by Macy Blake
Saeward came to his rescue once more, always ready with his calm steady presence when any of them were filled with nerves. He helped Henry undress and went with him into the steaming hot bath. The scents were overwhelming at first, but Saeward held him close until it all bled together and he didn’t even notice them anymore.
Sawyer stepped into the tub next, and he used his hands to scoop the water up and over any bit of exposed skin. He lifted one of Henry’s arms out of the water and gently massaged the oils and herbs into his skin before lowering it again. He repeated the action on the other side, then proceeded to make sure every inch of Henry’s skin was touched by him. Henry basked in the attention, letting his mates care for him and get him prepared for the task ahead.
And then it dawned on him. He wasn’t the only guardian going into the vision. He opened his eyes and looked across the room at Dakota.
“Get in the tub.”
Dakota started to argue, but something in the glare Henry sent him must have shut him up. “Yeah, okay.”
He moved as fluidly as the cat he became. His clothes hit the floor, piece by piece. The other guardians stood watching, but it wasn’t the sensual kind of looks they normally received when one of them stripped. No, this was more… medical. Like one of his dad’s patients. Naked skin didn’t always mean sexy times. Hell, Henry knew that more than most humans. He’d grown up with a pack of wolves, and when they shifted, they got naked. It was something like that with Dakota, even though there was an underlying tension in the air, the hint of possibility.
Dakota stepped into the tub and sank down into the water. He made sure he got completely wet, even dunking his head, before sitting against one of the bubbling jets and leaning back with a sigh. He opened his golden eyes once more and met Henry’s gaze.
Henry, in turn, moved his attention to Sawyer. “Now him.”
Sawyer hesitated for the briefest second, but Henry gave him Papa’s no nonsense look. Sawyer repeated the same routine as he’d done with Henry, rubbing the water and oils into Dakota’s skin. Dakota watched him with a measured stare, always looking, analyzing. Judging. Henry hoped one day Sawyer would measure up to whatever it was Dakota sought.
When the two of them finally broke eye contact, Henry spoke. “Where do we do this?”
Dakota turned his attention to Henry once again. “My pack has a sacred place where our elders stay with the vision seeker.”
“Well, we don’t have a sacred place. But since I know what my visions do to me, would you be okay with me maybe being in bed? I mean, it’s big enough for all of us, and I know that may be awkward for you—”
“That will be fine.”
Henry breathed a sigh of relief. “Okay, let’s do this.”
Henry pulled on a pair of his sleep shorts and someone gave something similar to Dakota. They walked into the bedroom and found the rest of the guardians waiting. Dakota glanced at him then toward the bed. Henry touched Dakota’s arm. “What is it? If this won’t work…”
“In my pack, we trust our elders to bring us safely home.”
Henry smiled up at him. It was a sad smile, but one nonetheless. “I do trust you.”
“How? You don’t know me.”
Henry sighed. “No, but you know he hurt me once. You won’t let him hurt me again. I do trust that much.”
And those were the words Dakota must have needed, because they were the truth. He absolutely wouldn’t let Henry get hurt again. Instead of responding, Dakota climbed onto the bed and put a couple pillows behind his back. He leaned against the headboard and gestured Henry forward.
He settled on the bed between Dakota’s spread legs and leaned carefully back against his chest. He immediately felt safe. His mates found places on the bed as well. All of them gently touching him, reminding him that he wasn’t alone.
Sawyer was the last to take his position. He leaned in and kissed Henry gently before raising up and giving Dakota a look. “Take care of both of you.”
“I will,” Dakota replied.
Everything became pretty blurry for Henry after that. Dakota began a quiet chant under his breath. Henry closed his eyes, but he could still see. A fog of images began floating through his mind, nothing understandable. Nothing even approachable. He held on, suddenly afraid of being lost in that disjointed smoke. How would Dakota ever find him?
But Dakota’s body was firm and steady behind him. He surrounded Henry, his presence large and stable. Secure. Nothing would get through Dakota to him. He just had to hang on. The fog intensified and images began to flow faster and faster. So fast it made him dizzy. He didn’t know where to look or what to do. Dakota hadn’t told him. Was he supposed to do something? Just as he began to panic, the vision cleared, and Henry stood in a dark patch of woods. A bubbling creek was beside him. He didn’t recognize where he stood, but he didn’t think he was supposed to. He started to look around when the trees came to life. Ravens and crows, cawing and screeching, filled the air. They swirled around, a tornado of black, and when they finally flew away, a little boy crouched on the ground where nothing had been a moment before.
The boy was naked and trembling. He was scared. Henry started to go to him, but he couldn’t get closer. Something kept him away. The ravens cawed again and dropped items on the ground in front of the boy. He looked up at them and smiled.
Henry knew that smile. Sawyer.
Another sound emerged, this one louder and more powerful. Little boy Sawyer picked up the gifts from his ravens and put them on. They’d brought him clothes. A woman emerged from the darkness, and she hurried to Sawyer’s side.
“There you are, little brother. I’ve been waiting for you.”
Sawyer didn’t seem to recognize her, but he smiled anyway. “I’m lost,” Sawyer said.
The woman smiled, but it didn’t hide her sadness.
“I know, little one. I’ll help you find your way.”
She held out her hand and Sawyer took it, placing so much trust in her. And then he began to talk, asking questions about anything and everything. The vision changed, becoming dark once more, and another dark patch of woods appeared.
This time, a grown man crouched in the clearing. He growled as he pushed to his feet. “What did you do?”
He looked around before reaching out his hands. It took him a second to realize nothing was happening.
“What did you do?” This time it was a shout.
A man emerged from the woods. He was dressed… weirdly. Like one of those guys that did historical reenactments. He even sounded different when he spoke. “You lost?”
It took Henry a second to realize that although the brothers had both come back, it hadn’t been at the same time. It wasn’t a reenactment. The guy in the clearing was from a different time in history, and the first one was Sawyer’s brother. No, Henry wouldn’t give him the title. Sawyer didn’t want that. This was Palinouros. The one they were after. Sawyer would probably know from the clothes when it was, so Henry took a second to look at them and try to catalog a few details. It might be important.
Palinouros grabbed the second guy, moving more quickly than Henry could track. He grabbed the new guy by the head, and then he started screaming. His eyes turned red and even though Henry wanted to help, to make it stop, he couldn’t. He recognized that he was watching something from the past unfold. Something no one else had seen before. The poor man died as Henry watched, and Palinouros dropped him like he was nothing more than trash.
“You didn’t get it all,” Palinouros said.
He walked away like nothing had happened, like he hadn’t just taken a life. And that told Henry everything he needed to know. He could confess, even to himself, that he’d hoped Sawyer’s brother wasn’t all bad. That maybe there was some explanation for what he’d done. Part of him wanted that, needed it. He wanted an explanation for what had happened to him and his siblings, plus all of the other kids who’d been hurt. Maybe he was dying, scared and alone, and it was the only way he wouldn’t do
the exploding thing Sawyer had talked about. Maybe he was desperate and that was the only way out until Sawyer came along and fixed the magic.
But no. This wasn’t that. And the vision had known Henry needed to see it. They were dealing with evil, pure and simple. Henry trembled at the darkness he could hear in that voice. The threat very real. Whatever Sawyer had done hadn’t taken all of Palinouros’s magic. Sawyer’s brother had an agenda, and he didn’t care how many lives he destroyed to do it.
They moved again, and this time, they ended up in another set of woods. A man had a screaming child in his arms, and Henry could hear snarling and shouting behind him. Then a howl. Henry knew that sound well. It was the sound of an angry alpha. The man looked panicked but the child calmed. His pack was coming for him. He just had to hold on.
And then Palinouros appeared. The man thrust the child into his arms and took off at a run. “More trouble than you’re worth,” Palinouros said.
Henry froze, fearing what he was about to see. But Palinouros simply dropped the child and vanished. You couldn’t steal a child from a pack. His dads had already figured that much. They had no idea where Palinouros was getting what seemed to be an endless supply of children, but they weren’t being taken from their packs.
And this was why. He’d tried and failed. More movement and this time Palinouros had another man by the side of the head. This man was also screaming, but he didn’t die like the first one. No, his eyes began to glow a strange red.
Henry knew about the red-eyed men, even though they didn’t understand what was wrong with them. Palinouros did something to them…
Another move and this time Henry knew he was in the present. He was inside a house. Dozens of men stood around them. All of them had red eyes. This was it. They couldn’t see him, but Henry still kept to the side of the room. He looked for what he could see, anything that would help him find this place again. There were several guards coming out of a long hallway. Henry went there, checking behind the closed doors. Nothing.
But then there was one final door. The one at the end. There. That was it. But before he could open it and catch sight of the missing guardian, he felt something. A dark shiver went down his spine. He wasn’t alone.
Instinctively he crouched down, but it was only a second before he realized that it was foolish. His panic must have sent a signal to Dakota though, because he felt the pull. He was being brought out, but he wasn’t ready. He’d seen the house, but not where it was. He’d never be able to find it.
Henry resisted Dakota’s pull and ran back down the hall. The other presence was there, and growing stronger. He ran for a window, one he’d seen across the room. If he could get something, some visual clue as to where they were, maybe they could find it. But there was nothing but trees. Not even another house. He tried the door but he couldn’t open it. He didn’t know how to open it.
“Dakota, help me.”
The door opened and Henry ran outside. Still nothing. He stared at the house, but it was nothing special. Just a house. Not some castle or something that would be easy to find. But it did have a number above the door. 1018.
“I know you’re here.”
“Shit,” Henry yelped. “Get me out of here.”
He went backward through the visions, and that was the only thing that saved him. When he got to the vision of Palinouros making the man’s eyes red, the face he least wanted to see turned his attention to him. Henry had never been so afraid in his life.
“Little Henry, come to play. You’re looking in the wrong place. You need training. I can help.”
Henry couldn’t breathe. Palinouros dropped the red-eyed man and walked toward him. His smile was so dark, promised so much vileness. Henry’s vision changed once more and he was back in the house, the old farmhouse where he’d been held as a child. He could see Ben on the floor beside him, curled up in a ball. Crying. And Palinouros was there, leaning over him, snarling. Then he turned to Henry. “Give me what I want, little mage.”
But he couldn’t. He had to get out of there. Palinouros leaned over Ben again, and his brother cried out in pain. “Get me the little one,” Palinouros demanded. “Maybe then our little mage will cooperate.”
“No, no, no,” Henry whispered. But Palinouros heard. He turned his eyes away from the child version of him and to where Henry stood in the shadows of the vision. “What do we have here?”
And then he felt Dakota behind him. “Help me.”
Dakota’s arms came around him and Henry held tight. He closed his eyes and tried to ignore the sudden sound of Ollie’s screams.
“I have you. You’re safe. Breathe, Henry.” Dakota’s voice was muffled through his own gasping breaths.
“Henry!” Andvari barked. “Listen to me. Breathe. In… and out. In… and out.”
He couldn’t catch his breath. But he did open his eyes. His mates were all there with him. He was back. But he couldn’t breathe.
“In… and out.”
Dakota’s chest rose beneath him, pushing at Henry’s back. His body mimicked the movement, breathing in and then sinking back as Dakota let his breath out.
“Again,” Andvari said.
Dakota repeated the breathing, and Henry was able to focus enough to breathe as well.
“There you are,” Andvari said. He held Henry’s hand and squeezed it tight. “Again.”
Henry breathed, so used to listening to Andvari that it didn’t even cross his mind to not do what he’d been asked. Just as Sawyer had breathed at Andvari’s command, so did Henry. It took a minute, but he was finally able to catch his breath. Sawyer hovered at his side, and Henry leaned forward and flung his arms around his mate.
“I’ve got you,” Sawyer said. “You’re safe now.”
Henry nodded into Sawyer’s chest. Dakota moved behind him, but Henry reached back and grabbed his arm. He didn’t know how to ask, but he didn’t want Dakota to move. “I need to call my brothers,” Henry said.
“Of course,” Sawyer said.
“I’ll get my phone,” Eduard said. A moment later he was back, pressing it into Henry’s hand. He’d already pulled up his home number, and Henry hit the button with shaking hands.
“Jerrick residence.”
“Nana,” Henry gasped.
“Henry, my love! It’s so good to hear from you. I was hoping you’d call today. I’m making salmon cakes, and it made me remember how your brothers used to love them. Do you remember…”
Nana’s voice washed over him, chasing away the last of his fears. He couldn’t help but smile as she recounted one of their earliest dinners. He’d heard the story a thousand times. It was when they discovered Ben’s love of blueberries. Ben still loved blueberries. In fact… “You should make a cobbler for dessert,” Henry suggested.
“That’s a great idea. Speaking of your big brother, he’s out in the yard right now working with a pony of all things. Skittish thing but it has something wrong with its hoof. Ben’s the only one who can get close, and even he’s having trouble. We had to make Ollie stay in the clinic because the moment the pony sees him, it loses its mind. Isn’t that funny?”
“They know danger when they sense it,” Henry said. The last tendrils of fear and panic slipped away.
“Yeah. But he’s really more of a danger to himself. Thank goodness he has good reflexes or he’d have broken so many bones by now. Why, just the other day…”
Henry lost himself to the story again before resuming his place against Dakota’s chest. His mates still hovered close, but he didn’t need to explain what he’d seen. Not yet. They knew if he needed to check on his brothers that what he’d seen involved them.
Henry clung to Sawyer’s hand while the other held the phone. Dakota’s chest rose and fell beneath him, and he sunk deeper into the feeling. He was back. He was safe. And so were his brothers and sisters.
“Did you want to talk to someone else?” Nana asked. “I need to get that cobbler in the oven if I want it ready by dinner time.”
> “No, ma’am,” Henry said. “Tell everyone I said hi and I miss them.”
Nana laughed. “You were just here, my boy. But we miss you, too. Tell Eduard I want to talk to him about where he found that Vivian creature for your house. I need to find someone like that for your dads. I’m going to need to retire eventually.”
Henry scoffed and Nana laughed once more. They ended the call and Henry passed the phone back to Eduard. He breathed one more minute before opening his eyes once more.
“Let’s find ourselves a guardian.”
Draco
Draco grudgingly admitted that if it weren’t for Dakota, they wouldn’t be planning to rescue the eighth guardian so quickly. The only clue Henry had come back with was a number. Eduard had pulled a couple resources to start trying to narrow down the search. It wasn’t much, but it was all they had. It took hours.
Draco paced the entire time, wanting action. He didn’t wait well, especially when one of his mates was hurting. Henry hadn’t needed to tell him that he’d seen some of the things that had happened to him as a child. They’d all figured out what he’d seen in the vision. He told them the rest, though. Seeing Sawyer appear. The early attempt to take a child. That the brother was responsible for the red eyes. They knew it, but it was interesting that the visions sought to confirm it. Draco hadn’t figured out why. But then, when it began to look like it would be days before they had a location, Dakota had begrudgingly spoken up. “I might be able to help.”
He pulled out a cell phone and made a call. “Koios, it’s me.”
And then the strangest conversation Draco had ever heard took place.
“Cauliflower.” A long pause. “Red.” Another pause. “Romulus and Remus. Enough already. You know it’s me.”
Dakota then told the mysterious Koios what they were after. It took another few hours before Eduard’s email dinged, and they had a list from Dakota’s contact. It was long. Over forty addresses. But it wasn’t impossible.
One of Sawyer’s ravens tapped insistently at the library window. Sawyer opened it and allowed it inside, where it took up position on Sawyer’s shoulder. The other mates were around the work table, but Henry had curled up in Draco’s arms in one of the club chairs. He was still shaken from the vision. Draco pressed a kiss against his head and handed him the cup of tea Cecil had brought up. “Drink.”