by R. E. Butler
“I know. But if the others are caught, the males could demand to know where we are up here, and I don’t want to deal with that. All they know right now is that we’re in Canada. They don’t know where, and I want to keep it that way. If there’s collateral damage and a few of the other females who follow Tanya are killed in the assault, I won’t be sorry.”
Gretchen sighed. “I wish things were back to the way they were before Tanya and Hannah and their merry-bunch-of-bitches came here seeking refuge.”
“Me too.”
* * *
“How did you meet Georgette?” Jilly asked as she sat between her mates in the second row of Hanai’s SUV.
“Well,” he said, glancing at them in the rearview mirror. “I was looking for some herbs for a healing balm and I trespassed on her property.”
“She was mad?” Jilly asked.
“No. She said she hadn’t had company in a long while and invited me to have tea in her garden. We talked about natural healing, and she offered to teach me what she knew. She’s a blosomfae, so her fae power comes from plants.”
“There’s more than one kind of fae?” Wyked asked.
“Yep. Among the fae there are two classes – noble, or upper class, and non-noble, or lower class. The upper class are those fae who have spell casting power. The noble fae are the rulers of the realm. Those without spell-casting power are considered low class. They have powers related to their fae abilities, but they’re more like the working class of our realm.”
Wyked sniffed. “I think having any kind of powers would be cool. You wouldn’t think they’d need to separate their people into classes.”
Fate shrugged. “When everyone has powers, it becomes normal and not special. I think it’s just a natural thing for people – whether they’re shifters or fae or humans – to try to classify their own kind.”
Jilly supposed that was true. Wolf packs ranked themselves by strength. Mountain lion females looked down on everyone who wasn’t their own kind. Even the panther clan had a leader and warriors who were stronger and better at protecting others.
“Regardless of what other faes think about their powers, I’m glad Georgette lives in our realm and that you trespassed on her property so I can learn from her, too,” Jilly said. She hugged her journal to her chest and clicked her favorite pen as she looked out the windshield.
Hanai turned down a narrow path cut into the woods that ran along a main road. The path twisted and turned, and Jilly was fairly sure it was cut that way on purpose to discourage lookie-loos. After several minutes of navigating the tricky route, Hanai stopped in front of a quaint cabin that was partially obscured by the trees and plant growth around it. Wyked opened the door and climbed out, turning to help Jilly from the SUV. She inhaled deeply, and her beast purred at the feeling of utter content that emanated from the woods.
“Is that a spell?” Jilly asked, turning in a slow circle and taking in the plant life. The trees were thick and tall, and dense moss that looked like dark green carpet covered the ground. Colorful flowers and bushes surrounded the house.
“Is what a spell, dear?” a woman’s voice spoke.
Jilly turned toward the house and saw a woman with long, pale blonde hair standing in the doorway.
“It’s so peaceful here. I was just wondering if it was a spell.”
The woman said nothing for a moment, and then smiled. “Yes, it’s a spell. I like my privacy, and I like peace and quiet.”
“Me too,” Hanai said, striding to the house and giving her a hug. “It’s nice to see you again, Georgette. How’ve you been?”
“Good, Hanai. And you?”
“All’s well with the clan. Let me introduce you to my nephews and their mate.”
After he made the introductions, Jilly shook Georgette’s hand. Something sparked between them and she let out a soft gasp. “What was that?”
“I’m not sure.” Georgette frowned slightly and then shook her head. “No matter. Won’t you come in?”
Jilly rubbed the center of her palm where she’d felt the little spark. There wasn’t a mark on her skin, but it still tingled as if she’d been shocked. It reminded her of when she and Henry were young and they made a game of trying to shock each other with static electricity.
“Are you okay, kitten?” Wyked murmured, grasping her elbow to stop her before she walked into the house.
“I am. It’s just weird. I felt a little jolt in my hand, and now…”
“Now what?” Fate asked.
She shrugged. “I feel like I’ve already met her.”
“But you haven’t,” Wyked said.
Georgette cleared her throat. “Maybe we’re old souls, Jilly. Meant to be friends in this life.”
She smiled and shook her hands, dispelling the last of the tingling sensation. “I like that idea.”
“I do most of my work in the kitchen and garden,” Georgette said. “I made tea, and we can sit in the morning room and get to know each other before we start our lesson.”
Jilly sat between her mates at a wrought iron table in the morning room, which was just off the kitchen. The room had floor to ceiling windows, and ivy dotted with purple flowers covered the ceiling. “This is an amazing room,” Jilly said, taking a sip of tea.
“I have plants in every room in the house, but this is my favorite room. The flowers are clematis.”
“It’s lovely,” Hanai said.
After they shared some of their lives with each other, Jilly jumped right in and told Georgette what had happened at the bonfire.
“I felt so helpless,” Jilly said.
“Why?”
“His mate was angry that I couldn’t help him. I let everyone down.”
Georgette tutted. “You can only know what you know, and according to Hanai, you’ve only been training for a little while. I’ve been healing for most of my life, and I’m still learning new things.”
“I just want to know more, so I can do better.”
The fae smiled gently. “I understand. We’ll start today with some basics and then you can come visit me again for another lesson.”
“I can come next week,” Jilly said. “But the week after I’m getting mated and married, plus it’s my birthday.”
“Oh, my! Busy girl,” Georgette said. “We’ll get together next week, and then we’ll schedule for another time.”
“Sounds good,” Jilly said.
Hanai, Wyked, and Fate stayed in the morning room while Georgette took Jilly into the kitchen and showed her a tall cabinet where she kept her supplies. “I cast spells, like the privacy spell you felt outside, but my main power is over plants. I can grow anything from a seed, even in the dead of winter. I can force a plant to flower or produce fruit off-season. And I can even locate old roots buried deep in the ground and revive plants.”
“Wow,” Jilly murmured, looking at the shelves of glassware, tools, and books.
“You get to change into an animal, though,” Georgette said. “That’s pretty cool.”
“Yeah.” Jilly smiled. “Are there fae who can change into animals?”
“Only one sort, a Wulfen, which is a fae-wolf. They’re extremely rare, the product of a mating between a female fae and a male wolf.”
“Wings and fur. Now that would be neat,” Jilly said.
“Indeed,” Georgette said.
They left the kitchen and walked outside to a lush garden. A knee-high white picket fence had been erected around the garden, and a cobblestone pathway separated the plant beds.
“I grow herbs, plants, and flowers, and then I dry and store them for later use. I’m sure that Hanai has a good collection of dried items for healing, but you’ll want to start your own collection. I can give you plants to start your own garden with.”
Jilly’s mind flitted to the clan and how they’d be traveling again. She wasn’t sure when they would leave Ashland, but she suspected it would be before the snow came.
As if she could read Jilly’s mind, Georgette
said, “All you need to grow a simple garden is a grow light and a shelf.”
“Now that I can do,” Jilly said.
Georgette pointed out the flowers and plants as they walked through the large garden. “Passionflower is a sedative. You can mix it into a drink, and depending on the strength, it can be a mild calming agent or a powerful sedative. You can use echinacea to stop bleeding wounds, and it’s also good for pain and swelling. Lavender is good for relaxation and also for treating burns and wounds. And Devil’s Claw is useful for pain relief.”
Jilly delicately touched the lavender and brought her fingers to her nose and inhaled the sweet scent. “A lot of plants are good for pain relief.”
Georgette hummed in agreement. “Humans are very reliant on modern medicine, but there’s wisdom in the old ways.”
There was a small wooden bench beneath the shade of a willow tree, and Jilly and Georgette sat under the tree for an hour. Jilly wrote down everything that Georgette said about growing and harvesting healing plants, and she noted what she needed to set herself up for success the next time someone was injured.
Georgette took a paper sack from the kitchen and snipped several varieties of plants so Jilly could start her own indoor garden. “When we get together next week, I’ll give you some more plants to add to your garden, and we’ll talk more in depth about harvesting the plants and making essences and drying them for storage.”
Jilly hugged Georgette. “Thank you so much for teaching me today.”
“Hanai mentioned that you’d be moving on later in the fall, so whenever you want to stop by when you’re in the area, feel free to do so, and we can even chat by phone and email, too.”
“Thank you,” Jilly said. She looked at the house and saw her mates and Hanai waiting. “See you next week.”
Georgette gave Hanai a hug and said goodbye, wishing them a safe trip home. When they were in the SUV and on their way back to Ashland, Fate said, “She seems nice. Did you ever date her?”
Hanai shook his head. “Fae can cast spells to be brought together with their truemates. She did that when she was younger, but her truemate was killed before they met. When I met her, I was attracted to her, but she told me that she had no plans to find a mate because her truemate was gone.”
“That’s sad,” Jilly said.
“Some people feel that if their truemates die, they can’t be happy with anyone else,” Hanai said. “I’m not sure that’s true, but if the heart isn’t willing, then it wouldn’t work out anyway.”
“Do you feel better about the things you learned?” Wyked asked, peeking inside the paper sack.
“Well, I’ve only learned about the plants’ medicinal qualities. I still have to learn how to prepare things like poultices and teas. But yes, I feel better already.”
“Now that we have those plants to start with,” Hanai said, “you can get your garden going, and we can focus on the uses of those plants.”
“I get to have a garden,” she said. “Somewhere?”
Fate nodded. “When we bought the RV, there were bay windows that we could have gotten installed. I bet we could put a bay window in the kitchen and you’d have plenty of space for your garden, and no need for a grow light.”
“And we’ll get you a big cabinet and whatever else you need,” Wyked said.
“You guys are the best,” she said, kissing both their cheeks. They purred at the same time, and she laughed and snuggled against Wyked, pulling Fate closer and sighing happily. She’d been discouraged by the events after the bonfire, but she felt like she was on the right path to becoming a great healer someday.
* * *
“Okay,” John, Jilly’s father, said as he sat at the table in the boarding house kitchen. “What did you want to talk to me about?”
Jilly sat stiffly between Wyked and Fate. Since she’d come back from meeting Georgette, she and her mates had been discussing the clan’s plans for leaving Ashland and beginning their travels. They wanted to leave Ashland October first, which gave her a little more than five weeks to be with her pride and family. When it was just her and her mates, surrounded by the panthers, she was absolutely one hundred percent positive she was making the right choice in leaving Ashland. But the moment she was in the boarding house, doubts crept in. She didn’t want to make her dad sad or hurt the pride. Wyked and Fate had sworn that they were happy with either path for their lives together. To them, the location didn’t matter, only that they were together.
If only she weren’t so bombarded with worry for her family and pride.
She was aware that she was over-thinking. Because of her tumultuous past with the mountain lion females and being emotionless for so long, she now felt everything more strongly, and that included the guilt she felt at leaving. But as Wyked and Fate pointed out the night before, she’d turned her life entirely around after breaking free of the females, and she’d spent three years with her family in the boarding house.
Inhaling deeply, Jilly exhaled and said, “Daddy, I wanted to talk to you about the clan. They’re going to be leaving October first, and they won’t be back here until June. They’ve already talked to the farmer they rent the field from, and whenever they return to Ashland, the field is theirs to use.”
John’s brows drew together and his lips pursed, but he didn’t speak, so Jilly pushed on.
“I’ve officially decided that I’m going to join the clan. It’s not just because Hanai has been training me as his apprentice, but because I believe it’s the right thing for my family. Wyked, Fate, and I will be mated and married in less than two weeks. After we return from our honeymoon, we’ll still have time together before we leave, and then we’ll get to see you all next summer.”
Jilly clamped her lips together because she knew she was rambling.
John spread his hands on top of the table, his wedding band gleaming in the overhead lights. “I’m not surprised.”
“You’re not?” she asked.
He smiled, but there was a hint of sadness in his eyes. “When you came back to us and were already unofficially mated to Wyked and Fate, I knew that you’d most likely leave with them.”
“How could you know when I didn’t really know?”
“Call it father’s intuition. The first year you were back, I thought you’d stay and the boys would move in here with us. But then you apprenticed with Hanai, and I saw you flourish in finding a purpose. I’m selfish enough to want you to stay here forever, sweetie, but I’m not such a dick that I would try to make you feel guilty. Making tough choices is part of growing up.”
He stood, his chair pushing back noisily, and held out his arms to her. She leaped up and ran around the table, letting him pull her quickly into his embrace.
“I’m so, so thankful to have had these last three years with you in this house,” he murmured, emotion choking his words. “I never thought I’d see you again after you turned sixteen and left home with the females. It was a dream come true to get you back.”
She sniffled as tears leaked through her closed eyes.
He chuckled and tipped her face to his. He brushed the tears from her cheeks. “No crying, Jilly. You’re going to have a wonderful life, and that’s all I ever wanted for you.”
He kissed her forehead and hugged her once more, and they stood there in the kitchen, a dad and his daughter, just enjoying their time together.
Chapter 4
Wyked hadn’t really wanted to spend another afternoon at Georgette’s, but he and Fate had drawn straws to see who would accompany Jilly, and Wyked had lost. He got to spend time with his kitten, so he technically won, but the first time they’d gotten together with Georgette had been powerfully boring. This time, at least, he was prepared for the boredom with downloaded TV shows on his phone and wireless earbuds.
Jilly’s birthday – and their combined mating and wedding ceremonies – were in six days. Saturday morning Jilly would turn twenty-one, and they’d finally get to make her theirs in truth. Her family and the pride
were working hard to make their day special, but for Wyked, they could have lunch at a fast food joint in their jeans, and he’d be just as happy as all the fuss they were going through. He knew it was different for females who enjoyed celebrating every milestone.
Of course, it wasn’t normal for three ceremonies to happen in one day, but they were going with the flow.
When they reached Georgette’s, Wyked and Hanai left the females in the garden for their lesson and returned to the morning room. Hanai settled in the chair and closed his eyes with a yawn.
“Tired? I’ve heard that happens in the twilight years.”
Hanai opened one eye and snorted. “I’m not that old.”
“If you say so. I think there’s a lot more gray at your temples today than there was yesterday.”
“Because you stress me out.”
Wyked laughed. “Oh, sure. Blame me.”
“I had a strange dream last night,” Hanai said. “I woke up from it and couldn’t get back to sleep.”
“Strange good or strange bad?”
Hanai arched an eye brow. “Is strange ever good?”
“What was the dream about?”
“I was walking through the debris of a ruined house. It looked like it had been hit by a bomb. I was sad about the house, but I don’t know why. In the midst of the rubble, I saw pink and blue gems. They were thin and shiny, almost translucent.”
“That’s definitely a strange dream. But it doesn’t seem like the sort of dream to keep you awake.”
“Not normally, but I was just so sad when I woke up, and I couldn’t shake the feeling.”
Wyked said nothing while he mulled over his uncle’s dream. He didn’t necessarily believe in prophetic dreams, but Jilly had told him that morning that she’d had a strange dream about looking for something in the dark. She’d been so unsettled when she woke up that she hadn’t been able to get back to sleep.
“There must be something in the air,” he said finally. “Jilly had a weird dream, too.”