by Bianca D’Arc
He drew back to look downward, meeting her gaze. “You were fighting it. I could see that. You would have prevailed. You’re stronger than it, honey. You’re the strongest woman I know.”
He gave in to impulse and kissed her lips, keeping it short because they were standing in the middle of the forest and the leviathan was still out there. Who knew what other tricks it had up its…uh…tentacles?
“We’re not too far from my place,” he whispered as he ended the kiss. “Are you okay now? Free of it—whatever it was—completely?”
She nodded. “Yeah. You broke the spell when you shifted right in front of me. Your magic must’ve short circuited the connection.”
“Come on then. Let’s go home.” He turned her, keeping one arm over her shoulders and headed off through the woods.
The house was two stories built into the side of the hill, overlooking the cove. It was high enough that it was well away from the water, and they’d had to climb quite a ways uphill to get to it. Inside John’s mind, his bear was doing mental cartwheels in joy that he was bringing her to its den. John tried to be a little more circumspect…though being naked for the journey through the forest on two feet wasn’t exactly circumspect.
When they were still about twenty yards out from the house, John stopped suddenly. He smelled something. It was like ozone and unearthly flowers. He’d scented it before. Just once.
“I’m going bear. Whatever happens, stay behind me.”
“What is it?” He knew he was scaring her, but he couldn’t help it.
“No time. Stay behind…” His words faded into a low growl as he went down onto all fours. His shoulder was about the same height as hers, which meant his bear was big enough to shield her, should it become necessary. He hoped it wouldn’t be necessary.
He approached the house slowly. There was a deck off the side of the house, and that was his angle of approach. The door there would be accessible. It had an electronic combo lock, which would work even when he was naked and had no keys.
He paced slowly forward, growling low until he could see the stranger sitting on the wooden steps that led up to the deck. And what he saw made him sit back on his haunches in sheer surprise.
With Ursula’s hand on his shoulder, the vision in front of him was enhanced. It took the shape of a man…
A man in glowing armor, a shining sword held point down, its tip touching the earth as the knight’s hands rested on the pommel. His head hung down, but it rose as John went silent in shock.
“I mean ye no harm, laddie. I am here to learn what strange magics are in play in this hidden cove of yours, and as I believe is proper among your people, I come to the Alpha first, to make my presence known.” He bowed his head again, holding John’s gaze, and then, his focus went to Ursula. “And I came now because of your prayers, lass. The Lady sent me, but I see your grizzly friend has already rescued you.”
“Are you a…a knight, sir? A Knight of the Light?” Ursula whispered from behind John’s furry ear.
“Is that how you see me?” The man gave them a lopsided smile.
John noted how the sword point sent out tendrils of pure golden energy into the earth. It was welcomed by the land around his home, as if it was a blessing. And it felt that way to John too. This guy was something out of John’s realm of experience, but he knew that scent…
“Armor, glowing sword…” Ursula whispered.
And just like that, the glowing image winked out, leaving the same man dressed in jeans and a leather bomber jacket. The sword was gone, though the man’s elbows still rested on his knees, his hands held together in front of him, where the sword hilt had been. John blinked. Then he growled.
The man’s hands rose, palms outward in a gesture of calm. “Be at ease, my friend. You were seeing something few are ever granted leave to see. I don’t really know why, but I suspect it has to do with the magic you’ve both been exposed to in recent hours. I’ve come to learn what passes here on behalf of Others who would be allies with those on the side of Light.”
“I think I speak for John when I say, we can use all the allies we can get. The leviathan almost got me just now, and I still have two more rituals to perform before my magic is maxed out here.”
“Then you are the lady mage among these shifters,” the stranger said, rising to his feet and coming down the steps to stand in front of them.
John got back on his feet, ready to defend Ursula, should it be necessary. He wanted to talk to this guy, but he also couldn’t shift into his naked, vulnerable human form with an unknown quantity like the glowing knight/bomber jacket guy so close. John growled in frustration.
“Who are you?” Ursula asked instead of confirming the man’s suspicions. Good girl.
“Forgive me.” The man gave a charming smile. “My name is Cameron. Perhaps I should go stand over there for a bit while the Alpha has a chance to shift and dress so we can talk.” He stepped back, giving John and Ursula a wide berth, letting John pivot to keep the guy in sight while he moved away from the house.
John didn’t hesitate. He nudged Ursula up the steps and toward the door, sniffing for all he was worth. Nothing had been tampered with on the deck or near the house. Cameron had only been sitting on the steps and before that…? John had no idea. There was no other trace of scent, but then again, maybe he’d missed it on the way to the steps. He’d check again later, but for now, he wanted to get his clothes and his weapons. Not necessarily in that order.
John hit the combo with one carefully placed claw, keeping Ursula behind him, John’s body a shield between her and the stranger. The door popped open, and he urged her to enter, kicking the door shut behind him with his hind foot.
John shifted as he walked, grabbing spare clothes he’d left over the couch when he’d sorted his laundry a few days ago. The housekeeping duties had taken a backseat lately, which turned out to be a good thing right now.
“What do you think?” Ursula asked in a low voice as he moved around inside.
John grabbed a spare handgun from its hidden compartment in the ottoman and tucked it into the spot at the small of his back where it belonged.
“I’m not sure what to think at this point, but I know that scent. That guy is more magical than you and I put together.”
“He’s a knight,” she said, as if he was supposed to recognize what she meant.
“What kind of knight? And why should I trust that means he’s on our side in all this?” John asked as he peeked out the window to see the stranger still standing at the edge of the deck, his hands in his pockets.
“Haven’t you ever heard of the Chevalier de la Lumiere? Knights of the Light? They’re the ultra good guys. They are chosen by the Mother of All to serve Her directly. They are rare and good through and through. They fight evil and answer pleas for help on behalf of the Goddess.” Ursula made a sound of surprise, and when John looked over at her, one hand was covering her mouth and her eyes were wide. “I prayed, John.” She met his gaze, blinking. “I prayed to the Lady. And then, he showed up…” She turned to look out the window.
John was suspicious. “Could be a coincidence,” he offered, watching her reaction carefully.
“I don’t think it was,” she said slowly, her gaze going from the man in the backyard back to John. “I think he came here because I asked the Lady for help.”
Ursula’s eyes closed as she clasped her hands together, seeming to direct a quick prayer heavenward. Perhaps it was a prayer of thanks, John thought, impressed with her piety but still very suspicious of the newcomer.
It was time to figure out what was going on with the guy. Cameron. And that brogue? What was that all about?
“Will you do me a favor and stay inside, just until I know what we’re up against?” John asked her.
Ursula regarded him with a serious gaze. “I’ll stand by, but for the record, I think he’s okay. I think he was sent.”
“Let me just try to make sure, okay?” John hugged her close for just a moment
, placing a quick kiss on the top of her head.
“Okay. I bow to the Alpha. You’ve got your Clan to think about, and I suppose it’s only right that you’re cautious.” She kissed him on the cheek and stepped back.
John went out to meet the stranger, all his senses on alert.
“You’re fey,” he said before Cameron could speak. John hoped to put the other man on the defensive by going on offense, but it didn’t quite work out that way.
“Aye,” Cameron admitted freely, which was something John hadn’t quite expected. “Fey and sworn to the service of the Lady since the last time the Destroyer walked in this realm.” He nodded as if he felt the weight of every one of those many years. Centuries. “Sharp of you to notice. Ye’ve met my kind before then?”
“Once,” was all John would say on the matter. His last run-in with a fey wasn’t something he liked to talk about. “That one encounter left me with a bad impression.” John scowled, but it didn’t seem to affect Cameron.
“Sorry to hear that, laddie. I truly am, but as in all races, we have our good eggs and our bad apples. And a whole lot of regular folk just trying to live their lives in peace, in between.”
“Is that what you’re doing? Just trying to live your life?” John challenged.
“Och, no. I’m one of those, like you, who fight for those who just want to live in peace. Some of us have to stand up or we all fall, is that not so?”
John had to admit he heard the ring of truth in the fey’s words. He’d play along a little further.
“So what brings you here, to my little corner of the world?” John asked, folding his arms casually as he leaned against a tree.
He was aware of movement in the woods. His guys were circling back. He hadn’t had time to tell them he’d found Ursula yet, but they were regrouping around him, according to plan. His casual air would tell them to hang back and watch. Frankly, he was glad of the backup at this particular moment. Fey were powerful and could be very unpredictable.
“The magic you’ve been throwing around up here for the past two days has left ripples through space and time. Permanent wards affect more than just this realm, and aren’t ever cast lightly. That you have someone with that kind of power up here has drawn attention,” Cameron answered candidly. “The fact that such wards are needing to be cast, and the decidedly other-realm magic being launched by the other side drew even more attention.”
“So you figured you’d come up here and stick your nose in? Fey can’t resist large quantities of magic and all that?” John sneered, trying to draw a reaction from the guy, but he wasn’t playing. So far, so good.
“Actually, I’m friendly with the Master of Napa Valley and the Redstone Clan. I was consulting with them on their little Venifucus problem a while back and decided to stick around for a while. California is a lovely place, and the wine Atticus brews is tasty.” Cameron smiled. “Marc LaTour—the Master I mentioned—consulted with your friend, Hiram, and learned about the critter problem you have up here. But that still wasn’t enough to get me to pop in. I don’t just show up. It was your lady who tipped the scales. Her prayer allowed me to travel here to render assistance, but you already had things well in hand, so I decided to retreat to your backyard and wait to introduce myself, as is only proper.”
Now that made John think. Cameron certainly seemed to know the right people.
John let out a whistle from between his teeth. It was a low sound, pitched just right to signal one of his team in particular. A moment later, Zak melted from the shadows at John’s elbow. To his credit, Cameron didn’t flinch.
“Zak, would you mind calling your vampire friend and checking this guy’s story?” John asked Zak, holding Cameron’s gaze.
“My pleasure, Alpha.” Zak stepped a pace or two away and hit speed dial.
Hiram, the Master vampire of the Seattle area, was a new ally and silent partner in Zak’s new business venture. Zak had saved the vampire’s life when the leviathan had eaten Hiram’s yacht for dinner and the bloody, half-dead vampire washed up on shore. Since then, they’d struck up a friendship, and Hiram had become a trusted ally of the Clan.
John watched Cameron as Zak spoke to Hiram. Although it was still afternoon, John knew that some of the really old vamps could move around indoors, though they were usually sluggish.
Hiram was truly ancient. John had tried to discreetly trace Hiram’s origins back through the years but had hit a dead end sometime around the middle ages. Hiram was even older than that though, John thought.
Zak hung up after a few more words and nodded at John.
“Hiram confirms his story,”
“Well, that’s one point in your favor,” John said.
“Oh, come on, John. Can’t you see he’s one of the good guys?” Ursula’s exasperated voice came to him from the deck.
“I thought I asked you to stay inside,” he said quietly, shaking his head. He wasn’t mad though. Actually, he was surprised she’d stayed inside this long.
“‘Tis all right, lass. Your Alpha carries a great weight of responsibility for his people. He has to be sure,” the fey said, surprising John.
“Well, sir knight, I’m sure about you. Thank you for coming to my aid, even if it turned out to be unnecessary at that time. I could use some advice on how to handle my next two planned encounters with the leviathan, if you’re willing to discuss it.”
“It would be my honor, and please, call me Cam.” He winked at her, and John felt a twist in his gut. Why was that sly old fey winking at his girl?
“Cam, it is. And I’m Urse.” She smiled at the fey, and John felt his hackles rise. This was getting out of hand.
The bear urged him to take control of the situation, preferably by planting a fist in Cam’s smiling mug. Luckily, John’s human side was in charge right now, though he was sorely tempted to follow the bear’s instincts. Still, if this guy could be an ally in the fight against the leviathan and help keep Ursula safe, then John had to be cautious about offending the guy. Dammit.
“Might as well join us on the deck,” John invited none too graciously. “Zak, gather the guys and set a perimeter watch. Two-minute check-ins. I don’t want anybody else being lured by that sea monster. Ask Brody and Tom to join us on the deck asap.”
“Roger that,” Zak said shortly, fading into the trees and reaching for the radio attached to his collar.
John escorted the fey up the couple of steps to the deck. There was a table and chairs there, beside the covered grill. Ursula sat first, followed by the fey as John watched, and then, finally, John took a seat. There were two empty seats between Ursula and Cameron for Brody and Tom, when they got there. That way, there would be two trusted bears between her and the fey on one side, and John on the other. His bear growled in approval.
Ursula had already launched into a discussion of magic with the fey that had John a little lost, but it didn’t matter. She understood what Cam was saying, and that was enough. If it would help protect her tomorrow, so much the better.
Brody and Tom arrived together, coming in from the woods. They each stopped to greet Cam, shaking hands with the fey, who stood to greet them, before everyone sat down again.
“I’ve heard about this town, you know,” Cam said, surprising them all. “One of the Redstones mentioned the experiment you were undertaking up here, and he speculated on whether or not a bunch of bears could make a go of living together in one place. The cats have a hard enough time of it, apparently.” Cam chuckled, but John heard the hint of a question in his words.
“We’re making it work,” he said noncommittally.
“Redstones are mostly cougars, right?” Brody asked. “I crossed paths with Steve Redstone early on in my military career.”
“The Redstone family itself is cougar,” Cam confirmed. “But their Clan, as I’m sure you know, encompasses many other species. They have a number of wolf Packs under their umbrella as well as more than a few solitary bears and entire fighting wings of raptors. They all
come under the Clan banner and work for the Redstone Construction company. I thought maybe they’d done some work for you up here in building the town.”
John wasn’t giving out information here. He didn’t really know this guy, though he was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for now. Still, Cam wasn’t going to be learning much from them tonight. No, the information flow would have to be going the other way for now. Until they were sure about him.
“We do a lot of our own work,” Tom said, politely ending that line of conversation. Tom was the town lawyer and even more cautious in his words than John.
Cam merely nodded and moved on. “As to your leviathan problem…how do you actually know it is a leviathan, and not some other beastie from the deep?”
“My Nonna has connections,” Ursula volunteered. “The strega in Italy have been talking about the return of the leviathan for months now. And recently, some have been talking about the return of the Destroyer as if it has already happened.”
Cam’s mouth tightened into a grim line. “I pray they’re wrong,” he said. “I fought that she devil once before.” If possible, his expression grew even more troubled. “It wasna easy to banish her the first time. Many good people were killed in the effort. Believe me when I tell you, nobody wants to go through that again.”
“We believe it,” Tom said quietly.
“But if strega have seen it…” Cam’s head shook. “Well, that’s not good. Most strega are on our side. Those left in the old country are aligned with the church there—however they work that with their conflicting beliefs—and the side of Light.”
“The beliefs aren’t as conflicting as you might think,” Ursula said with a small smile. “Nonna makes it work, and she raised us as Catholics too.”
“Wait a minute.” Cam spread his hands on the table. “You’re strega?”
“Well, yeah,” Ursula said, her eyebrows raised as she shrugged. “Nonna taught us everything she knew when she realized we had magic too.”