath the title were dozens of bullet point notes. I started from the top:
Tuatha de Danann are thought to be immortal. They do not age and die, but can be killed by magic and by weapon. Never underestimate them, they’re very difficult to kill.
Weaknesses – they can burn out on mecca if they are forced to absorb too much of it or if they have too little of it at their disposal. Their magical objects of power are tied to all of their lives, and having one in your possession can control the mecca power of the court it originated from.
They cannot lie, but do a very good job of telling half-truths.
They struggle to produce young. Their long lives have slowly lessened the amount of Tuatha young that are born.
Their magical essence can be trapped during a special binding process, weakening them considerably. Iron can hurt them, as well as some manmade plastics and metals.
The five boroughs when divided are weaker. They must be joined to be at full power.
This point gave me a moment’s pause. What did that mean? Could Kade and my friendship, the first royal alliance in hundreds of years, actually be a thing that helped us in this battle? Did we just have to figure out a way to join our powers? How did we do that? Shaking my head, I read a few more points.
The mecca is a blanket of energy which zaps constantly between the many mecca stones, on both sides of the veil. It flows between the two sides, keeping balance.
The mecca can easily move between both sides. All of the stones are joined.
Holy crap. I stopped reading at this point; this was information which could be vital in our battle against the fae. Kade, reading over my shoulder, his heat wrapping around the back of me, moved closer as he said: “So if all of the stones are joined, it stands to reason we should be able to move the energy between them.” He had reached the same conclusion as me.
Violet jumped in then. “Yes, so now that you know you can tap into the mecca energy, see and feel it through the stones, we just need to figure out how to move it around. Visualize where it needs to go and restore the balance.”
“When I touch it, I feel this massive consciousness,” I said slowly. “Almost like there are thousands of different facets to the stone’s energy, but maybe it’s the other stones I’m feeling. How did the energy move here in the first place though? What did the Red Queen do to make that happen?”
Had she used the mecca stone to start this pull of energy? It was too big a coincidence that the mecca energy changed the night she died. We already knew she’d done something to it. Now it was about figuring out what.
Jesabele was still holding her book, clutching it tightly to her chest. “It’s almost as if the Red Queen had some sort of trigger in place. Upon her death the mecca would shift toward the Earth side. It has to be a spell, but so far we haven’t found anything with that sort of power.”
I let deep breaths calm me. Not only was the queen’s death upsetting, the mess left behind for me to clean up was getting harder and harder to crawl through.
“Keep researching, I’m going to go and speak with someone who might be able to help.”
I’d been thinking since the night I found myself in the brownstone across the city, that there was another reason Calista had sent me to the secret house with the special key. Like she wanted me to know there was someone with vast knowledge who I should be utilizing. Sir Baladar. After all of these years, he had to know some information which might help us.
Chapter Eight
All that glitters is a gold mine of information.
Calista and my dominants would not let me go to Baladar’s on my own, so I promised them they could accompany me there, but that Kade and I would go inside to speak with him alone. We were the king and queen of the Earth side mecca, the only ones who could really fix this issue, and I wanted privacy if we were to speak of such sensitive things.
As Kade and I stepped out of the car and approached the door, I realized my palms were slightly damp. Nerves were getting to me. Glancing back, my guards spread out around the blacked-out SUV, arms crossed. They had their hands aloft, ready to grab weapons if needed.
Calista was inside the vehicle with Violet. My advisor was no doubt nervous about being back here, close to the shifter who called her the love of his life.
Reaching the door, I pulled out the special key before pausing and looking at Kade. “So this guy is … different … and his place is very magical. And possibly dangerous.” I didn’t know how to prepare Kade for the onslaught of loud music, glowing flowers, and dancing shifter socialites. Not to mention the random fae who seemed to show up there.
Kade gave me a sideways grin. “Don’t worry. I’ll protect you.”
With a shake of my head, I worked hard to not roll my eyes at him. This damn bear certainly knew how to push all of my buttons. I stepped forward and slipped the key into the lock. Th
e second it clicked, an eerie calm swept over us. I could no longer hear the street noise, or any noise really. Just the sound of my own breathing.
“Hmm,” Kade said behind me, sounding a combination of intrigued and annoyed. I pushed the door open. Instead of being assaulted by loud music, black lights, and a long hallway, we were standing in a beautiful foyer with dark hardwood floors. Soft classical music was playing in the background. I stepped inside and Kade followed, shutting the door behind us.
There was no one in sight and I could not scent any shifters nearby. “Hello? Sir Baladar?” I raised my voice, stepping further into the room. I was astonished at the elegant beauty surrounding us; the inside was completely transformed.
How powerful was this magic born? He could create more than illusion, he could literally shift his entire space around to suit his mood or his guests. Kade tapped my arm and pointed across the open foyer to a hallway, where a stunning indigo blue and yellow butterfly was flapping its wings. As soon as we noticed the insect, it took off down the hall.
Kade and I shared a look. “Let’s go,” he said, stepping in front of me.
Gritting my teeth, I didn’t argue. For now his ego could rest easy thinking it was the big protective, macho male. The hallway we traversed was extra wide, with tall ceilings and a rich maroon-patterned wall paper, gold flecks spattered across the bold color. Kade was huge enough that despite the width of this hall, I couldn’t really see around him. Where was the butterfly now?
“God, how big are you? I can’t see!” I grumbled.
He spun around quickly, too quickly for me to stop before I slammed into his chest. My breath escaped me in a rush as I put my hands on his biceps to steady myself. Kade’s eyes went from subdued amber to molten fire in a millisecond.
“I’ve never had any complaints about my size before.”
I swallowed hard, reminding myself to breathe. Of course breathing just meant I was inhaling his scent in large gulps, and that drove my inner wolf crazy. Dammit! I wasn’t going to play into his flirting games any longer. Growling lightly, I stepped sideways and kept walking.