Jackie let out a long breath and sagged backward, clearly hugely relieved. Matt threw an arm around her shoulders and she flashed him a grateful smile.
“I have the ring here,” she said, tapping her purse.
“I didn’t have time to gather all the ingredients for the spell before Jeremy showed up.” Tannenbaum moved to the tavern’s bar and picked up an object there, and Matt almost laughed to see it was a fanny pack. The dude had his magical whatsits in a fanny pack! Strapping it around his waist, the mage said, “I’d selected most of them, but I’ll need the spores of a certain fungus to finish.”
“Where’s this fungus?” Matt said.
Tannenbaum grimaced. “In the tower. At the top.”
“Like a greenhouse?” Jackie said.
“Well, maybe a magical greenhouse,” Tannenbaum said. “But to get to it we’ll have to navigate our way past those golems, and I don’t like our chances.”
Matt made a fist. “I like our chances just fine. One bear and two magic-users. We should be able to tackle just about anything.”
“The golems are resistant to most forms of magic,” Tannenbaum said.
Jackie nodded. “I tried an ice spell on one, but it just shrugged it off.”
Matt stifled a curse. “Well, we’ll just have to be sneaky then. I mean, it’s either that or wait for Walsh to show up and finish us off, right? And if we can give Jackie back her fire, we might stand a chance against that asshole.”
Tannenbaum tapped his chin thoughtfully. “Well, we do have his ring. He relied on that to steal dragonfire, and I’m willing to bet not having it will impede his efforts to do it again.”
“Impede,” Jackie repeated. “Not stop? I hadn’t been sure, but I had been hoping it might stop him altogether.”
“I’m not sure, either, my dear, but I would suspect not. He is very powerful and will probably have an alternate way to extract dragonfire—a backup, if you will. But it will be slower and clumsier, otherwise he would use it and not the ring. At any rate, I will be there to distract him. And our bear friend here, too. So yes, I think we stand a chance of defeating him.”
“Will it mean killing him?” Jackie said, and Matt could hear her reluctance to end the man’s life. After all he’d done, and she was still hesitant to do it.
Matt decided to take the burden of guilt off her shoulders; she had enough problems as it was. Speaking before she had a chance to, he said, “Fuck that guy. He’s not human, not if he can take someone’s essence away from them for his own gain. Plus he killed your dad and grandmother—and probably plenty others, too. Maybe we can take him alive and put him in this magical prison, but if we can’t, oh well.”
Jackie swallowed, then nodded. “Yes, I think you’re right.”
“I agree,” Tannenbaum said. “But we’ll take him alive if we can. With me to serve witness, the Magical Justice Court should move to convict.”
Matt kissed the top of Jackie’s head, then removed his arm from her shoulders and flexed his hands, already imagining them becoming claws once more.
“I guess we have a plan,” he said.
Chapter 9
Jackie assisted Tannenbaum, letting him put an arm around her shoulders and propping him up while Matt took the lead and they left the bar. As they went, Tannenbaum hissed ragged breaths. Jeremy, if that was the creep’s name, hadn’t physically beaten Tannenbaum, but apparently he’d inflicted a series of magical assaults on him when he was tied, gagged and helpless. Real class act, that Jeremy. Walsh obviously surrounded himself with winners. Typical.
Tannenbaum seemed to gain strength with every step, and by the time they were two blocks from the tavern he could walk on his own, though his expression was still wan and he moved in ginger little steps.
To distract him, Jackie gestured around them and said, “This place is amazing! A whole little pocket universe.”
Tannenbaum gave a pained smile. “Thank you, my dear. I erected these little folds in space and time when I first moved to Pine Ridge. I’d nearly forgotten I had them. I certainly had no clue where that water sound was coming from.” He cocked his head, as if listening to the sound of the surf crashing against the shore. Dark houses surrounded them, kind of eerily, but they produced no sounds of their own, and the surf was quite loud.
“Why did you build them?” Jackie said. Ahead, Matt was peering around the corner of a silent building. Evidently satisfied, he edged forward and gestured without looking behind for them to follow. They did, talking just loud enough to be heard over the sound of the sea.
“Oh, to escape enemies if need be,” Tannenbaum said. “A mage for hire attracts them like a mattress attracts bed bugs.”
“This sort of magic is beyond anything I know.”
“Oh, it’s beyond most of what I know, too. Or where I know,” he added significantly, tapping his nose.
“What does that mean?’
Tannenbaum looked evasive for a moment, then said, “Well, some areas of the world are stronger in magic than others. In places the walls between worlds are thin. This mountain is one such place.”
“Walls? What walls? What worlds?” It was as if Tannenbaum were speaking Greek. The only world Jackie knew these days was New York. It was certainly a world unto itself, that was for sure. And it did have plenty of walls. But she didn’t think that’s what Tannenbaum was talking about.
With an air of showmanship, he said, “Why, the Fae Lands, of course.”
“The … Fae?” Jackie wrinkled her nose as if she’d smelled something rank. Ahead Matt had half-turned, as if listening closely. To Tannenbaum, she said, “You’re putting me on.”
“I’m not, my dear.”
“Faeries!” she scoffed. “There’s no such thing as fairies.”
“The Fae are quite real.” Tannenbaum hitched his chin at Matt. “Ask your friend. He knows, I’m sure.”
Jackie studied Matt, who was frowning. “What does he mean, Matt?”
The bear shifter glared at the mage. Fog curled through the town streets, wreathing Matt’s gleaming, muscular body with a faint sheen of moisture and making him seem ghostly and, well, frankly, kind of awesome. Awesomer.
Jackie tried not to stare at his cock, though, as she asked the question. His face looked downright guilty, and that told her something. Matt was holding something back from her. An unreasoning flash of anger coursed through her.
“Well?” she pressed.
Matt let out a long sigh, his breath steaming in the cool air. “It’s true,” he said at last. “The Fae are real.”
“You’ve seen them?”
“I’ve seen enough.”
She scowled at him. “What’s going on? What am I missing?”
Matt glanced away, looking troubled. “I’m forbidden from talking about it, Jackie. I mean, to outsiders.”
“Outsiders? After what we …” She swallowed and felt her cheeks burn. Repeating herself, she said, “Outsiders?”
He seemed to be feeling less chipper, to judge by the set of his shoulders. “I just mean, someone not in my crew,” he said lamely.
Tannenbaum cleared his throat. “I’ve heard a rumor, Jackie, from spirits I commune with, that the Pine Ridge bear shifters are custodians of a great secret, something that has to do with the Fae. I don’t know what it is, but I know it’s big. It’s why I moved here. To increase my abilities. The very air here is redolent with it—magic.”
Jackie crossed her arms over her chest. “Matt, what do you have to say about all that?”
Angrily, he kicked a loose stone and it spun off into the night. Miserably, he said, “Jackie, I can’t talk about it. Not unless I claim you or my alpha gives permission. I just … can’t.”
She glared at him, then softened. She could tell the subject was agonizing to him, and the last thing she wanted to do was hurt him. Still, it galled her that he was keeping secrets from her after all she’d shared with him. It just didn’t seem right somehow, and she couldn’t help but feel a little m
iffed.
But, as her grandmother would have said, you have to pick your battles, and she somehow sensed that this wasn’t a battle she should pick. If Matt was holding something back, then he was doing it for a reason, and it didn’t have anything to do with her.
After a long moment, she went to him and wrapped her arms about him. He seemed surprised for a moment, then hugged her back. Tight. She smiled against his taut chest and felt tears burn her eyes. When she pulled back, she could see him blinking rapidly.
“I’m sorry I pushed,” she said. In a lower voice, she said, “Tell me when you’re ready, though, okay?”
He cleared his throat. “I will. I swear it.”
Jackie turned back to Tannenbaum to see him watching them with a small, sad smile. That smile seemed to hint that he had known love once, too, but that somewhere along the way he had lost it. For a moment Jackie wondered what his story was and just how he had come to be a mage for hire living in a “thin” place in the mountains of Colorado. Before she could ask him about it, though, Matt said, “Come,” and resumed leading the way.
Jackie fell back beside Tannenbaum. “So, you were saying,” she said.
“I was?”
“About creating these … folds in space or whatever.”
He shrugged. “Just one of my little tricks, made possible by being here. I never imagined being held prisoner in one of them, though, the folds in reality. But that Jeremy, he was clever, and I think his master had given him some wards and spells to use against me. When he knocked on the door, he hadn’t alerted any of my traps or safeguards, and I had no notion that he might be hostile or even a magic-user. I thought it might be a salesperson, or even you, somehow having come early and having found my personal residence.
"Much to my surprise it was that … well, let us just say ne’er-do-well … and before I could speak a single spell in defense he had frozen my tongue with a curse. After that I was easy prey, and he had various tools with which to disarm my various traps. Amazing, really. I must admit that I was impressed. I think his master, this Walsh, was responsible for most of those tools, and that does not make me eager to face him in battle, I admit.”
“But you will.”
Tannenbaum nodded shakily. “I will.” He flexed a bony fist, then let it drop. “I am eager to make him pay for the tortures his lackey inflicted on me.”
“Here we are,” Matt said.
They’d cleared the last building and stood on the beach near where they had first entered the hidey-hole town, or whatever it was.
“You guys take it from here,” Matt said.
Jackie nodded to Tannenbaum. “Would you like the honor?”
He gave a tight smile and raised his hands, fanning out his fingers as if feeling the air, or maybe the magical vibrations. With his free hand, he grabbed Jackie’s hand. Understanding, she reached out for Matt with her free hand, and he grasped it in his large warm paw, forming a chain.
“Let me make sure the way is clear,” Tannenbaum said. “That there aren’t any golems waiting for us just on the other side.” He closed his eyes and seemed to concentrate, then breathed out. “It’s safe. For now.”
“Then let’s do this,” Jackie said.
“Vigazco,” Tannenbaum said, speaking the magical command precisely and with authority.
The air rippled around them, and Jackie felt her stomach cramp. For a moment it felt like they were being picked up by a tornado and deposited elsewhere. When she opened her eyes, they were standing in the hallway in Tannenbaum’s mansion right before the painting of the seaside town, just where they had left this reality for the other.
She lost her balance for a moment and had to lean against Matt’s warm, hard body for support. He held her up easily even as his large square head turned this way and that, his eyes narrowed. He was making doubly sure there weren’t any golems about, she knew. She loved the feel of his warm, firm flesh under her fingers. As if carved of marble, he didn’t even budge against her weight.
Relaxing somewhat, evidently not seeing any golems, he whispered, “You okay?”
“I’m good. You?”
“Never better.”
She wasn’t the only one that seemed to be enjoying their contact. He was getting a little hard again. Well, maybe a big hard again. Separating herself from him, she grinned and said, “Later.”
“Better be,” he told her, and winked.
To Tannenbaum, who was tactfully studying the ceiling, she said, “You okay?” When he nodded, she said, “Good job on the spell. You did much better bringing us back than I did getting Matt and I there in the first place.”
“All in the wrist, my dear.”
She gave a small laugh, careful to be as quiet as possible. “Okay, so where’s the tower? Let’s get up there, get the spores and restore my fire before that jerkwad Walsh shows up.”
“That’s the plan.” Tannenbaum paused a moment, as if orienting himself, then set off down the hall to the right. “This way,” he called softly over his shoulder.
Matt didn’t seem to like letting the mage go first, but there didn’t seem to be a more practical option, so he fell in directly behind Tannenbaum and Jackie took up the rear. She didn’t mind going immediately behind Matt, since his behind was so easy on the eyes.
She constantly had to resist the urge to reach out and slap one of his muscular, flexing buttocks. She didn’t want to distract him, though. She knew he was trying to protect them all—her most especially. She loved how protective he was, and how calm and cool he was when action was required.
Tannenbaum paused at the next hallway intersection and peered around the corner. He stiffened and drew back. Turning to the others, he shook his head grimly, and distantly Jackie could hear the clomp clomp clomp of a golem. The three waited breathlessly. The noises didn’t grow any louder, and soon they faded. The golem hadn’t come up this hall but had continued down the cross-hall it must have been going down already. Good.
When the clomps had faded completely, Tannenbaum resumed the way, passing down this hallway to another intersection, pausing to look around, then hooking a left and lightly jogging down this new hall. Jackie marveled at all the ornate fixtures and rich carpeting. This place was amazing.
The mage paused at a handsome stairway leading up in a spiral, ascending into what Jackie could see was the spire she’d seen from outside. It was half Victorian, half Gothic, and quite a bit larger than she had realized earlier. Was this like Doctor Who, where things were bigger on the inside?
Tannenbaum craned his head, looking up, and Jackie could almost see his ears twitch as they strained to catch any alien sounds. Apparently satisfied, he nodded to Matt and Jackie and whispered, “I think it’s clear. Let’s go.”
Clomp clomp.
Jackie felt the hairs prickle down her spine. A golem was about to turn into this hall from a side hall, she could hear it. Amazing how this place with its thick walls and carpeting could muffle their sounds until it was almost too late.
Chapter 10
“Go,” Matt said, seeing that both Jackie and Tannenbaum were staring in the direction of the sounds instead of rushing up the stairs. With emphasis, he added, “Now!”
The two seemed to shake themselves. Tannenbaum jogged to the stairs, paused to gesture for Jackie and Matt to follow, then ascended ahead of them. Matt gently pushed Jackie toward the stairs next. She went, and he made sure she had reached the first landing before he followed. If anyone was going to tangle with the golems, it had better be him. Especially if the things were resistant to magic.
Breathing easily, he trotted up the stairs behind Jackie, and the clomps of the golem receded. Soon all Matt could hear was the sound of his own heartbeat and Jackie’s quick breaths. They reached one landing, then another, making their way swiftly up through the tower. The stairs seemed to go on forever. Weird. Matt hadn’t thought there were this many stories to the structure, but that didn’t make sense. Or did it? This was a wizard’s home, after all.
Finally, all of them breathing a little heavily, even Matt, they reached the top of the spire and paused before an oiled wooden door with an ornate brass doorknob and keyhole. It gleamed in the light of the equally ornate brass chandelier that drooped from the ceiling and blazed with a hundred candles.
“What are you doing?” Jackie asked, and Matt saw Tannenbaum closing his eyes and waving his hands before the door. The mage muttered something under his breath, retrieved a key from his fanny pack and held it up to the light—all without answering Jackie’s question.
Finally he said, somewhat mysteriously, “Finding the way.” He waggled the key. It was large and ancient-looking, with a red ruby (or what looked like one, though it glimmered with odd lights) set in the hilt.
“What ‘way’?” Matt said, wary.
Tannenbaum smiled, and again it was mysterious. “This doorway can lead to many places, wherever ley lines meet. But in only one of those places grows the Great Gava Mushroom. That’s the mushroom whose spores can complete the spell. I have all the other ingredients here—” (he patted his fanny pack) “—except for the Gava spores. But we’ll go now and retrieve them together. Since you’re coming with me, I’ll give you a small discount.”
“Forget it, T," Jackie said. "You got tortured because of me.”
“Oh, did I neglect to add on the torture surcharge? There will be a torture surcharge, trust me. You would do well to accept my discount.”
Jackie rolled her eyes. “Fine.”
“Let’s move this along,” Matt said. “Remember, those golems can climb stairs.”
Tannenbaum swallowed and nodded. He returned his attention to the key, spoke the word “Agavato”, and inserted the key into the keyhole. With the slowness of a showman, he turned the key, and the gears inside that brass hole gave a clank and a groan. The air sort of shimmered around the door, and Tannenbaum wiped sweat from his forehead with a shaky hand. Clearing his throat, he grabbed the knob and shoved the door open. Beyond stretched a sun-drenched, grassy hill surrounded by more grassy hills and trees.
Bear Fire: Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance (BBW) (Pine Ridge BBW Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance Series Book 4) Page 7