I sighed. “I’ll talk to him, but I’m not making any promises.” I shook my head. I needed to ask questions just to find another way, because no way would I send my son into this kind of danger. “I’m assuming you’ve already talked this over with Aaron?”
“He has a turtle shifter he’ll bring back into the country if your son can’t do it as a snake. The party’s in nine days.”
“We have a crow who could do it.”
He shook his head. “They have sensors for supernatural avians and mammals coming over, under, or through the fence. It has to be a small reptile.”
“How small?”
“Small enough to fit in the drainage hole through the fence. Aaron has a mockup of it, including the dimensions of the inside curves, so we’ll know ahead if time if he’ll be able to fit.”
I swallowed my bite, considering. “If it’ll be a tight fit for a rattler, our turtle won’t fit.”
“There’s a pond. We’d bring him in another way, but it’s riskier.”
“I’ll only consider it if Aaron’s involved, and if Darius is pleased with what he’ll get out of it personally. I don’t like asking him to risk his life for his mom. You have to know there are still some open wounds we’re working on healing.”
“Aaron knows the details and can walk the two of you through the logistics.”
“Please pass my regards on to your cook. The meal is excellent.”
He nodded and stood. “Should you need anything from me in the future, I’ll be open to a similar arrangement as tonight’s. The positive and negative reinforcement varies, of course, but is often sexual in nature.”
I wanted to know how often he created new vampires, but figured the question wouldn’t be received well.
“I’ll keep it in mind. I appreciate your insights into the bond I share with Keisha.”
Chapter 9
Keisha
I awakened with a start, my heart racing and my stomach churning as if I were going to be sick. I needed to race down the ladder to the bathroom, but I wasn’t sure I could hold on. My muscles were weak and I couldn’t catch my breath.
I tried to get out of bed anyway, but I collapsed to the floor and threw up the remains of the apple I’d eaten before going to sleep.
I hated to call Darius to come rescue me, but Darnell was working and I needed help.
I was surprised when Hailey answered his phone, and my voice slurred when I tried to ask for Darius.
“Are you okay, Keisha?”
I managed to get out, “No.”
“I’m on my way, but Horse is closer than me. If he’s home, he’ll get to you first so don’t be afraid, okay? He’s a big guy, but he’s a teddy bear.”
Instead of answering her, I wretched again, and she told me to stay on the line and she’d use her phone to call Horse.
By the time Horse arrived, I was in worse shape. They tell me I was unconscious, but I heard everything happening, I just couldn’t respond.
Gabby and Horse were trying to reach Darius and Darnell when Hailey arrived to tell them both men were handling something and would be out of communication a few hours.
“She’s in trouble,” Gabby told Hailey. “It’s like something’s sucking her aura away.”
“So we take her to Faerie,” Horse told them, again. “Whatever’s sucking on her aura in this realm won’t have access to her in that one.”
“She’s human,” Gabby argued. “You never know how a human will handle things there.”
Hailey’s cool hands touched my head, my abdomen, my thighs. “We’re losing her. If you think taking her to Faerie will stop this — take her. I can’t go with you though.”
“We came on my bike,” said Horse.
“I’ll drive you to the portal,” Hailey told them.
Horse held me in the backseat while Hailey drove. I wanted to ask where they were taking me, but my body wouldn’t do what I wanted. I think I lost consciousness in the car, because the next thing I remember is waking up in a meadow under a canopy of trees near a waterfall.
“Where are we?”
“I need you to not talk, Keisha.” Gabby looked more than worried, she looked scared. “If anyone comes to us, you don’t speak to them, you don’t nod your head, you don’t communicate in any way. You can’t eat or drink anything either. Okay?”
I nodded and she rolled her eyes. “Don’t nod! Nothing!”
I widened my eyes at her, and she smiled. “Okay, we’re going to walk you back through and see how you do. If you have problems, we’ll have to bring you back.”
She looked up to Horse, who lifted me in his arms and we walked through a creek and into a waterfall… and came out of it in a different place.
My heart immediately started racing and I fought to catch my breath. Without saying a word, we walked back through the falls.
“Hide with her,” Gabby told Horse. “I’ll give the signal when Sophia arrives.”
Horse walked into the forest with me, found a tree with low limbs, put me on his back, and climbed. He stopped forty feet up, sat me on a crook of a limb, and then he sat on another. I was safe enough where he put me, but I still held on as tightly as I could. He held his finger to his mouth when we were situated facing each other, and I nodded.
I looked down at my bare legs, suddenly aware I was in my nightgown — no bra, no underwear. The thick cotton covered me okay, but I’d have preferred clothes.
Chapter 10
Darnell
Nothing in my SEALs training prepared me for sending my son off into the kind of danger he was slithering into.
Aaron and I were three and a half miles away, and we had no way of keeping track of Darius. The tiny camera we’d mounted on him was saving to a micro-SD drive because we didn’t dare risk them picking up on the camera transmitting a signal. We expected it to take him an hour or more to get there, and then he planned to hang out for a few hours to listen, and then it would take time to slither back.
And I’d have to remain calm throughout it all.
Meanwhile, I had to sit and do nothing, with no surefire way of keeping tabs on his wellbeing.
I paced until I got on my own nerves, and I forced myself to sit still. I’ve had to hide in enemy territory plenty of times. I know how to moderate my breathing and my movements, but it takes concentration. I focused, I drew on my strength, and I sat still.
“He’s smart, and I’m sure of our recon. He’ll be fine,” Aaron assured me.
“Probably.”
“Most likely.”
“I’d have rather been forced to live as next door neighbors with Keisha the rest of our lives than put Darius in danger like this.”
“I know, but he felt differently.”
I hadn’t even made him the offer, but Abbott had asked Bran to mention it to Hailey, who told Darius, who came to me pissed because I’d kept it from him.
Aaron had tapped into a government satellite, so we had a live infrared feed of the people at the party. If Darius was discovered, we’d likely see several bodies moving to the perimeter to deal with him. Otherwise, we had no way of knowing where he was. Snakes can sometimes be seen through thermal imaging, but not in this type of application. Likewise, we may or may not see the vampires. We could easily see the humans and shapeshifters, though, which was better than nothing.
One minute, everything was fine, and the next… it was as if I was all alone. My heart stopped beating as I realized I couldn’t sense Keisha.
“You okay?” Aaron asked.
I shook my head. “I can’t feel Keisha. Something’s wrong.”
“Wrong enough to break protocol?”
Breaking protocol at this point could put Darius into more danger. Abbott had warned me things might go wonky. What if this was just an anomaly and I got Darius killed by initiating contact?
I shook my head. “No. Something isn’t right, but we can’t risk coms.”
He nodded and we both looked to the monitors again.
&nb
sp; I breathed through my worry, set it to the side, and focused. Nearly two hours later, someone signaled us with a birdcall as they entered our perimeter. Only Drake employees know the correct calls, but you can never be too careful when on a mission.
“You stay with the monitors,” Aaron told me as he stood. “I’ll see who it is.”
Three minutes later, he returned to the van with Ranger.
“They have her stabilized, but something’s wrong with Keisha. Gabby and Horse took her to Faerie. She’s okay as long as she’s there, but passes out when they try to bring her back. Sophia and Gabby are with her in Faerie — they have her in Sophia’s castle. She’s safe for now, but we need to figure out why she isn’t okay here.”
“Fuck. I thought it would come on gradually. Shit.”
Aaron looked at me in question, and I explained. “Abbott told me if we didn’t redo our mating bond, things might go wonky. Neither of us have exhibited any symptoms, and I had the idea we’d have a warning things were going screwy before there were real problems.”
“Jonathan’s with them?” Aaron asked Ranger.
“Yes, and Nathan was on his way when I left.”
“Send word we know what the problem is and it’s easily fixable, but they need to stay put for now,” said Aaron. “I’ll come to them when it’s safe to bring her back.”
Chapter 11
Keisha
I was in the land of fairy tales. If I made a promise, the land here would record it. If I thanked someone, it was the same as admitting I owed someone something. And if I ate or drank anything, apparently the events of Alice in Wonderland might seem tame to the adventures I could have.
My cellphone didn’t work here, but Sophia teleported us into a room with no doors or windows and offered me a choice of Jane Eyre or Little Women. I chose the latter.
“Read. No words. No talking. Just read.” She made a fist near her shoulder and moved it a little. “If you need to go to the bathroom, touch one of us and do this. No talking.”
And so, Sophia, Jonathan, Nathan, and I sat quietly in a stone room. When I shivered, Nathan teleported out and back, and handed me a blanket. I opened my mouth to thank him and he put his hand on my mouth as he shook his head.
Eventually, Nathan told us Aaron knew the problem and it could be fixed, but we needed to stay put until he came for us.
My bladder was screaming for relief when Aaron finally arrived, but I’d been determined to hold on as long as possible. I didn’t understand the danger here, but everyone was so on edge, there was no doubt this wasn’t a safe place for me.
Sophia teleported me and Aaron into another room, walked us a few steps, and the next thing I knew we were stepping out of a waterfall in a cave somewhere.
I expected my heart to start racing again, but it didn’t.
“You can talk here,” Sophia told me. “We’re back in the human realm.”
“I need to use the restroom.”
Jonathan and Nathan came through the waterfall next, and I shook my head in wonder as Sophia walked me through a door and I found myself in a house. She pointed down a hallway. “Second door on the right. I’ll wait here.”
I was so thirsty, I drank water from the sink tap after I used the bathroom. Sophia walked me back to the cave when I came out, and I followed her through winding passageways. She stopped, turned and looked at me, and said, “Keep looking this way, please.”
I heard an odd noise behind me, felt a whoosh of warmer air, and she nodded. “You can turn around.”
I hadn’t seen a door where there was clearly one now. I followed Aaron through, with Sophia, Jonathan, and Nathan behind us.
“Call Darnell. He’s waiting to hear from you,” Aaron said without turning around to look at me.
I’d turned my cellphone off to save the battery, so I turned it back on as I followed Aaron down a hallway, up some stairs, down another hallway, and up yet even more stairs. We ended up in a beautiful living room with a gorgeous view of Chattanooga below us. We were in a house on a mountain, and it was still night.
“Keesh,” Darnell answered. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, where are you?”
“On my way back, but it’ll be a few hours until I get there. If things go wonky again, Nathan will try to help you. If he can’t, they’ll take you back until I get there. We think you’ll be okay as long as I stay calm.”
My Darnell is always calm. “What had you upset?”
“Everyone’s safe, Keesh. I’m good. Aaron’s going to explain some stuff to you, and they’ll probably offer you a guest bed if you’re tired. I doubt you got much sleep.”
I was exhausted, but Darnell had me worried. “What’s going on? Why were both you and Darius out of communication?”
He sighed. “I’ll explain later, Keesh. Everyone’s safe. I promise.”
We talked a few more minutes before saying we loved each other and disconnecting.
Sophia handed me a glass of ice water and some large sweatpants as Aaron said, “You were bound with several people present when you found out Darnell is a werewolf.”
Aaron said it as a statement and not a question, but I still stopped drinking long enough to nod in answer.
“Your binding is for anything supernatural you may find out, and now you know about Faerie. You can’t talk to humans about it. Even if you can find the waterfalls portals, you won’t be able to go through. You aren’t magical. You’ll just hurt yourself and get wet.”
“But Darnell could take me?”
“Wolves aren’t allowed in Faerie unless they have special permission. He’d be captured soon after entering.”
Sophia pointed towards a closed door. “You can put the sweatpants on in the upstairs restroom. I’m sorry I couldn’t give you anything before, but I was afraid you’d thank me for them.”
“Well, I can thank you now, so I will. Thank you.”
She smiled and I went into the restroom, put the sweatpants on, and finger-combed my wild hair. God, I was a mess.
When I came back out, I told them, “So, all of you are magical, but you aren’t wolves. Gabby and Horse, too.”
“Yes,” Nathan answered, “and you can never tell anyone what you know. Darius and Darnell know, but they’re the only people — besides us — you can speak to about this.”
“Oh,” I said, disappointed. “I thought Hailey might know something, since she knew to call Horse and Gabby.”
“Hailey knew enough to get you help,” Aaron told me. “That’s all you need to know about her.”
Sophia looked at the men, made an exasperated noise, and walked to me. She sat on the coffee table in front of me and said, “There’s this rule in the supernatural community about not telling anyone else’s secrets. I can’t tell you anything about anyone else, but I can tell you I shapeshift into a Swan, and I’m quite powerful — which is why I could teleport people in Faerie. It’s a pretty specialized skill.”
“What happened to me? Why couldn’t I move or do anything?”
Aaron put his hand on Sophia’s shoulder and told me, “We believe the relationship bond between you and Darnell didn’t snap back into place exactly right. When he got upset, he drew energy to himself to stay focused, not realizing the bond let him drain you of energy.”
“And when I was taken out of this realm, he couldn’t pull from me anymore.”
Aaron nodded. “Darnell tells me you were informed one of the men who witnessed your bonding could make you forget about being told, if you chose not to go through with the ritual.”
I nodded.
“Darius and Darnell made a deal with…” He sighed. “Someone else with the same powers. This person will make sure a judge lets you off parole, and then later, expunges your felony.”
My shoulders slumped. “They put themselves in danger to make it happen, didn’t they?”
“I’ll let Darnell explain the details, but everything was successful. It may take another eight to ten months to get everything thro
ugh the legal system, but you’ll eventually be given all your inalienable rights back.”
I shook my head at the irony, but smiled. “Thank you, for whatever part you played in keeping them safe.” I looked around the room. “Thanks to all of you for keeping me safe tonight. I thought I was dying.”
“You were,” Nathan told me. “And you can’t be alone until we get this straightened out.”
“What do we do to fix it?”
Everyone looked at Sophia, who rolled her eyes and said, “I imagine you’ll need to do the relationship bond again, and then we’ll need to bring someone in who can make sure it’s right.”
My first thought was of panic, because I wasn’t sure I could make the promises I’d made the first time we did it — but then I remembered what Aaron had said about expunging my felony, and I suddenly weighed three tons less. I’d been so worried we’d never be able to make it work between us, and it finally sank in that we had no more barriers.
We could live together. Not this year, but next year, and every year after.
I could sleep with him every night. I could wake up with him every morning.
“When’ll he be here?”
“They have another hour until they get to the airfield, then a two-hour flight. Would you like to sleep while we wait?”
I nodded to him and looked to Sophia. “If I can’t be alone, I can sleep on a sofa in here.”
“How about an egg salad sandwich, or perhaps a grilled cheese? We’ll put a glorified baby monitor in your room while you sleep, and hook it up so we’ll be notified if your heart races again.”
“A grilled cheese would be great. Thank you.”
Darnell
She was asleep when I arrived, and Sophia walked me downstairs.
“She’s still shaky, though I’m not sure she realizes it. I fed her a sandwich and we’ve made sure she’s hydrated, but she might not find her own energy signature again until you fix the bond.”
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