Donovan was doing jumping jacks close by. She almost cursed him for his ridiculous enthusiasm after such a steep climb.
"Man, that will get your adrenaline going," he said and bounced over to her. "I'm impressed you kept up pretty well."
"You're just being nice," she said between gasps.
"No, you did better than other people I've brought to make this climb."
She instantly felt a strange twinge in her stomach. Donovan had brought other people there. That was an interesting revelation. So, it was a test and a date. Seraphina continued to monitor the situation as she lay face up staring into the morning sky. She was also aware of a little stab of jealousy, who had he brought up the wall, another girl? How had she done, what had they done at the top? She reigned it back in trying to remember she was supposed to be getting information from him and not lose track of the fact she was still on a mission.
“It's really much better once you're on your feet. Wanna give it a try?”
Donovan held out his hand to aid the panting fae. Seraphina took the offer and was soon lifted off her back and onto her feet. His strength was phenomenal, but that wasn’t unusual with the bear clan. She just had not witnessed it in contrast to her own.
Seraphina stared into the sky and marveled at its beauty. Donovan moved closer and shared the moment with her.
"Okay fill me in about this witch, what's her deal?"
A noise behind them drew their attention. It sounded like someone was jumping on the ground and breaking sticks.
They heard someone laughing and made their way into the woods.
"There shouldn't be anyone up here," Donovan said as he walked with her towards the trees. "Hang back here." He put his arm in front of her to stop her coming with him.
"Wait," she held onto his arm. She recognized her mother's giggle. "That's my mom."
They walked into the woods together and saw her mother sitting with a group of people. She didn't recognize a single one of them.
"You're a fae?" Donovan said turning to her with an unreadable expression. He clearly recognized her mother
"Yes, is that a problem?"
Donovan didn't respond right away. She thought he was weighing his answer heavily. His eyes flicked to the right and up. What did he have to think about?
"No, I just didn't know. You smell human."
"Her father was a no-good human, and that's why she carries his stench." Her mother staggered towards them slurring.
"Oh great, you've been drinking early today."
"I haven't had that much," she said and immediately hiccupped. "Who is this, is this part of your mission?"
Donovan raised an eyebrow, she could only hope he thought her mother meant her security duty. If she mentioned anything about working for Rytas instead of the alpha, her cover would be blown.
"Gotta keep the guy in charge happy, you know what I mean?"
To Seraphina's horror, her mother leaned on Donovan's shoulder. He laughed and nodded at her.
"Indeed, the boss is always right."
"We need to be going," her mother said pointing to the group of people she was with. "We have a meeting."
"Oh, so this is the club you were telling me about." Seraphina looked the people over as they came at them out of the trees. She was relieved her mother was leaving but still wanted to know what type of club she was dealing with.
"Let's go, Delia," one of the men said and grabbed her mother's arm pulling her away. It wasn't an act of aggression, but it seemed a little unnecessary. Her mother didn't appear to notice as he happily went away with them.
"What kind of club is she in?" Donovan asked smiling. "They seemed interesting."
"I don't know," she said thoughtfully, "I’ll find out."
“You’re concerned?”
“I don’t know, she’s acting a little different. The drunk thing, that’s normal, but she’s never awake at this time in the morning and certainly not out of the house.”
“I see, well we should head back down I guess. It’s a good day for a walk through the woods.”
“I figured you’d want to jump down with the ropes or something equally extreme.”
“Well we can, but then this date would be over a lot faster.” He smiled at her and took off his harness and helmet putting it back in his pack before holding his hands out for hers.
She felt guilty. This was a date to Donovan and a mission to her. She almost wanted to come clean and tell him everything. She felt there was no way they could actually have any kind of relationship when he found out who she really was. It was then she realized he’d been talking.
“I don’t know,” he was saying.” I’m just drawn to you. I hope you feel the same way. Otherwise, I’m a real weirdo for saying all those things.”
Great, he’d laid out his heart, and she’d been too wrapped up in her head to hear what he said. He was standing in front of her looking down into her eyes. She knew he wanted to kiss her, his eyes were asking permission.
She knew it was a mistake, but she wanted to. Standing on her tiptoes, she wrapped her arms around Donovan’s neck and pulled him down to her. As soon as their lips met, fire shot through her. He was warm, and her insides turned to goo. Large, strong arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her close.
The kiss didn’t last long enough, as soon as it started he pulled away.
“Good,” he said and grabbed her hand pulling her with him towards the trail back down to the bottom of the falls. Her lips still tingled and her body was still warm where it had been pressed against him.
She took it to mean she’d confirmed she agreed with whatever he said earlier. She wished she’d have heard it. Whatever he said, she knew what it meant. She was in so much trouble.
Chapter Four – Exposed
Sunday night she’d tried to get ready and leave the house for the ball on Sunday before her mother realized that was what she was doing. There weren’t that many things she had to wear, but there was one dress she owned she knew would be perfect for a ball. Her father had visited a place he said sirens dwelled. There he’d had the seamstress make her a dress, and it was gorgeous. It reflected the sea in its blues and greens. The sequins would catch the light and sparkle. He said the siren’s call was sewn into the dress and she would always feel beautiful when she put it on.
Seraphina pulled it up over a slip and some thigh highs. If she was going to wear heels, she wasn’t going to do it with bare feet. The dress fit her perfectly. She found herself wondering what Donovan would think. Mentally she slapped herself, she couldn’t get wrapped up in what some stranger thought of her dress.
He isn’t a stranger, a voice in her head said. She ignored it.
As she left she heard her mother yelling out in a slurred tone. “We must keep the king happy so he’ll take care of us. Your father certainly isn’t going to.”
Seraphina rolled her eyes and took off for Cedar Falls hoping she wasn’t too dressed up for the ball.
When she returned to the alpha’s house, they'd finished with the decorations. She was pleased to see her dress wasn’t too fancy and she fit right in with all the ladies there.
The nighttime caused the blue bulbs to stand out and cast blue light over everything. It actually looked like they were underwater. There was soft music playing and couples already moving along the dance floor. Seraphina looked around but didn't see Donovan anywhere. She reminded herself she was supposed to be playing security and started looking around more like someone doing surveillance. She located the two alphas on opposite sides of the room sitting with their entourages. Neither alpha was married yet, so they surrounded themselves with friends and their guards.
She moved to the wall to seem less suspicious even though she had a feeling no one would notice her. As she moved the dress swished against her legs, and her heels clicked loudly on the floor. Each click caused her anxiety, but once again no one was paying her a bit of attention. How was she going to get to the bear now? There was nowhere to hid
e it in her dress so she'd need to sneak out unseen. She looked around at everyone and then made her way to the punch bowl. She could smell the alcohol as she approached and looked around for the regular punch. There wasn't one. These weres loved getting drunk. Finally, she settled for a bottle of water. As she stood sipping it, she felt Donovan approach her. His presence was just as large as him, and her body tingled with his nearness.
"You aren't partaking of the punch on the job, are you?" He stood beside her looking down into the punch bowl watching the little ice cubes float on the top. They'd been made to look like water droplets, and the bright blue stood out against the pink punch.
"No, I never drink on the job. You?" She looked up at him noticing there wasn’t a glass in his hand.
"The same, I need to stay sharp. Penelope could show up at any moment, and of course, there could be other threats." His eyes gleamed and looked almost playful. She surveyed his words, was he being sarcastic?
A chill crawled up her spine with the way he said, ‘other threats.’ He was now staring at her, and she turned to meet his eyes. He couldn't know, could he? A dark silence floated between them, and she swallowed before nodding. She decided to play along.
"Yes, she could show up at any time."
"Let's have that dance before my Alpha tells me it's time to stop goofing around. He will call me over when he sees me, and I really want to dance with you. You look beautiful."
Beautiful. That was a first coming from a were. Seraphina turned towards Donovan and smiled. Before she knew it, she accepted.
"Okay." Seraphina's breath caught. She realized her palms were sweaty and absent-mindedly wiped them on her dress before taking his hand. He led her into the middle of the floor amidst all the couples there and put one hand on her waist. The other took her hand and held her arm out as he started to move them from side to side.
"I'm making this up as I go," he whispered smiling. There was a boyish charm to him that Seraphina found attractive as well as a sense of devil may care. They both had jobs to do, and this was clearly not part of either job description.
"Want me to lead?" Seraphina was surprised he didn't know how to dance. It seemed anyone in the alpha's court should be aware of how. She had been dancing since she was a small fae and knew many dances.
She helped him stand up straight and started to lead laughing as he watched her feet. After a while, he got it and was able to look into her eyes. He moved gracefully for a large guy and was starting to have fun when he stiffened and looked behind her.
"Donovan," Walter stood with two men and didn't look that pleased.
"Yes sir," Donovan didn't let go of her but gave the alpha his full attention.
"I realize you're having fun, but there's chatter of the witch being outside the gate. Can you please go and check?" He said.
"Sorry, Seraphina. I will try to find you again before the evening is over." Donovan bowed slightly and let her go.
Instantly she felt his absence and tried to shake it off. What is wrong with you, you don't even know him. And if your plan carries out, you won't be able to look him in the eye.
She set her mind back to the mission. Somehow, she still had to get the bear. It was then she noticed she wasn't the only water fae at the party. Tegan was standing across the dance floor shaking his head at her. Tegan was someone who often worked for the King, but she hadn't been told he was coming. She looked around to see if Donovan had come back in. When she looked back, Tegan was gone.
"Oh man." She said as she rushed towards the back of the tent. Rytas had sent someone else to do it. He didn't trust her to get the job done. She was angry and relieved at the same time. As she ran out into the hallway, she saw Tegan's back as he entered the Alpha’s office. She knew he was fast and she ran towards him. By the time she made it to the office the bear was on its way out the window with him. That was as far as it went. As soon as Tegan hit the ground, Donovan was on him.
“Stop thief,” he yelled and took him down.
Of course, Seraphina thought, he’d gone outside to look for the witch. She watched in awe as Donovan tackled Tegan and trapped him while the other guards ran up to help. The crystal bear was taken, and Rytas' entire plan went up in smoke. It was strange he’d figured out the code so quickly, but she didn’t spend a lot of time wondering how he’d done it.
She was there to do the job, and Rytas sent a replacement without notice. It served him right a botched robbery completely ruined his plan. The only problem was now the weres would know the water fae were the ones causing trouble. She carefully made her way back to the ball and waited. There was no reason for her to remain, but she didn’t want to miss another chance to see Donovan.
She watched the clans as they danced and continued to sip the pink drinks from plastic cups. It was possible Donovan was the one to interrogate Tegan and then she may not see him again. The thought made her sad.
She debated leaving the ball when she saw him coming back in. He was accompanied by a man and a woman. The woman was talking animatedly with him.
“Donovan, you have to introduce us. Is she were or human?”
“She’s neither Lily, but try not to embarrass me, please.”
The dark-haired woman playfully hit him in the arm. “Jeremy,” she said to the handsome man walking with her. “I think Donovan thinks we’re embarrassing.”
They stopped in front of her, Donovan realizing she’d more than likely heard everything. “Lily, Jeremy this is Seraphina.”
“You,” the woman looked at Seraphina, rage showing up red in her cheeks.
“I’m sorry, do I know you?”
“Oh, Donovan she is neither were nor human. I remember her. She’s the nymph who stole my mother’s necklace.”
“I am not a nymph,” Seraphina was insulted. “I’m a water fae, but I’ve never stolen anything.”
“I was a little girl, and you talked me out of my necklace.”
“How little, because I can almost guarantee it was my mother who did so.”
Her mother had always been good at tricking humans. She was terrible to small children in her younger years. That was one of the things she liked to bring up when she drank. It was always hard to tell if there was any remorse in her voice. From the look on Lily’s face, it was obvious she didn’t believe her.
Donovan looked completely hurt, and Seraphina felt guilty for the first time in her life. She was sorry she lied to him, but this was an entirely unforeseen event. She couldn’t believe something her mother did years ago would make him angry enough to wipe away how he felt.
“Lily was traumatized by that. Her mother died shortly after.” Donovan said quietly. “You can leave now.”
He turned his back and walked away with Lily who continued to glare at her as they moved through the crowd.
Seraphina could hardly believe her luck. Everything went south within a matter of moments. It hadn't ended like she thought, if possible, it was worse. He believed that woman so quickly, who was she to him. Her mind turned around what happened over and over.
The fae moved through the crowd and out the door with no incident. Seraphina remembered the look on Donovan’s face as it would not leave her mind. She always knew she was going to come clean about her real intentions, but she didn’t have a chance.
The trek home was quiet and lonely. With each step, her anger boiled deep inside.
Chapter Five – A Sinister Plan
Seraphina stomped through the forest kicking sticks as she went. “He wouldn’t even hear me out,” she said to no one. Only the night and its creatures were there to hear her frustrations. But why did she care so? That was yet another issue that seemed to loom in her mind. The mission was to start a war. How had she been derailed so quickly? Oh, and the botched theft surely would not go over well with Rytas.
Stomping through the mess of mud and mother earth the dress was getting dirty, and for a moment she regretted walking through the mud puddle she’d just splashed in. Tears burned her eyes,
and she cursed herself for being so careless with something her father gave her.
Running she made her way to the stream so she could try and clean it. Jumping in she felt the water cover her, and instantly her body begin to recharge. The feelings dissipated and she felt peaceful for a minute. The mud and dirt floated from her dress, and she didn’t want to get out. Reluctantly she walked towards Rytas’s home again to inform him just what happened to Tegan. Even though she was still angry about it, she had to report.
“Rytas,” she approached him slowly. His jaw was clenched, and his eyes were slightly squinted.
“You sent Tegan, and he got himself arrested.” The look on his face made her angry, and she lost all ability to remain calm.
“I wouldn’t have had to send him had you done the job you were supposed to. Don't you think I knew? You were getting sloppy?”
She started to reply when he lifted his head and smiled.
“It’s okay Phina, all will be forgiven.”
She looked at him with wide eyes, “it will?” She’d never known Rytas to hold a grudge for less than a few days.
“Yes, you’ve given me what I needed since the crystal bear is out of the question, I’ll just use him.”
A feeling of dread came over Seraphina, she didn’t have to look behind her to know he’d followed her. For what reason, she didn’t know. She turned to see Donovan struggling against Rytas’s guards and two other male fae who must have been called in due to Donovan’s size.
“What are you going to do?” She cried before she could hide her distress. Rytas grinned in a way she’d never seen before. His eyes held an evil gleam as he reached out and pushed her hair off of her face.
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