Tears of Life

by Shea Balik

  “That’s enough,” Mingus cried as he jerked away from Oluf’s hand. “I need to really feel you this time.”

  There was no doubt part of that need had to do with that feeling Mingus had that not all was okay with Kyleigh. Oluf wasn’t sure if it was guilt, or an actual feeling of something being wrong. All they could do was voice their concerns to Cullen and Ulf, which they had.

  The pair had taken it seriously and forced Rowan to arrange a meeting with Kyleigh. They both claimed she appeared fine. Happy even. But Mingus had begun having nightmares that he claimed were about Kyleigh.

  Mingus had been more…clingy recently. He hardly ever let Oluf out of his sight any longer. It wasn’t exactly a hardship for Oluf, but he was growing concerned about Mingus’s state of mind.

  Tugging his fingers free, Oluf replaced them with his cock. Before he could move, Mingus pushed Oluf onto his back. The sight of his lover straddling him was one Oluf would never tire of seeing. It wasn’t often Mingus demanded to be in charge but he was absolutely breathtaking when he did.

  That well-muscled body arched slightly as he pushed down, impaling himself on Oluf’s length. Twin moans broke free as they both took a moment to enjoy the feel of being joined.

  But it didn’t last long, not when Mingus clearly needed him as much as he did. His lover set up a hard pace as his hips undulated.

  “Beautiful,” Oluf murmured. His hands went up those toned abs to the pebbled nipples. He pinched one and tugged on the other.

  As if he were a puppet master, his touch caused Mingus’s hips to move in a rhythm that had them both panting as their orgasms threatened to tip them over. Refusing to go first, Oluf reached one hand down to Mingus’s long slender dick.

  Wrapping his fingers around it, he gave several firm strokes in time with Mingus’s movements. Those hips stuttered and Oluf moved his free hand down to Mingus’s hip, to keep him still while Oluf planted his feet and thrust up into Mingus even as his channel clamped down around him.

  Pearly white streams coated Oluf’s chest and abdomen. The sight of being marked by Mingus was enough to send him over the edge. Both hands held onto Mingus as he pushed into that tight heat twice more before filling his channel with his seed.

  Mingus draped his body over Oluf’s, his neck right there next to Oluf’s mouth. “Mark me again,” Mingus begged softly.

  Without warning his canines dropped and Oluf bit, hard. The taste of coppery blood had his cock twitching as more cum spilled from him.

  “I love you,” Mingus cried out a second before his body went limp over Oluf’s.

  Extracting his teeth, Oluf licked the drops of blood that dotted that alluring skin. Exhaustion had him floating as he lay there with a huge smile on his face. Wrapping his arms around the man he loved more than he ever thought possible, Oluf fell asleep still buried in that tight body.

  CHAPTER 19

  “Are you sure Kyleigh didn’t want to join us?” Mingus asked for probably the twentieth time since he’d found out yesterday through Rowan, that she’d declined to join them for the Autumn Solstice. Not the he truly could blame her, for it was an unusual person who willingly wanted to face a bunch of Fae’s, who’s main goal was to stop the ritual, even if that meant killing.

  Still, they hadn’t seen her since the day after her birthday. Well, Cullen and Ulf had once, but once in three weeks? It just wasn’t sitting right with Mingus.

  “For the last time,” Cullen said through gritted teeth as he was clearly done having this conversation. “No. Now stop asking.”

  “But you didn’t get to speak with her,” Mingus said even though he’d already used the same argument at least a dozen times. “What if Rowan was lying?”

  Ulf dropped a heavy bag into the back of the truck, the sound forcing Mingus to look at the man. “Why would she lie? And why would Kyleigh ever want to join us when there’s a good chance she could die? Hell, I’ve half a mind to send all the other kids to Rowan’s too, at least we won’t have to worry they’ll die because we couldn’t protect them,” Ulf growled out that last part.

  The thing was, everything that was said was true. So, why couldn’t he let it go?

  “Come on, sexy,” Oluf put a hand at his back. “Let’s get you and your parents into the SUV so we can head out.”

  His parents already were in the back seat of the SUV, with Tess for some reason in her car seat between the two. “Tess,” Mingus said more than a little surprised. “I thought you’d be with Bryce and Gillie.”

  The three little kids were like the three musketeers most of the time. They played together, many times slept together, and even liked a lot of the same foods. They all couldn’t have been closer had they been brothers and sister.

  “I decided to come with you instead,” she told him as if that made perfect sense.

  Too early to deal with questioning her motives as it was barely five in the morning, Mingus put on his seatbelt as Oluf started the SUV. Then they followed the row of other SUVs and trucks heading up the winding path they called a driveway to the main road.

  “I know you’re disappointed not to see Kyleigh, son,” Mingus’s mother said as she reached forward and placed a hand on his shoulder. “But it’s probably for the best. According to the others, she was always the most terrified of all of them on ritual days.”

  Mingus sighed. “I know. I just can’t…” he let out another long sigh, refusing to bring up his concerns in front of Tess. “I just miss her.”

  Oluf reached over the center console and took his hand. “We all do, love. How about tomorrow we set up an appointment with Rowan to see her? That way you can alleviate your fears.”

  Mingus smiled at Oluf for even suggesting that. “I’m not sure she’s willing, but if you don’t mind, I’d like to try.”

  “She can’t,” Tess said.

  Mingus turned in his seat so he could see the little girl. “What does that mean? Why can’t she?”

  But Tess didn’t answer the questions. Instead she left him with even more. “Because she isn’t herself right now.”

  Hours later they arrived at the ritual site. It was another parcel of land the Vikings had bought when they’d decided to settle in America, because this spot had several ley lines running through it.

  Apparently, the Fae used these lines, which provided them energy to open and close the Veil. Or used to. Now they were just trying to get it opened.

  “Be on alert,” Eirik said through the speaker as he called each of the vehicles just before they’d arrived. “Expect the invisible Seelie to be here ready to attack and of course, the Unseelie usually show up at some point.”

  But unlike at his home on Lughnasadh, Mingus didn’t feel as if something was amiss. In fact, everything felt… normal. He helped Tess from the car and whispered. “Do you sense them?”

  Being half Fae, Tess had the ability to know things about them, like when they were around.

  She shook her head. “No. They aren’t here yet. My father decided to wait until we were about to begin the ritual.”

  He couldn’t explain it but her words sent a sense of foreboding through him. He should be happy they weren’t going to be ambushed, so why did he still feel that way?

  “Why is that?” he asked as he placed her feet on the ground. She crooked her finger, indicating he should come down to her level.

  Kneeling, he stared right into her violet eyes and waited.

  There was such… maturity in there that shouldn’t belong to someone only five years old. Yet, time and again, she’d proven to be so much older than her age when she spoke. In a way, it was creepy. Even though it was true, there were other times when she could just be a normal kid, who loved to dig in the mud and run around the yard chasing chickens.

  It was that image that Mingus tried to focus on when Tess started to talk. Because otherwise he was sure he would start screaming for Oluf to take him as far from this place as possible.

  “He is planning on having each person make a ch
oice. Kyleigh’s life or closing the Veil,” Tess said, sending Mingus’s stomach churning as he feared the little he’d been able to eat on the way there would come up without much warning.

  Her hand reached out to touch the area over his heart. “You are the only one whose path has yet to be decided,” Tess told him. “You must stand firm and close the Veil, or the world will never be the same.”

  “But I can’t just let Kyleigh…”

  Tess cut him off. “You must,” she told him without any doubt in her voice. “Remember the fate of those touched by the Fae.”

  “Hey, you two,” Oluf said as he, Wylie, and Fritjof came up to them. “We were wondering where you had gone.”

  Even as Wylie took Tess’s hand and led her away, she looked over her shoulder at Mingus. “Left open and her fate is sealed,” Tess told him.

  “What?” Oluf stared after her before turning back to Mingus. “What did she mean?”

  Mingus shook his head. “I fear Kyleigh is in the hands of the Fae.”

  Oluf frowned at him. “What are you talking about? She’s with Rowan.”

  “How do we know that?” Mingus demanded more harshly than he intended. Then he blew out a hard breath and stared at the ground for several minutes before looking up at the man he loved more than his own life. “Tess said her father would make each of us choose between Kyleigh and the Veil.”

  Those green eyes widened as the gold specks diminished. “We have to tell the others.”

  But Mingus knew it was too late. “Tess claimed they had already made their choice.”

  “How?” Oluf demanded. “They don’t know. How could they have made that decision.”

  “I don’t know,” Mingus said. “I just know she asked that I choose the Veil.”

  Oluf closed his eyes and took several deep breaths as he struggled with what Mingus told him. When he opened them again, only love shined from their depths. Mingus’s entire body shuddered with relief as he sagged against the one person who he trusted to stand by him.

  “You do what you have to do, Mingus,” Oluf told him. “I know you love Kyleigh and you would never do anything to hurt her.” One of Oluf’s large hands covered Mingus’s chest right over his heart. “Do what you think is right, I’ll be standing right there with you.”

  God help him if he was the reason Kyleigh died. For there was no way he’d be able to live with himself if that happened.

  As an immortal, he wouldn’t have a choice. Then again, if it was his fault, maybe an eternity of bone crushing guilt would be just what he deserved.

  CHAPTER 20

  Is it weird that I’m actually more nervous that both the Seelie and Unseelie haven’t tried to attack us?” Ryley asked.

  Mingus sure as hell didn’t think so. Knowing what Tess had told him, he was downright terrified.

  The alarm announcing it was five went off on at least five different phones. Without another word, they all got up from where they had been sitting on thick logs the Vikings had brought over for them, somewhat near the bonfire, yet far enough away that they wouldn’t interfere as they performed the ritual.

  “Lasadh,” the druids said at once as they approached the bonfire.

  Flames whooshed out from the pile of sticks and logs that were piled on top of one another. Pops and crackles could already be heard as they took their places several feet from the fire.

  “We call upon Sun as it descends in the sky, thankful for its rays to warm the earth. As the moon takes its turn to light our way, let us honor them both for giving the world their energy.”

  “You might want to stop that silly chanting,” a voice from behind them said. But none of them stopped.

  “As we plea to the sun one last time for its brilliant…”

  “Okay, but I believe your cousin might be upset to learn you’ve left her to die,” the voice taunted.

  One by one, voices stopped. First it was Cullen, for he was the only one with a cousin, which meant the voice had to be talking about Kyleigh. Then it was Ryley, who’s sister, Meghan, could easily have been the one instead of Kyleigh that was in trouble.

  “She is such a sweet obedient girl,” the voice continued to taunt. “Doing everything I could ever hope she would.”

  Then Meghan stopped, and Nessa, and then Bryce. All knowing it could have been them. Wylie’s voice was the next to stop as well as Dermot, who grabbed Gillie in his arms tightly.

  One by one they stopped chanting as the Fae Mingus assumed was Omri continued to tell them the horrors he was inflicting on Kyleigh. All, that is, but Mingus and Tess. For they continued even though it was killing him to do so.

  Tess reached up and took his hand as they said the next line. “The moon will guide us as we mend the threads that have broken.”

  “If you seal that Veil, I promise you, I will never tell you where she is,” Omri threatened.

  Out of the corner of Mingus’s eyes he could see Cullen crying as he watched Mingus and Tess continue, but he never asked them to stop. For he knew, even if he couldn’t finish the spell himself, that if Kyleigh had been enthralled, she was as good as dead anyway.

  “I mean it,” Omri yelled at them. “You will have killed her and for what? To seal the Veil that we can put holes in anyway?”

  That might be true, but the fact that they didn’t do it all the time, meant it had to be a challenge for the Fae to create something they could get through. It wasn’t much, but at least they weren’t able to just come and go as they pleased.

  Kyleigh might not have a chance any longer, but the rest of the human world did.

  With Tess right beside him, they started the last line.

  “Heed our command…”

  There was a screech, several of them, which Mingus imagined meant there was more than Omri on this side of the Veil.

  “And mend the frayed fibers…

  “You’ll regret this,” Omri yelled, “She’ll die because of you.”

  “To make them whole again.”

  A light flashed in the sky signaling the Veil had closed and Mingus dropped to his knees as tears flowed down his face.

  “I’m sorry,” Tess whispered. “I didn’t know until today.”

  It didn’t matter. Whether they knew or not wouldn’t have saved Kyleigh. The moment Omri had gotten his hands on her, her life had been forfeited. But he would make the other person responsible pay dearly.

  Just yesterday, Rowan had assured them Kyleigh was fine and didn’t want to join them for the ritual. The bitch lied and she would pay dearly for that.

  Strong arms wrapped around him. The touch of Oluf had his tears turning into bone rattling sobs as he sank against his lover.

  But it was all the other pairs of arms that encircled him that had Mingus hating himself all the more. He was the reason they may never find Kyleigh. They should all hate him.

  Yet, one voice spoke in choked sobs that cut through his guilt. “It’s okay, Mingus,” Cullen said. “I forgive you and so would Kyleigh. You did the right thing.”

  Then that pair of arms left him, as did several others, most likely to comfort the man who had just learned the fate of his niece. “I’m going to kill that bitch,” Mingus swore to those that were still with him. “Rowan is going to pay for allowing Omri access to Kyleigh.”

  “We don’t know that’s what happened,” Wylie whispered. “But I agree we need to find out. If she had anything to do with this, or even lied to hide it from us, I’m going to transport that bitch over a volcano and let her fry.”

  That was a plan Mingus could get behind.

  “Anyone heard from Brandr?” Hrafn asked the following morning.

  “No,” Eirik said as he stared at a map as if it would give up where Kyleigh could be.

  “He’s with Logan,” Tess said. “They should be here tomorrow.”

  Oluf, who was once more cooking breakfast, although this time it was much more about keeping busy than anything else. They’d left the ritual site last night and headed straight fo
r Rowan’s. Half had gone to her office, half to her home.

  Both parties found the same thing. Nothing. She had cleaned out her office of everything but the furniture and her home looked like a tornado had gone through it. They might have believed she’d been taken along with Kyleigh, except it was obvious many of her clothes and other personal items were missing.

  “Any idea where to find them?” Oluf asked as he placed another platter of eggs on the table before glancing once more at the door to the kitchen.

  After they’d gotten home, Mingus had been… silent. Way too silent. This morning Oluf had decided to let him sleep, but now he was wondering if he should go check on him.

  “No,” Eirik answered. “I don’t even know where to look.”

  Tess got up onto her knees in the chair next to Eirik. Her eyes took in what he was looking at. “That’s because you have the wrong map.”

  Cullen and Ulf, who had been huddled together in an effort to console one another, sat up straighter. “What do you mean? What map should he be looking at?”

  She turned her head this way and that then scrunched her face up as she tried to figure out what was wrong. “It’s too… small?” she said as if not sure that was the right word. Then she waved a hand across its surface. “There should be more land and water than this.”

  Both Ulf and Cullen stood up. “A world map,” they said in unison before dashing out of the room.

  Oluf had no idea if Tess could find her or not. In a way, he hoped she could, but he wasn’t sure it would be the best thing for any of them. From Wylie’s account of watching his sister go through hell when Omri left her, Oluf didn’t think any of them needed to see that.

  At the same time, it would give them closure. Hopefully.

  He glanced at the door again, but Mingus still wasn’t there. Turing off the stove, he took off his apron and put in on the counter. “I’m going to check on Mingus. There should be enough food until I get back.”

  Eirik waved, telling him he, at least, heard Oluf speak. The others didn’t say a word. They were all in a state of shock. Talking wasn’t high on their priority list at the moment.