by Sonja Bair
Alrik laid his hands flat on the table and looked me straight in the eyes. “I apologize for trying to force you to talk. I honestly didn’t even mean to push you. But I am tired of you not telling me the whole truth and allowing me to help. Whatever it is you aren’t sharing is big and could get you in trouble.” He refused to drop his eyes in apology, and I glared right back in anger at his overbearing nature.
Alrik and I had a staring contest for a moment, neither of us willing to back down or apologize. Luckily, Drew broke the tension. “Tell me if I’m wrong, but I’m guessing Alrik pulled some sort of Jedi mind trick on Freya?”
“Alrik tried to pull a Jedi mind trick on me. But his Jedi skills aren’t as good as he thinks,” I answered.
“Hmm,” Drew said in a contemplative tone. “I learn something new every day. So Alva can do things other than be human bats?”
“Bats? That’s a lovely comparison, but our bone structure is more like a bird, thank you very much,” I replied.
“Birds have feathers. You have hair,” Drew said with a smirk. “But back to your nifty superpowers…”
Alrik answered without looking away from me. “Some Alva have extra mental powers. But, yes, the powers vary in skill and skill level from Alva to Alva. Most of the talents involve mental influence in one way or another. Our position as historically one of the most powerful supernaturals in Europe has much more to do with that influence than our flying ability.” Alrik shrugged and continued, “I personally have the ability to coerce people to talk and tell the truth without them realizing they are being influenced or what they are even saying. It is helpful in my role as Flock Arbitrator.”
I watched the emotions play across Drew’s face and waited for him to come to the two inevitable follow-up questions.
“Hey, have you ever made me talk?” And there was the first.
Elin cleared her throat nervously. “I may have asked Alrik to talk to you once. But it was only after we first started dating. A lot of guys only wanted to get into my pants, so I was checking to see if you were really interested in me as a person.”
Drew stared at Elin in horror. She crossed over to him in a few strides of her gorgeous long legs and gave him a big, wet kiss on the lips, reassuring him. “You gave the best answer possible. You thought I was smart, funny, talented, and you wanted to get to know me better. Then you wanted to get into my pants. And it worked.” She kissed him again, and Drew smiled. I would have bet good money that someone was going to get lucky tonight. Then Drew realized the second of the two inevitable follow-up questions.
“Wait a second. Freya, do you have any mental superpowers?”
I gave a half-smile. “Yup. I can plant false memories. And before you ask, no, I have not planted any false memories on you.” But I couldn’t stop there, not with him being my beloved sister’s husband. “Except for the memory of you running around your college campus wearing nothing but women’s underwear,” I said, raising my eyebrows and wiggling my fingers at him. Elin shot me a look of death. I smiled back at her. “I didn’t do anything. Besides, Drew, I’ll let you in on my poker tell. Whenever I influence someone, they experience a dull pain at the back of their skull.” Reflexively, I rubbed the back of my own skull; I always got a splitting headache, too.
Drew nodded thoughtfully, looking relieved. “I don’t like not having control of my own brain. You guys are scary.”
My stomach dropped. His comment made me remember the potential of Alpha control over my thoughts. Drew was right: mental influences made you question yourself, which was much scarier than a physical monster. I needed my family and friends to watch my back until Robert and Maria were properly taken care of. I took a deep breath.
“So there is something else I’m slightly concerned about.” All heads swiveled my way. I needed to get it all out before I chickened out. “David is now Alpha of a small pack of werewolves. And guess what? Werewolf magic picked me as his Alpha mate! Hey, isn’t that funny? This family is all about intersupernatural cooperation, aren’t we? But for some reason, David is still connected with his old werewolf pack. Robert and Maria want to kill him and me, too, since I am now an Alpha. And Alphas can have emotional control over their packs. We don’t know for sure, but it possibly means that Robert and Maria may try to mentally influence me. And they attacked me today and drew blood. That might mean something, or it might not.”
I tried to summon an unruffled, chill attitude and glide into a dining room chair with the poise and grace of someone in complete control of her life. It was going well until I overdid my performance and took a sip from Drew’s tumbler of bourbon. I managed to get most of the bourbon down before the burning closed up my throat and I uncontrollably started coughing. I barely was able to swallow the rest of the stuff. Why do people drink this poison?
The coughing kept me occupied for a moment, but when I looked around the table, faces were grim. Drew looked baffled again, but definitely less resigned than before. Elin was bright red and shaking with anger. Alrik had his eyes shut and was leaning back in his chair, but the air around him had grown oppressive. He appeared to be channeling all his energy into not exploding.
Elin was the first to respond. “Did David make you an Alpha mate on purpose?”
“No. He was as surprised as anyone.”
“How long have you been an Alpha mate?” Elin asked.
“According to David, after our second meeting.”
“Did you know about this at all?” Drew chimed in next.
“I had this weird feeling that I was tied up in David’s werewolf mess in some way, but I had no idea to what extent.”
“Does David realize that I am going to kill him?” All heads in the room swung around to look at Alrik. It didn’t look like he was kidding.
When would Alrik learn that his imperious and overbearing ways were always the wrong attitude to take around me? My shoulders went back and I snapped at him, “He didn’t have anything to do with it; he is as surprised as me. And he has not acted on anything or made any presumptions. He only told me told me today because Robert showed up and he felt I needed to know. Besides why don’t you take that little attitude of yours and shove it up...”
Elin broke in a firm but quiet voice. “Is there some way to resign as Alpha mate?”
I took a breath and tried to calm down. “Not that I know of, but I haven’t asked.”
Alrik wasn’t interested in calming down. He learned forward aggressively. Everything about him, his voice, the angle of his body, his half-closed eyelids, reminded me of a predator. “And why didn’t you ask?”
I refused to be intimidated by the predator across the table, I matched his posture and used my best authoritative schoolmarm voice. “That is not the problem right now, Alrik.” I turned to include Elin and Drew in my little harangue. “The problem right now is that the other Alphas may try to influence my behavior. I need you guys to watch my back. Tell me if I am behaving in a way that isn’t normal. And yes, here is where you tell me that my normal ways of acting are asinine and how can you tell if I’m acting even more asinine than normal? Well, most of the time, you guys are fairly intelligent. Figure it out.” I stood up.
Elin grabbed my hand. Hers was icy cold. “We love you, Freya. Of course we will. Do you want to stay out here at the ranch with us?” I gave her the best smile I could manage, fit my fingers between hers, and squeezed, hoping to get blood flowing in her hand again.
“No. I refuse to be intimidated into giving up my independence. I’m going back home tonight.”
Elin turned to Alrik. “You are going with her, right?”
Alrik and I glared at each other. I answered for him. “I might be a fool, but I’m not a stupid fool. Yes, Alrik is staying with me until this mess... these messes... get straightened out.”
Chapter 20
My wings were fully extended. I could feel the wind pushing up on them, my skin stretched tight and my muscles braced against the rush. The wind didn’t seem to have a t
emperature; I could only feel the passing of air. At first, I was content with the sense of freedom from earthbound cares. There was no one around, no contentious noises of humans and their problems. I could hear the seagulls in the distance, calling to each other. Their squawks were harsh and jagged, but they carry such a powerful mental imagery of the ocean that their noises seemed melodious to me.
I looked down. Sure enough, as far as I could see was the blue of the ocean. I could see small spots of white in the blue where waves crashed. I watched the ocean, smelling the tang of the salt in the air, and after a few seconds, I realized that the spots from the waves weren’t getting any bigger. Even though I could have sworn based on the wind buffeting the undersides of my wings that I was gliding down, I was not getting any closer to the water. I tried to pull the bottom of my wings forward to gain control. My wings wouldn’t move. They were as rigid as a hang glider. I tugged as hard as I could to break them out of their rigor. Nothing. I gave one more yank on them, but instead of flexing to my command, the right wing angled slightly below the air current, pushing the left one skyward. They were now caught in a whirlwind of air pressures. I spiraled out of control, tilted with my right side facing the water and my left side facing the sky. The white of the waves now appeared to grow in size; the ocean was rushing up to meet me. As long as I could remember, I never was afraid of falling. Like a marathon runner is not afraid of a long stretch of road in front of him, I was never afraid of a vertical drop. The sky was my playground. But now, I was powerless to stop, and gravity was kicking in, big time. My terror grew. I tried to pull my right wing up, but I yanked too hard and the wing broke off. Now I was in a free fall. My arms and legs wheeled in the air, clawing uselessly, trying to slow my descent. The blue of the ocean now filled my entire field of vision. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and prepared for impact.
The cracking noise of the water against my body was deafening. I plunged deep into the water, bubbles streaming by my face. I moved my arms and legs; everything seemed to be working so I opened my eyes. The hang gliding wings were gone, but I couldn’t see which way was up. Panic crept over me. I needed to breathe; I needed to get to the surface. I spun around, but each way looked exactly the same. My lungs burned with the need for air. My chest felt like a vise was pinching it down, smaller and smaller. My throat ached with the need to gasp in air. There was no longer a choice; my mouth opened and my diaphragm violently contracted. Water rushed into my mouth, into my throat, and down to my lungs. The remaining air in my lungs bubbled out. And nothing more happened. I could breathe. I took another cautious breath. My body felt as comfortable breathing water as it did air.
I noticed that light was streaming down over the top of my head. The surface was indeed above me, but I didn’t feel the urge to come up for air. I was fine down here. I jackknifed my body and kicked my feet. I glided downward. A school of silver sparkly fish flashed by me. Mackerel, perhaps? I flipped to my back and looked up. A lone bluefin tuna passed by, lazily flicking his c-shaped tail back and forth. I stretched out my arms and smiled, catching a flash of black from the corner of my eye. The tuna and the mackerel school did as well, since they, almost as one, flipped around and shot off in the opposite direction. I looked toward the black spot. A shark, possibly a tiger shark, was swimming in a big figure eight about fifty feet behind me. A tendril of panic grew over me, but I beat it down. Sharks don’t like to eat humans. When humans get bitten by sharks, it is usually a case of mistaken identity for a seal or sea lion.
I watched the beautiful predator circle closer and closer. My sense of wonder and unnatural peace lasted much longer than I would have expected. In fact, it lasted clear up until the shark circled close enough for me to reach out and touch it. Its skin was barbed and rough. With one powerful wave of its tail, its head whipped back in my direction. The black of its eyes rolled back and white film slid over its eyes. Its mouth sprang open unnaturally wide and teeth seemed to instantly spring out of its jaw. The open mouth aimed for my outstretched arm. I yanked my arm back just as the jaw closed fractions of an inch from my skin.
Out of the inborn instinct of a creature of the sky, I released my wings to fly off. I forgot, though, that I was underwater. My one wing was worse than useless; it was now boneless and limp and rapidly getting tangled around my body. I couldn’t see, I couldn’t swim, I was trapped, and I could feel the shark circling in back for another bite. I opened my mouth to scream... and then woke up.
All my sheets and blankets were lying on the floor. I must have been doing some serious tossing and turning for them to get so twisted. Sluggishly, I sat up and scooped my pillow off the floor. A glance at the clock told me it was 3:35 a.m.; if there was a witching hour, this would be it. I sighed. It had been a long time since I had a nightmare that bad. I crawled back into bed and stared at the ceiling for awhile, trying to go back to sleep.
Sleep was an elusive beast, however, and after an hour, I got so frustrated at not being able to fall asleep that I was preventing any chance of actually accomplishing it. Stupid brain. Perhaps a snack would help. I flicked on my bedroom light and grabbed a sweatshirt lying on my desk chair. San Luis got cold at night.
I carefully opened my door and peeked out. Alrik was crashed out on the couch. He certainly was showing his heroic side by sleeping there for this long. Not only was he looking out for my safety, he was also sleeping on a couch whose glory years were in a past decade. I tiptoed out to the kitchen and turned on the nightlight under the microwave. What to eat? I opened the fridge, stared in, and closed it. I opened it again and grabbed some bread. Toast sounded good.
As I was waiting for the toaster to do its magic, I peeked back into the living room. The blankets and sheets were pulled diagonally from Alrik’s waist to his shoulder. He slept shirtless, leaving a nice view of his flat, well-muscled stomach. Like most Alva males, Alrik didn’t have chest hair. I wondered if David had any. I mentally slapped myself. I was not going to pit the one against the other; it was not fair to either them or me. I needed to figure out what in the world was going on with my weird relationship with each and then move on. I grabbed my handy notebook and a pen. The toast was done and I grabbed a plate and sat on the kitchen floor. I made a list:
David
Pros:
1. Intelligent
2. He laughs at my jokes
3. He doesn’t get bossy
4. Challenges my views on life
5. Makes me smile
Cons:
1. Messy life
2. Isn’t Alva
3. Don’t really know him that well
4. Puts on the unemotional stone face way too much
Alrik
Pros:
1. Intelligent
2. Alva
3. Known him forever
4. Cares for me and wants to protect me
5. Have seen an occasional humorous side recently
6. His life isn’t messy
7. Similar goals regarding the future of supernaturals
Cons:
1. Bossy
2. Bossy (that deserves to be on a con list twice)
3. Known me forever. I’ve changed and don’t know if he fully realizes it
4. He doesn’t laugh at my jokes much
I stared at the list. It didn’t help. And to make it worse, a chunk of strawberry jam from my toast had fallen onto the paper. I scooped it up with a finger and ate it, but the strawberry smear was still there. I scowled at it as if it were the root of all my problems. My frustration threatening to boil over, I slapped the notebook shut and went back to bed. I twisted and turned restlessly for the rest of the night, but at least I didn’t have another nightmare.
***
My cell phone startled me awake—I guess I had fallen asleep at some point in the early morning hours. I didn’t even try to get out of bed in time to reach the phone before voicemail took over. I glanced at the clock; it was 8:05 a.m. So what was I going to do today on this beautiful Sunday morn
ing? I could either hunt down a maniac devotee of the seven layers of Hell or I could hunt down a pack of murderous werewolves.
Choices, choices. I flopped the arm covering my eyes back against the mattress. Or I could get caught up on schoolwork and grading. My job wasn’t going to give me a break just because I had monsters after me. Perhaps I should go to school and do some work. Hopefully, that would be the last thing the monsters would think I would do, seeing as it was a ridiculous choice. Perfect. But I needed someone to come with me, since my life lately required the buddy system. Not Alrik or David. I was sick of them both, honestly. How about Philip? He seemed laid back when I’d hung out with him before. Perfect. Unfortunately, I didn’t have Philip’s direct number, so I grabbed the phone and called David.
“Freya, good morning. How are you?” David had the voice of someone who had been up for hours. Jolly good for him.
“Fine.” My voice came out as a croak. Fantastic. I cleared my throat. “Fine. I’m actually hoping to convince you and Pedro to deal with Robert and Maria today without me. I’ve got schoolwork to deal with before tomorrow.”
“That sounds reasonable, but how about if I send Philip to keep you company?”
“Great minds think alike. I was going to suggest the same thing.” I scrubbed my face with my hands, trying to rub the sleep away.
“Sounds like you might not have had breakfast yet,” David said. I smiled; it must have been obvious I was not a morning person. “I was cooking up a big breakfast for my smelly, grubby, food-leaching housemates.” I heard shouts of protest in the background. “Breakfast would look a lot better if you joined us.”
Breakfast that wasn’t centered around stale, generic Honey-Os and nearly expired milk? Yes, please. I promised to be there in twenty minutes.
Next call was to Elin, whose call had woken me up. She answered in much too perky of a voice. My entire family is early birds who spring awake and alert before the alarm clock even contemplates ringing. Again, jolly good for them.