The Keeper Saga: Wynter's War, Charmed, and The One (The Boxed Set Book 2)

by K. R. Thompson

  Too bad Meghan’s not going to be able to call and say everything is fine, I thought, then shook my head, attempting to get the idea out of it.

  My dad seemed to pick up on my mood and squeezed my shoulder as he walked past me to get into his cruiser. “You and your pack have done an outstanding job. Don’t think about it anymore. Let us take it from here, son.”

  I nodded and watched as he left to go through Mr. Walters’ house one more time. My gut told me that it was going to be a waste of time, but I shook it off and did as he requested. I left the sheriff’s office with Ed and Erik and went home.

  Tommy and Michael arrived within seconds of us. Their expressions told me they hadn’t exactly enjoyed their time as Nikki’s bodyguards.

  We all needed to do something that would get our minds off of everything. I had an idea. It was Friday, after all.

  I cleared my throat. “All right. I have one last thing to say before we call it an evening,” I said in my most serious tone of voice. “Last one to touch the hoop plays referee!”

  I ran for the basketball goal, leaving my pack in stunned silence. That only lasted a split second, then I heard their footsteps as they ran to catch up with me, filling the air with whoops of excitement.

  I leapt into the air as I reached the goal, my hand smacking the net as I passed. When I landed, I retrieved a ball that had somehow managed not to be flat and began dribbling, waiting as my brothers fought to keep one another from touching the net.

  I heard gravel crunch at the edge of the sidewalk. Turning, I saw Darren standing there, watching us, his expression one of longing.

  “Hey,” I grinned, throwing him the ball. “Wanna play?”

  A smile lit up the boy’s face as he joined us and the others laughed, happy that they no longer had to figure out who was going to be the one to call out fouls.

  “I hope you’re going to be ready for a long night,” Erik informed Darren. “’Cause with no referee, this will be fun!”

  Chapter 8

  The game truly had lasted all night…and well into the following day. I decided to sleep in and was doing exactly that, when I awoke, my heart hammering in my chest.

  At first, I’d thought it was the remnants of a nightmare that had woken me. But in a split second, I was scrambling to pull on a pair of shorts and had shoved my feet into my sneakers and was running for the forest.

  It wasn’t a dream that had woken me up, but it certainly was terror.

  It just wasn’t mine.

  Everything in my being was screaming that Nikki was in trouble and that she needed me. I shifted, zipping through the trees as fast as my four paws would carry me. My instincts told me she was near the berry patches—and that she wasn’t alone.

  I made it there in a matter of seconds, shifting at the last possible second so that she wouldn’t spot my wolf.

  The reason for her fear stood a short distance away. A large black bear. My breath caught in my chest.

  “Be still, Nikki. And when I tell you to move, run back down the path,” I said in a low voice, just on the other side of the bush.

  She looked over and saw me through the branches. Her eyes widened even further. “Adam,” she whispered. “There’s a bear…”

  She was cut off by a threatening growl. The bear was not happy about us both being there so close.

  “I know,” I said, coming to stand at Nikki’s side. “Just do as I say. Now be quiet.”

  The bear was even less happy that I had come closer. She reared on her hind legs, daring me to move again.

  I took a single step in front of Nikki to shield her. “Now go.”

  As I listened to her running steps, I began talking to the bear. “Hello, friend,” I said softly in my native language, hoping to calm the bear down.

  Knowledge flitted beneath her small, black eyes as her nostrils flared, taking in my scent. She knew exactly who I was. She snorted and I knew she wasn’t going to back down. My ears picked up a rustle in the bush behind her.

  The sound of her cub made the bear roar and in one swing, she smacked me with her paw, sending me airborne.

  I landed beneath a big oak tree and only a couple of seconds later, I heard her amble up, shoving her snout in my chest. I waited another second as she nudged my cheek with her warm nose in apology. She’d made her point and had come to check on me.

  I raised my arm and let it rest on top of the warm silk of her head. Apology accepted, I told her silently, then listened as she backed away and bounded into the forest with her little one in tow.

  Then I heard Nikki. With what sounded like a strangled sob, she ran up the path and collapsed beside of me. I sat up and took her by the shoulders and shook her once, hard. “Are you okay? Are you crazy? Are you hurt? She could have killed you!” I turned loose of one shoulder to cup her chin, slowly turning her face so that I could see for myself that she was all right.

  “Adam, you’re hurt. We have to get you to a hospital.” She hadn’t answered any of my questions. Instead, she had reached down and ripped a long section off the bottom of her shirt, then shoved it into my chest.

  I grunted more from the force of the worried girl, than the feeling of the fabric meeting my raw flesh. “You didn’t run when I told you to.” How am I supposed to keep you safe if you won’t listen to me? The air popped and sizzled with my anger, swirling around us both.

  “You were about to be eaten by a bear. I wasn’t going to let it kill you.”

  “No, you were the one about to get eaten. I was just explaining it to her. You were the one who shouldn’t have been there in the first place. Don’t you know you shouldn’t go wandering around in the forest alone?” I asked, exasperated.

  “I thought I was fine, thank you.” Her brown eyes flashed and her mouth set in a firm line. “I was just picking berries, that’s all.” Then, her eyes dropped and a blush crept into her cheeks. “What were you explaining to the bear?”

  I smirked. “That you didn’t mean any harm to her cub and…”

  “A cub? I didn’t see it, I swear.” Her eyes dropped to my chest this time and I became very aware of her palms just on the other side of the chunk of her shirt. “I don’t think she believed you,” she murmured. “We need to get you to a doctor, Adam. It isn’t far to the house. Let me help you get up.”

  It’s time for you to know how I feel, I decided. “You didn’t let me finish.”

  Her eyes met mine, confused. “Sorry.”

  “I told her you didn’t mean any harm to her cub, and that you were mine. I wouldn’t let any harm come to you. She did give me a swat, but it was just to let me know she wasn’t happy about it.” Then I grinned. “She did apologize though.”

  Her mouth opened, but nothing came out for a long moment. Then, she reached up and ripped the sleeve off her shirt with the obvious intent of switching it with the one now blood soaked and plastered to my chest.

  I captured her hands in mine. “Nikki, stop. I’m fine.”

  She looked down at her fingers, red from my blood and her eyes filled with tears. “No, you’re not,” she said, her voice breaking. “I think you’re in shock and I need to get you out of these woods. You aren’t feeling pain, so that must mean the wound is deep. We need to get you help. I have to get you to a doctor, so please help me and stand up,” she pled.

  I was going to have to do more than tell her how I felt, I thought. I was actually going to have to tell her everything.

  “Wait, Nikki. I need to show you something.” Let’s tackle one thing at a time, I decided. “It’s not as bad as you think.” I pulled the sticky piece of shirt off. “I saw a water bottle in the side of your basket. Could you bring it to me, please?”

  After she handed it to me, I popped the top and poured it slowly over the top of my shoulder, letting the cold liquid run across my skin. The water turned a dark red as it washed the blood away. The claw marks that the bear had left had already healed, leaving only shallow furrows in my skin. In another minute or two, I woul
d be completely healed. Such is the way of Keeper magic.

  But my plan hadn’t gone as expected. Instead of making Nikki not worry, now her already full eyes brimmed, and spilled over. Tears trekked down her cheeks and I felt as if my heart was breaking.

  “Don’t cry, Nikki, please? I’m okay. It doesn’t hurt much at all. I’m fine,” I promised, pulling her toward me. I hugged her close with one arm and patted her hair with my other hand.

  She stayed close for a moment and I felt her tears, warm against my skin. A sharp contrast to the cold water that had been there only a short while earlier.

  Then she pulled back and one last tear fell. I brushed it away with my thumb and leaned forward, kissing her cheek.

  “No one has ever worried that much about me before,” I whispered. I’m the one who watches out and worries for everyone else. No one does it for me. I am a Keeper.

  Her hand had been against my chest and now she lifted it away, looking at the faint red lines that was the only proof of my encounter with the bear.

  “What are you?” she whispered as her eyes met mine.

  “You don’t want to know.” I stood up and turned away, suddenly unsure that showing her my ability to heal had been a good idea. What would she think of me if she knew my secret?

  You’ll be afraid of me if I show you, and you’ll run as far from me as you can get…and I can’t stand the thought of being away from you.

  “I’m not afraid of you,” she said in an even tone that made me wonder if I’d spoken my thoughts aloud. “And I’m not running. Why should you stay away from me?” I turned around to see her frown. “And what the heck is a Keeper?”

  “You heard me.”

  She shrugged. “I guess I did. Show me.”

  If she heard me, that can only mean one thing. It was time to show her the secret my people had kept hidden for generations.

  I am a Keeper. I am U-la-gu of my tribe, the leader of the Six, I told her silently as my wolf pushed to the surface at my call, the soft black mist appearing around my body, slowing creeping along my skin.

  Our tribe is one of the oldest in the land. When white men came to this land, we were a mighty and fierce people. We were many. When they came, they took everything they wanted. Our land. Our food. Our lives.

  Muscles changed and bones realigned. I dropped to my knees and bent my head, letting my wolf transform.

  A few of my people survived. They took refuge in the mountains. The Wolf had been watching the white men and went to the mountains to speak to the elders of the tribe. He said, “They do not respect our Mother Earth. They take and do not give. They are men of no honor. Your people must survive to teach the children the old ways, so that the land may heal I will give you a gift to protect you.” The wolf dug up a large stone and scratched it with his foot, giving it to the elders. “In the morning, they shall come,” he said, and disappeared into the fog.

  I raised my head.

  When dawn came, the firstborn sons of the elders, their best warriors and hunters—the only six who had survived—transformed into wolves. They were the first of the Keepers, the protectors of the wood.

  Finished with both the history of my people, and with changing to my wolf, I sat back on my haunches and went still, staring straight ahead as she slowly walked around me.

  Part of me wondered why she hadn’t run away screaming yet.

  But then she placed her hand between my shoulders and ran her fingertips down the length of my back. My muscles quivered at her touch. Then she came back in front of me and knelt down, staring into my eyes.

  She smiled, reaching out to touch my cheek. “You’re still just Adam. Your eyes haven’t changed. They’re still beautiful.”

  Yeah, I’m still me. But there’s still a lot you don’t know.

  “Then tell me.”

  This whole mind-reading thing might take some getting used to, I thought, as I switched back, my fur melting away in a black fog as my wolf went back into the depths.

  She’s taking this really well, too. Perhaps that’s because she has magic and just doesn’t know it yet…

  Her hand came up to trace the planes of my chest and stomach, then she rose up on her toes and kissed me. It caught me off-guard, but it only took a second for me to kiss her back, burying a hand in the soft, tangle of curls at her neck, the other pulling her close as the kiss deepened.

  She wrapped her arms around my neck and I lifted her off the ground. The air pulsed and warmed around us, seeming to come alive as it wrapped us in a warm hug.

  I broke the kiss, but still held her close. “There’s so much you still need to know. I’ve wanted to tell you since I first saw you. You need to know it all,” I whispered into her hair.

  “It doesn’t matter,” she said, her arms tightening around me.

  “Yes, it does. It matters a great deal.” I set her down, and met her brown eyes. “We need to go to the Res.”

  I walked over and picked up her basket of berries, then came back and took her hand. “Does your mother expect you home soon?” Giving someone a crash course in Keeper lore and facts might take a while.

  “No, she’s working late today and Emily’s been at a friend’s house for a sleepover. She’ll be there all weekend. There’s no one home.”

  Good, I thought. We’ve got time to show you what you need to know.

  “There is someone we need to talk to. That way you can be sure.” I was talking to myself more than to Nikki, as Jenna White Hawk came to my mind. Each generation of Keepers had a Seer—someone who had the gift of foreseeing parts of the future for that generation. Jenna was the Seer for my father’s generation, and instinct was telling me that while Nikki might very well be my other half, the magic that I was picking up on was that she was part of the Keepers in some way.

  The Seer. She isn’t tribe, so how does she have it? Does it even matter? The clans have never mixed, so the elders won’t like it. A memory of Jenna White Hawk telling the elders that someone not of our tribe would be joining us flooded my mind. The elders had gotten worried that it would be someone from another tribe. But Nikki wasn’t from a tribe. To my knowledge, she hadn’t even known our people had existed until she moved here.

  I frowned. The elders were all about tradition, and if I was right, tradition was getting ready to change. It doesn’t matter. I will fight for her if it comes to that.

  Different memories zipped through my mind—of the first time I saw her, of seeing her spirit in the campfire, of today, when I saved her from the bear.

  I hadn’t been paying attention until Nikki stopped. I turned and saw the vacant look in her eyes, as if she was in another time and place. I waved my hand in front of her face, hoping to bring her out of her trance.

  Her eyes focused and then I knew she was seeing me.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked. “You just stopped walking and stared. You wouldn’t answer me. Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine. Just have a little bit of a headache, is all. I’m okay.” While her words were meant to reassure me, the look on her face told me an entirely different story. I had seen a similar look on Jenna’s face whenever she “saw” something meant for the Keepers.

  “You’re a terrible liar. What did you see?”

  “How do you know I saw anything?”

  “I just know. Now tell me.” I crossed my arms over my chest and waited.

  “When you were thinking, it painted a picture in my mind. I saw you at the campfire, at my house, and in the woods. I felt your fear, then warmth, then I heard you think something was wrong—which must have been when you were waving your hand in front of my face.”

  “You can see, hear, and feel what I’m thinking?” I asked, shocked.

  “It appears so, yeah,” she shrugged.

  “None of the others could do all three.” My mind was really racing now, thinking back on the history of the Seers.

  “What others? There are other people who do this?”

  “They are called Seers,�
� I explained. “For every generation of Keepers, there is one Seer. So far, they have had either the gift of sight, sound, or touch. Never all three. Jenna White Hawk is the Seer for my father’s generation. She has Sight. She is who I want you to meet today.” I laced my fingers with hers and we began walking again.

  “Jenna? Erik’s mom?”

  “Yeah, Erik’s mom. She told us that the Seer for our generation would not be from our tribe. The elders were not happy about that being as the pow wow starts in a couple months and there will be at least one other tribe in town then. They aren’t thrilled with the idea of the clans mixing, but I don’t think they have anything to worry about with them,” I said, looking over at her. “I think it’s you. You are our Seer.”

  “Me?” Her voice squeaked on the single word and she tripped over a vine, but immediately caught herself. “But I’m not Indian! Well, not entirely. My great-grandmother was Cherokee. All that’s in me is from her. There’s nothing of the Wighcomocos tribe in me at all.”

  She was confirming every thought that I’d had on the matter so far and I nodded in agreement. “I know that. I don’t know how you have the Sight. I only know that you have it. I haven’t told anyone else, since I wanted to make sure. I knew something was going on that day I felt the pull to come to your house. I didn’t know who you were, I just knew you were there and that I had to see you. That’s a trait of tribe.” I left out the part that would have explained why I knew where she was. I didn’t want to tell her that…not yet. Though if she was able to read my thoughts, it was only going to be a matter of time before she knew, if she didn’t already. “It’s never happened with outsiders,” I continued. “I thought maybe I was going crazy and then I saw you that night at the campfire. Your spirit was hovering around the flames. I still didn’t tell anyone, but Erik knew I had seen something. Today, I knew where you were and I knew you needed me. You’ve heard, felt, and saw my thoughts, which is something that I’ve never heard of. We need to tell Jenna, though she probably already knows. I think she was going to say more about it until the elders got upset thinking about the other tribes. Plus, when you met her I saw the expression on her face. She already knew it was you, she just didn’t say anything. She’s waiting.”