Quickening, Volume 1

by Amy Lane

  “Of course,” he said. But I heard the hesitation in his voice.

  Oh Goddess. It was September, for sweet fuck’s sake—it was going to be ninety degrees today! “Please tell me it’s not sweats,” I begged.

  From the back of the SUV, I heard a suspicious ripping sound. “Not anymore!” he called over his shoulder. I turned back around and ducked behind the door, finding myself surrounded by Jack, Renny, Nicky, LaMark, and Mario as I stripped off the stretchy cotton dress and used it to wipe off my mouth and forehead. Jacky held out a plastic bag, a look of sympathy written on his long, square-jawed face, and I couldn’t even hold it against him that pregnancy had been the thing that won him over to my side. God, nothing was a cheap victory if it came with this much puking.

  Renny had the towel ready to wipe me down, and Bracken handed me a….

  Well, it had once been a crew-necked sweatshirt. But now that it had no sleeves, no neck, and no hem, it hung like a lined tank top down to the tops of my thighs.

  I managed a small smile. “I’m sure they have something in neon I can buy from the bookstore,” I said. “Thanks, Bracken. Sorry about the dress.”

  Brack shrugged. “You tried. Maybe next time, it’ll get to see the actual inside of a classroom.”

  Our little knot of people broke up as though someone had called “Break!” but I noticed that nobody was willing to scatter as we got to the edge of the campus. The parking lot was pretty busy—we’d gotten some strange looks and knowing smirks while I’d been sick and then cleaned up—but having to plow through knots of hurrying students wasn’t doing its usual job of sending my people to their own classrooms.

  We cleared the parking lot and moved onto the campus proper. When we passed the student union, I made to dart inside. “I’ve got to use the bathroom,” I announced, feeling foolish. Everybody nodded, but nobody left—and when I got out, they were all still standing there waiting for me.

  “You, uh, don’t you all have places to go?” I asked. “Uhm… I mean, I sort of miss the days when we all took psychology together, but—”

  “My lady,” LaMark said seriously, “please do us the honor of letting us escort you to your next class.”

  I grimaced. While I’d been cuddling with Renny, Bracken and Nicky had been talking animatedly about our douche-bag professor.

  “You guys don’t have to do this,” I said, trying not to get all verklempt. Time and time again, my people had stood up for me. It didn’t seem to matter if it was the first time or the fiftieth—the fact that they wanted to, that was important shit right there. You couldn’t sneeze on that, even if you wanted to be all big and bad and in charge of your own mojo.

  “Oh, we really do,” LaMark contradicted, shaking his head. “We really, really do!”

  “Lady, you cannot let these people punk you,” Mario said seriously. “I get trying to fly under human radar, but don’t you get it? You’re one of the women who has power. Let this guy see that women are nobody to fuck with.”

  I grimaced. “I wasn’t exactly setting out to be an icon.” Man, I just wanted to go to school.

  “Too bad,” Jack said seriously. “I’m sorry—Teague didn’t exactly set out to be alpha werewolf, but he does it because he’s the best man for the job. You’re the best person to show this guy that every woman he demeans is special to somebody. And you’ve got the people to do it.”

  Oh, fun—now I was getting a lecture on the responsibilities of rulership from the one guy at the hill who had tried to drag his family out of those responsibilities kicking and screaming. Either (a) we’d converted him, or (b) he had a point.

  Or (c) both.

  Fuck.

  “Okay,” I said, feeling that mantle of leadership descend with all the grace of one of those lead cloaks at the dentist’s office. “Thank you all for walking me to class. You know we’re all late now.”

  LaMark smiled, and although his face had filled out in the past year or so, those white teeth in that teak-dark face still created one of the most hopeful smiles I’d ever seen.

  “All the better to make an entrance.”

  And entrance we made.

  Bracken and I walked through the door first—respectfully, of course, entering quietly and making our way to our seats in the back corner. We remained standing for a moment, both of us looking uncertainly to the door, where everybody stood just long enough to get the professor’s attention.

  Renny came in, her backpack over her shoulder. Very quietly, she bowed and then turned and walked away.

  Then Nicky, then Jacky, then Mario, then LaMark—each one of them coming just a little inside the classroom to bow formally, then looking the professor square in the eye before turning around and showing him their back.

  When LaMark hit the doorway, Pritchard finally snapped out of it.

  “What in the hell—”

  “All women are queens,” LaMark said seriously. “And all men can be princes. Don’t ever assume someone’s worth less than you because of who you think they should be.”

  And with that he walked away, leaving the class tittering in his wake. The girl who sat across the row from me looked over her shoulder and grinned, then held out her hand in low-five position. I took her up on it, and she said, “Right on,” just loud enough to be heard. The rest of the class echoed her, and a small round of applause went up. I blushed—because, dude—but instead of sitting back down and wishing I was dead, I lived up to my people.

  I grinned at the lot of them and bowed, then held my hand out to Bracken, who bowed too. Together we slid into our desks like we were taking the throne of England.

  Because I had no choice. I really was a motherfuckin’ queen.

  Green: And Look Who Dropped In?

  GREEN LOOKED at the three children who had caused so much trouble just a few weeks before and then down at his computer. Yes, the business on the computer was urgent. Green had been warding off a governmental attempt to seize the hill—all the rest of the land on the mountain—since August. This here sounded like legal steps were being taken, and this matter was a gnawing concern in his belly, but he smelled something… something explosive brewing.

  Sure, the two who had been incarcerated didn’t appear to be up to anything criminal, and the neurotic, feral girl who had stormed the hill begging and threatening him to help her friend seemed to have found herself an even keel.

  But Green had been involved in a multipartner relationship for over two years now, and he was very aware that at any moment the two psychics and the werewolf might go Boom! in a very big way.

  “Camigwen, my darling,” he asked sweetly, “could you possibly go chat with Charlie for a moment? He is presently human and wearing clothes, and he wanted to look at your school schedule to see what you were interested in taking next semester.”

  Cami—who, in spite of her abilities, sat oblivious to the psychic undercurrents being bandied about by Dylan and Connor—stood and obediently gathered her notebook and materials. She touched Dylan’s knee as if to make sure it was okay to leave his sight, and when he nodded she padded off down the corridor.

  Dylan and Connor were left regarding Green warily, possibly fearing some repercussions from their left-field chase of Charlie right when Cory was leaving for school.

  Arturo had returned from the hallway after Green had gotten back inside, Charlie in one hand and Connor in the other, both held off the ground by the scruffs of their necks. Since they were both full-grown as men—and therefore full-grown as their respective animals—he’d needed to use sidhe power to keep them in place.

  Fortunately, he’d been pissed off enough to channel him some of that without even batting an eyelash.

  Green stroked Charlie to calm him down, and Arturo dropped him gently on his feet. Charlie strode up to Whim, tail twitching angrily, and Whim wrapped long arms around him and buried his face in Charlie’s fur until Charlie fell asleep.

  And then, while Connor was still a full-grown wolf hanging limply from Ar
turo’s grasp like a puppy, Green lowered his head and whispered in his ear, “We will clear the air before this day is through.”

  Then Arturo set him down, and he stalked to his clothes and dressed as though changing into a werewolf and chasing a cat through the house was acceptable behavior.

  Teague and Katy had come trotting back then. Teague growled low in his throat, probably about to call the pup to task, but Green had shaken his head.

  No.

  They’d given Dylan and Connor a wide berth since they’d arrived at the hill, and they’d treated Camigwen with kid gloves. Between their youth, their circumstances, and the obviously precarious emotional balance of the three of them, it had seemed more prudent, and kinder, to simply take their information at face value and look for the army that had so unexpectedly shown up at their door.

  But all of their other avenues were exhausted. Cory had the right of it—someone needed to talk to their lawyers, but first?

  These two young men needed a thorough debriefing, not just a superficial one.

  And they needed to find balance in their relationship—or like Teague, Jack, and Katy, they could easily rip apart the hill.

  Green watched Camigwen trot back to talk to Charlie—which was not all bullshit. The girl had been attending classes on the off days with a few of Green’s other folk, and she’d been bringing her work to Dylan to discuss. It was apparently an old habit from the days when their school attendance had been sketchy at best. They’d wanted to learn. Both of them quick, intuitive, psychic as hell, they’d been bored without something to occupy their minds.

  Green thought now that clearing the boys’ names—or forging them new identities—would probably be best for all involved.

  But that wasn’t where he was going to start.

  “We have some things to discuss,” he said mildly after Cami disappeared down the stairs toward the shape-shifters’ level. She was probably heading for the big common room, the one shaped like an old-school bar, because it was lunchtime and Charlie and Whim frequently ate there.

  “Do you need us to leave?” Dylan asked. Although he was trying to sound adult and mature and able to deal with that situation, Green was relatively certain he’d be devastated. The one thing Green had seen—the one reassuring thing—had been that the three of them needed someplace to call home.

  “Goddess willing, no,” he replied smartly. “All of you, as long as you’re loyal to the hill, are welcome to stay as long as you like. That’s not what the talk is about.”

  Connor’s brown eyes slid to Dylan’s face and then back to Green. Dylan was looking at Green soberly, his lips slightly parted and big green eyes wide, completely respectful and a little bit afraid.

  Connor regarded Green suspiciously, as though he was aware Dylan was vulnerable and afraid of where Green’s hammer would fall.

  “I’m sorry about chasing the cat,” he snarled abruptly. “I don’t know what came over—”

  “I do,” Green said mildly, and yes, that got Connor’s attention.

  “Shoot, then. I’m dying to hear.”

  “I was feeling unsettled. Personal issues between my family and me—but our power protects the hill. My irritation becomes yours. Part of that was my fault, but part of it was yours, because you were particularly susceptible to it. Do you understand?”

  “We’re still wanted for escaping jail!” Dylan burst out, as though this had weighed heavily on him.

  Green nodded. “You are. You might always be. But since we can protect you on the hill, I think you need to be more worried about keeping the hill safe. Don’t you?”

  The young men’s eyes met, and Green’s suspicions were confirmed. They had been holding some information back. Well, he didn’t blame them for being suspicious, but he certainly blamed himself for not asking them earlier.

  He too had come to rely on Cory for much of this work. He would need to pick up the slack.

  “I’ll let you think about that for a minute,” he said, knowing it would eat at them. Yes, they’d worked too hard to get someplace safe to compromise it now with their secrecy. And speaking of….

  “Right now, let’s talk about Cami. Dylan, you need to tell her, in no uncertain terms, that you are not wired that way. She knows, mostly, but you’re the closest thing she’s had to family. She needs to know it’s not going to be that kind of family.”

  Dylan looked down, then looked at Connor, who flushed.

  “And Connor,” Green said sharply, “if you want them both, then you need to tell her that, and also tell Dylan that. We have ménages all over the bloody hill. Yours wouldn’t be the first, and the details would be up to you. Connor could be the focus, and Dylan and Cami would never need to touch flesh. You could roll together like puppies or slither like eels—it’s not my concern. The things I do in bed with each of you to bind you to me are not an impediment to you three hammering your shit out, do you hear me? But you absolutely must be honest with that girl, or Connor is going to be irritated by every unholy wind that blows through the hill. And in case you missed the memo, the lady of the house is with child, so there are going to be a spectacular number of unholy winds, yes?”

  Both boys nodded, eyes wide and appalled. Connor pursed his lean mouth and slid another glance toward Dylan.

  “I was sweet on him in jail,” he confessed. “I mean, I knew—I knew I liked both—but you don’t show that in jail. But him, I was sweet on. They put him in there because they thought I’d kill him. I… I was terrified, you understand? So, yeah. I want them both. But….” His next look at Dylan was half-angry, half-baffled.

  “I… I’ve been saying no,” Dylan admitted. “I don’t want to hurt Cami.”

  Green pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. What he really wanted to do was hold Connor upside down by the sturdy work boots he insisted on wearing and shake him until he gave up the other details about the jail. But first they had to clear this up.

  “Boys, you do understand where you have landed, don’t you? Dylan, you are part elf—I know somebody explained that to you, right?”

  Dylan nodded a little uncertainly. “Something about… I don’t know, all the sex I could eat?”

  “Somebody besides Lambent or Nicky,” Green clarified.

  “Uh, no, then,” Dylan said apologetically. “Sorry.”

  Green sighed. “Children, elves are usually not particularly monogamous. When we are, we mate for life. You and Cami are part sidhe—I’m not sure by whom—you are both old enough that any number of elves could have been migrating through your area and stopped for a night or two. My hill has been schooled to not go leaving children all over the place like changelings under mushrooms, but not everybody’s has, so we’ll leave it at that. But whatever you have been thinking about monogamy or celibacy to prove that you’re being faithful, blow that shit out of the water, you understand? The only currency your blood can bear is honesty, and it’s time to use it.”

  Connor appeared to be the strongest of the three. It did not surprise Green when he reached out and grabbed Dylan’s hand. Since Dylan had been wringing the edge of his shirt, the shirt was probably grateful.

  “I want them. The… the wolf in me, wants them both. To protect, whatever. I want them.”

  Well, it was hardly romantic, but it did the job.

  “Well, good. Because if you sleep with them for any length of time, your body will reject the possibility of any other lover.”

  Connor’s eyes widened—but he didn’t drop Dylan’s hand.

  “Yes, I know. It’s not fair, and it does put sort of a time crunch on the three of you. You have to make your decisions very carefully in this world—I suggest you don’t fuck this up.”

  Connor nodded and then brought Dylan’s knuckles to his lips. The boy looked like he might expire there on the spot, and Green could smell his instant arousal.

  “Connor, you have to prepare yourself for the idea that Cami might not want to be a part of this. I’ll talk to her, but you
need to be honest too. No girl wants to be second.”

  Connor nodded decisively, and the fine hairs on the back of Green’s neck announced that things were now slightly better by standing down.

  “Good. Now, if the two of you think we can move on to hill business, I need to ask you both some rather pointed questions.”

  They both flushed, and Green’s stomach started to hop. He’d had time to spot the holes in his last interrogation—now he wanted to see what he could learn this time around.

  “Dylan, you got caught in a busted poker game. Is that right?”

  Dylan nodded, relaxing a little. This was something he thought he could handle.

  “Yes, then—a couple of questions. The first is this—if we showed you some pictures, do you think you could remember who else was at this game?”

  Dylan looked surprised. “Yes, I have an almost perfect memory. Used to drive Cami crazy. Why? What does it matter? We were all busted, right?”

  Green shook his head. “No, actually. Our contact in the police force can’t find a single mention of that raid. We’re not sure exactly what happened, but we suspect a couple of policemen managed to get hold of some extra windbreakers and walkie-talkies and then just faked it. You and a few others were arrested by the one or two real policemen, but the others? We think it might have been a shakedown. You were there because the whales were there—we think the fake cops were under orders to show up with harpoons.”

  Dylan looked surprised, and then intrigued. Oh, yes—it had taken Max a couple of weeks to piece that together, but his detective work was well worth the wait.

  “Okay,” Dylan said, nodding. “Okay. I could do that. If you think you might know who was there and why it’s important, I could definitely help that way.” He grinned at his companion, pleased, and Connor’s fierce expression softened. This was the young man Green had sensed those weeks ago—not just the fierce protector, but the tender nurturer. This was the person Green had invited to his hill.