by R. E. Butler
He realized that while he’d been lost in his thoughts, he’d ignored Abrax, who had continued talking. “I’m sorry brother, what were you saying?”
“I said that when you take Daeton to the Mortal Realm to see her family, I would like to go with you as one of the guards.”
“Of course.”
“Pers?” Daeton called and Perseus dropped the hammer to move quickly to her side.
“Are you unwell?” He went to his knees to get closer to her, his half-form preventing him from closing the distance completely.
She smiled and her dark eyes danced. “You always assume the worst. No, I’m just hungry. Are you ready for a break?”
He edged forward on his knees and pulled her into his arms with a fast motion, standing quickly. She squealed in surprise and quickly looped her arms around his neck. “Break time is now, then. I would be a bad mate if I let you go hungry.”
She nuzzled under his ear with a soft, growling sound. “I’m not just hungry.”
He grinned. First he would feed her, and then they would play. He called over his shoulder to Abrax that he would be back after the noon-meal. He heard Abrax mutter under his breath that he thought it was “unlikely.”
Daeton laughed. “He’s right. I want you to play hooky.”
“Hooky?”
“Hmm.” She wiggled closer in his arms as he cantered toward the home they were sharing with his family. “Skip work and stay with me. In bed.”
“For you my heart, anything.”
The house was empty, so he made her a quick meal and then took her back to the bedroom, where they made love and she fell asleep in his arms. He and Ekho had an understanding about their shared wife. If she wanted one of them, then the other promised not to interfere, but if she wanted both, then they shared her. Perseus didn’t mind sharing his bride with the leoneman, but he reveled in the times when it was just the two of them. When he could give her all the pleasure she wanted, when it was only his fingers and his tongue and his cock that made her scream her passion to the sky.
Stroking his fingers down the silky skin of her shoulder, he inhaled her sweet scent and hoped that someday soon she would carry his son.
* * * * *
The alarm bell rang as the moon hung high in the sky and Perseus was out of bed in a heartbeat. “Stay with Daeton,” he shouted to Ekho over the din as he grabbed the sheath containing his sword and slung it over his back. He shifted into his half-form as he raced through the house, meeting his father outside.
A home nearby was on fire.
Centaurs hauled buckets of water from the lake to throw onto the house, but the blaze was so great that the water seemed to evaporate before it did any good. He and his father joined Abrax and Casper as they carried buckets to help.
He saw Perri cradling her newborn in her arms nearby and realized that it was Dally’s home that was on fire. Behind Perri and her child, something slinked through the shadows toward them. He suddenly recognized creatures he thought would never dare to come back into Cholas again; the Vehsi!
The creatures, who had once shared Cholas with the Centaurs and taken great pleasure in attacking them before they were driven out, melted from the shadows as if they were cloaked with some sort of dark magic. They drew closer to Perri who was watching the fire ravage her home and paying no heed to her surroundings. Her husband Dally was battling the fire with the others.
“Perri!” Perseus yelled as he galloped toward her, sword held high.
She shrieked in alarm and held her baby closer as Perseus leapt over her and swung the sword, lopping off the head of one of the Vehsi. In a heartbeat, the Vehsi attacked in force and Perseus was no longer alone as his family and fellow Centaurs joined in the fight.
It was a fast battle. The Vehsi fell swiftly, more given to brute strength than real fighting skills, and they succumbed quickly to the Centaurs’ superior sword and battle training. His thoughts were on Daeton as he fought, longing to ensure that she was safe. Just as she passed through his mind again, he knew he needed to go back to the house to see for himself that she was okay. The Centaurs had overwhelmed the small army of Vehsi, so he felt safe in leaving the dwindling battle. He swung his sword and cleaved off the head of the nearest Vehsi, then called to his father that he was checking on his bride.
He galloped toward the house.
Lanterns blazed inside the home, the golden glow spilling onto the ground in front of the open door, where two dead Vehsi lay. Ekho stood in the doorway, short swords in his hands, as he guarded the house where Daeton, Perseus’s mother, Draya, and Fontaine were. The front door, broken, hung at an odd angle from the hinges.
“What in Hades happened?” Perseus asked, skidding to a halt in front of Ekho.
Ekho didn’t relax his stance. “They attacked. One at the front of the house and one around the back.”
“Is everyone well?” He stepped over the dead bodies as Ekho moved aside to let him in. Perseus shifted to his fully human form and found the four women sitting on the sofa, worry on their faces.
Daeton jumped up from the couch and raced to him. He embraced her tightly, kissing the top of her head and then hugging her tighter. “I don’t know what made me suddenly worry about you, but I was fighting the Vehsi and then I knew I needed to get to you.”
She rubbed her cheek on his chest. “Ekho had Moman, the girls, and I get up and sit on the couch. He said it was safer for us to be together. I think one came in through our bedroom window, Pers.” She shivered slightly and he rubbed one hand up and down her back.
“Did they say anything?” Perseus asked. The Vehsi were not known to be great talkers.
Ekho sat down on a kitchen chair and used a rag to clean the blood from the swords. “The one who came through the front door said nothing. He used his body like a battering ram and broke right through it. The second one came in through the back of the house and tried to take Daeton while I was fighting. Your moman hit him with a frying pan and Daeton used her knife to protect the girls. I dispatched the first one and went to the second one.” He paused and glanced at Daeton, who was starting to tremble. “He said, ‘I saw the broken bodies of the silver bear’s mates and her flesh for sale in the market,’ and then he ripped out his own throat and bled out.”
Perseus glanced at the two dead bodies in the doorway, his thoughts spinning wildly. The Vehsi had never attacked within the Centaur settlement. Before Daeton had come into his life, the Vehsi had lived on the outskirts of Cholas and caused trouble for the Centaurs, attacking them within the city market, scarring the Centaur bodies with acid-tainted whips. But while he and Ekho had been on the road with Daeton, the Centaurs had banded together with the other townspeople within Cholas to drive them away. They had never expected the Vehsi to retaliate with such a personal attack as setting fire to a Centaur home.
He pushed Daeton away gently and walked to the door. He called for a young male, who cantered over quickly. “Yes, Perseus?”
“Do they still battle the Vehsi?”
“No, those that were alive fled and a contingent of our males followed them.”
“Go fetch my papan.”
Nodding, the male kicked off and dashed away. Ekho said, “What is it you’re thinking?”
“I don’t know.” Perseus’s mind replayed the short battle over and over. Something eluded him. Something important.
Within minutes, his papan appeared, bloody but pleased. The blood, it appeared, was not his own. Elektra sprinted to him and hugged him fiercely. “Did the Vehsi attack any other homes besides Dally’s and ours?” Perseus asked.
His papan’s brows rose. “I’ll find out.” He raced away into the darkness.
“What is it?” his moman asked.
Shaking his head, he kept his tumultuous thoughts to himself.
“Little bear, run and fetch the medicine bag hanging on the back of Moman’s door, please. Ekho’s shoulder is bleeding.”
She nodded and left quickly, but not without a susp
icious look so she had probably guessed that he wanted to speak with Ekho. When she was out of the room, he turned to Ekho and kept his voice very low so she couldn’t overhear with her sensitive shifter hearing. “I think the fire was a ruse.”
“I agree,” Ekho said with a snarl, his tail whipping back and forth in agitation. “If I had gone with you to help, Daeton and your moman would have been vulnerable. Our mate is fierce, but the Vehsi are determined.”
“Why would they want me?”Daeton asked, having returned and now standing near, her hands clutching the medicine bag to her chest, her pretty brown eyes wide with worry.
Ekho immediately pulled her close and Perseus pressed close to her back so she was surrounded. “It doesn’t matter, sweet bear,” Perseus murmured in her ear. “They will not get you.”
Although worry ran rampant through him, Perseus shoved those worries away and concentrated on calming his wife. When his papan came back, Perseus would speak to him about what the Vehsi had said to Ekho, but he would die before he let them harm a hair on Daeton’s head.
* * * * *
By dawn, the bodies of the dead Vehsi had been set ablaze and the settlement and town of Cholas thoroughly scouted with no more Vehsi in sight. Perseus and Ekho stood with his papan, brothers, and several others, watching the bodies disintegrate.
Abrax said, “The Vehsi were coordinated in their attack. When they lived in Cholas, they never acted in concert like that. They would just randomly start a fight and the others would join in. Someone told them what to do.”
“Or commanded them,” his papan suggested. “If someone offered them money and gave them a plan, then they would have worked together for their reward.”
Ekho’s face shadowed darkly. “He said he saw us dead and Daeton for sale in the slave market. Whoever sent the Vehsi wants us dead and her punished. But for what?”
“She’s harmed no one. Everyone in the settlement loves her,” Perseus said.
Odin, one of the males who had journeyed with them, said, “But she did harm someone. She killed the white-haired wizard and screwed up his plans for world domination.”
“Oh, fuck,” Perseus growled.
Ekho was more skeptical. “The white-haired wizard is dead. Who in Hades would come after Daeton on his behalf?”
“I don’t know.” Perseus glanced back at the burned home of Daeton’s friend, Perri. “But he’s not going to get her.”
Chapter 3
Daeton sat on a small stool in the bathroom while Draya brushed her hair. She didn’t care much for being attended to, but Draya and her sister, Fontaine, had grown up as servants in the castle of Prince Aedan, and they didn’t know much outside of that life. She often told them she could do things on her own, but sometimes she would see them look frightened, as if they were afraid they’d displeased her. So from time to time, like this morning, she let them fuss over her. It also gave her time to think.
Draya ran a coarse-bristled brush through Daeton’s waist-length onyx hair, humming quietly. Sitting on another stool by the window, Fontaine fixed the hem of a skirt that Daeton had been given by one of the Centaur mates, a pretty blonde named Vivi. The skirt was too long and Daeton had tripped over it twice the first time she wore it, so Fontaine was raising the hem by two inches.
“What troubles you so?” Draya asked, her blue eyes meeting Daeton’s in the mirror that hung on the wall.
She sighed. Perseus and Ekho had told her their belief that someone was trying to get to her to avenge the white-haired wizard’s death. The Vehsi had attacked the settlement and come for her, using the fire at Perri’s home as a distraction. She felt terrible that Perri and her family had been attacked as a way to get to her, even though Perri didn’t hold her accountable.
“When I killed the wizard, I thought that was the end of that whole mess. I thought we were safe now.”
Fontaine looked up from her work. “You don’t think the Centaurs can keep you safe?”
“I know they’ll do their best.” Shit, she hated to say that out loud. If Perseus knew she had doubts about the future, he’d go out of his way to reassure her that he could take care of her.
After leaving Prince Aedan’s castle, she had promptly put the whole I-killed-someone memory into the far recesses of her mind and focused on her new family. She had two husbands who kept her very busy at night. She had friends and an extended family of Centaurs and their mates within the settlement who made her feel loved in ways she never knew possible.
Draya’s hand stilled. “Someday I hope to have the love of a male such as you have with your husbands. They don’t seem to be happy unless you’re in their sights. They would die to keep you safe. Those creatures that attacked — I hope they were speaking lies.”
Daeton reached up and squeezed Draya’s hand. “Me too.”
When she had first come into the Medes Realm, she’d been on a mission with her two were-bear protectors — Rysk and Tyrant — to get to Prince Aedan’s castle. The prince hadn’t had good intentions though, and had lured her there with the intention of giving her to Urijah, the white-haired wizard, so that he himself would not be killed. The wizard had killed Aedan first and planned to kill Daeton. He hadn’t succeeded, and she had killed him instead, shifting into her bear form for the first time in the throne room while a battle raged around her.
He was dead. That was the end of that threat.
But maybe it wasn’t.
She shuddered, remembering what the Vehsi had said before he ripped his own throat out…her for sale in the slave market and her husbands dead.
Elektra, Perseus’s mom, came into the room. “Oh, your hair is so lovely.”
“Thanks, Moman.” It had taken some time, but Daeton had gotten used to calling Perseus’s parents papan and moman, though she couldn’t stop thinking the words mom and dad. Old habits died hard, she supposed.
“I wanted to go to the market and pick out some fabric. Cosmo ripped his favorite shirt and it’s beyond repair. Would you like to go with me?” Elektra asked.
“Of course. I’d love to pick out some fabric for curtains for the new house.”
She got ready and left the house with Draya, Fontaine, and Elektra. But when she met Perseus outside and told him where they were going, he objected vehemently.
“No, Daeton. It’s not safe.”
“Your moman is going,” she pointed out.
“She wasn’t the reason for the attack last night, nor was she prophesied about by a crazy Vehsi. You can’t leave the settlement until the threat against you is gone.”
She made a face and opened her mouth to tell him he was overreacting, but as if he could read her mind, he pulled her into his arms with a soft growl. “It’s not that I want you to be miserable sweet bear; it’s just that I can’t abide you being in danger.”
“I’m not miserable.”
“Liar,” he gave her a wry smile. “We’ve got scouts trying to find out where the Vehsi fled. Hopefully they’ll be able to discover what’s going on so we can end this danger. When you’re safe, then we’ll talk about you going to the market.”
Ekho lightly tickled her arm with his fingertips as he joined them. “You have to trust us to keep you safe.”
She turned her head and rested her cheek against Perseus’s chest, looking at Ekho. “I do trust you. I thought the market would be safe, I didn’t consider that it might not be.”
She didn’t want to think that her life was still in danger, or those of her husbands or her extended family, but she couldn’t deny the evidence. Someone was out to get her. The question was…who?
* * * * *
The morning of the December full moon, Daeton picked wildflowers with Draya and Fontaine to use as the scent in an oil. The oil would be sold in the marketplace. The flowers, called holadils, smelled like lavender but were coral-colored. “Do we have enough?” Fontaine asked, lifting the flower-laden basket. Daeton, who had become quite adept at making scented oil, added her bunch of flowers to the basket
and said, “I believe so.”
“Good, I’m hungry,” Fontaine said. “I didn’t sleep well last night and ate morning meal before the sun rose.”
“Why didn’t you sleep well?” Daeton asked as she stood and brushed the dirt from her skirt.
“I don’t know. I just felt unsettled and couldn’t get comfortable.”
“I feel like that on the full moon. My bear gets anxious.”
“You have two husbands to keep you company, though,” Fontaine pointed out.
Daeton blinked at the young woman. “Are you having mating dreams, Fontaine?”
She shook her head. “No. I just feel unsettled. It’s been that way for a few days now.”
Fontaine and Draya were human, so they wouldn’t feel the pull to shift with the full moon, but that didn’t mean they weren’t sensitive to supernatural things. They’d been raised in a castle with a were-bear, and the Medes Realm was full of unique shifters and other paranormal creatures that Daeton had never known existed.
There was a commotion as they neared the homes and Daeton saw the males standing around, their hooves stamping nervously. As they drew closer, Daeton was surprised to see two familiar faces – her former protectors, Rysk and Tyrant. They held their hands in front of them, as if to show they were unarmed.