Bramble Burn

by Autumn Dawn

  “Sure,” she slurred, accepting his arm as he escorted her to his car. His sleeve was icy wet, but it kept her awake.

  A soldier slid into the car next to her. “It’s all right. I’m a medic,” she explained, taking Juniper’s vitals. “That was quite a show of power. Is your vision blurry?”

  “Yeah. Headache, nausea, tired.”

  “Hm. Well, your vitals are good. I’ll give you something for the pain, and then I suggest you rest. That bracelet keeps you from using too much power and killing yourself, but this is something else to watch for. If you take it seriously and let yourself recover, you’ll be fine. Is there someone who can check on you?”

  “My neighbor,” Juniper whispered, to spare her head. “If you sic them on me, they won’t leave me alone.” Grigori’s overprotective instinct would come in handy for once. “My sister is staying with me, too.” Gilly wasn’t exactly Nurse Nightingale, but she’d intervene if it looked as if Juniper were dying.

  The medic slapped a patch on Juniper’s arm, and in moments, a cooling relief spread through her veins. She sighed with deep relief. “Thank God. I might not puke on you now.”

  The medic laughed. “Glad to hear it.”

  Twix was waiting outside the tree when they arrived. He’d been untacked and probably let himself out. He snorted at her anxiously, letting her know he didn’t approve of strangers handling him. She laughed as he nudged her forcefully and shoved him back. “Leave off, big boy. I’m home now.” She nodded at Thornshadow and the medic. “Appreciate the help. I’m going to rest.” She hesitated. “Call me tomorrow and we’ll talk about those visitors.”

  His smile was a tad self-congratulatory. “I’m looking forward to it.” He went back to his car, leaving Grigori and his brother, who’d noticed her arrival, to grill her.

  “I brought you something,” Kjetil said, holding up a small vial. He stood outside her tree early the next morning, looking entirely too chipper.

  Despite her tree’s manifestation of the soothing pool (which her sister had managed to enjoy as well) Juniper felt fuzzy and tired. Of course, that could be because it was barely sunrise. She stared at him in disbelief. “Do you know what time it is?”

  He wiggled the vial. “It’s anti-venom. The snakes are poisonous.”

  She groaned and let him in. “I haven’t even had coffee,” she griped.

  “I can fix that.” He sniffed the air in her kitchen, found the coffee beans, and started a pot.

  She sat at the island and watched, bemused, as he searched her kitchen and assembled the makings for cinnamon French toast.

  Drawn by the disturbance, her sister came into the room, yawning. Her hair stood on end, but she was dressed in pajama shorts and a t-shirt. “What’s he doing?”

  “He’s trying to bribe me with food,” Juniper said, wishing she could be more alert. She’d probably confiscate the venom and shut the door in his face if she were.

  “Oh. Good.” She made herself a cup of tea, discreetly eyeing Kjetil’s backside. “Not a bad way to wake up,” she commented, raising a brow.

  Juniper smirked at her. If Kjetil hadn’t been in earshot, she’d have some snark for that comment. Instead she nudged the anti-venom on the bar. “He brought this for the snakes…not that you’ll need it. You should carry one for me, though. Just in case.” Dragons were immune to venom.

  “I brought enough for your neighbors, too.” Kjetil slid a mug in front of her, smiling as she inhaled with appreciation. “We put fair-warning fliers up in the neighborhood as well.”

  She sipped her coffee. “How thoughtful. Why are you here?” He kissed her, didn’t call for two days and now he thought he could waltz inside her tree and charm her. Something smelled, and it wasn’t the toast.

  He smiled to himself, clearly having expected her attitude. “I visited your grandfather.”

  She straightened in alarm. “Grandpa? Why?” This couldn’t be good.

  “We needed to talk. I spoke to your mother, too.”

  She exchanged startled looks with Gilly. “Why?”

  “I told them I was courting you.” He watched in amusement as Juniper went through the stages of shock and dismay, storing the memory. She was cute when she was speechless. “After a few threats, they admitted the idea was a good one.” Her grandfather had threatened to feed him to a tree, but she didn’t need to know that. “Is it true you only dated twice?” He set a plate of toast in front of her and set the syrup dispenser on the side.

  Gilly dug into hers. “I wouldn’t call them dates. I mean, it was chaperoned, and they never asked her out again. Of course, Dad is pretty scary.”

  “Gilly,” Juniper hissed, sounding more like a dragon than her sister. She glared at Kjetil. “I don’t have time to court.”

  He swallowed a bite of his own breakfast. “You’re twenty-three. Your mother seems to think it’s high time you made time. Besides that, you have to eat sometime. Why not eat with me?”

  “If she doesn’t want you, I’m single,” Gilly said playfully.

  “You’re underage,” he chided. She might be goading her sister, but he didn’t want her to get ideas.

  “Yes, but I have to eat, too, and you can cook. Do you do steak?” She batted her eyes.

  “Knock it off,” Juniper growled. She’d managed to eat a third of her toast even though she was clearly stressed. “Nobody’s dating here.”

  He raised his brows. “Not even me?”

  “You can do what you want,” she retorted.

  “It’s settled, then. I’m dating you.”

  Juniper ate her breakfast, feverishly calculating how to get rid of him. The idea of courting him was…scary. He ticked all her boxes, and the thought of kissing him made her shiver. She’d get attached and he’d break her heart. She had to get rid of him before it was too late. “Indris won’t like this.”

  “Ooh, threatening him with Daddy? I don’t think so. He’s been making noise about finding suitors for you lately. You know you’re getting old when a dragon thinks you need a mate,” Gilly observed helpfully.

  “Shut up,” Juniper snapped. She fixed Kjetil with a serious stare. “I’m not interested in you.”

  He took a leisurely bite, surveying her with interest. “You know I’m a wolf, right?”

  “So?”

  He smiled. If she didn’t know about wolf senses, he wouldn’t tell her. “I’m also a man, sweetheart, and you aren’t exactly subtle.”

  “Well, places to be,” Gilly said briskly, dumping her plate in the sink. “See you later.”

  Juniper saw her buffer escaping and hopped up in alarm. “Me, too! I need to clean up that salt today so I can grow a proper tree tomorrow.”

  Gilly paused in annoyance. “You don’t need to do that today. You’re supposed to rest, again, because you don’t have the sense to stop when you need to. I swear, I didn’t come here to babysit you.”

  “I’ve got this,” Kjetil said, clearing the dishes. “That’s what suitors are for. Your mom made me promise to take care of you. By the way, your stepfather is going to visit when he gets back.”

  The girls stilled. Gilly said warily, “Dad’s coming here?”

  He studied the chestnut tree soap and added it to the dish water. “When he gets back. I gathered it would be a few days.”

  Gilly took a deep breath.

  “Don’t look at me. I’m not the one who ran away,” Juniper grumbled, but she was uneasy, too. She didn’t think Indris would try to make her leave, but if he thought the Bramble was too dangerous, he might decide to extend his visit indefinitely. The idea of a dragon curled protectively around the park like a giant, overprotective guard dog horrified her. She’d never get anything done.

  “Sounded like your Mom was concerned about your safety and wanted him to look into it,” Kjetil added, as if reading her fears. “She was greatly relieved to hear we’ve been keeping an eye on it.”

  Message received. If werewolves haunted her park, her mom wouldn’t sic her dad
on her. With a grimace, she gave up on trying to throw him out (besides, he was doing dishes), and went to brush her teeth and prepare for the day. She had a park to see to.

  Chapter 9

  A steady thump of salt chunks fell in Grunt’s truck bed. In addition to Grigori and Gilly, several wolves had shown up for the clean-up, all of them heavily armed. She’d been surprised to hear there had been wolves on the fringes yesterday, firing on her attacker. She was feeling torn about that. Should she be happy someone was looking out for her, or watched?

  It depended on their motives. She looked at Kjetil carrying a giant chunk of salt to the truck and brooded. What did she know about him, anyway?

  Sighing, she turned her attention to picking up small chunks. She was too tired to probe the tree, and she doubted she’d pick up a signature from whoever had wrecked it. There was simply too much power here, although it had settled considerably since yesterday.

  She straightened as her brother’s car pulled up. Her hand tightened on her rock, and she chucked it in the truck so she wouldn’t be tempted to throw it at his head. Temper roaring, she strode to him, Gilly falling in beside her. She was aware of the wolves watching, but they didn’t interfere.

  “Hey, sis. I see you have the runaway.” Justin smirked at Gilly. “Indris is going to skin you.”

  “He knows,” Juniper said grimly. “Did you come to gloat?”

  Justin made a “you’re crazy” face at her and looked around, his eyes gleeful when he saw the remains of the tree. He walked over for a closer look. “Well, look at this! This looks like a screw up to me. What’s the matter, sis? Losing your touch?”

  Juniper glowered. “As if you could do better. But you want to talk screw ups? What do you think you’re doing, selling pictures of my tree to the reporters?”

  “Quit whining; they’re just pictures. I was short on cash, and you never lend me any,” he said dismissively. “Besides, I came to talk to Gilly. She owes me a favor.”

  Gilly glowered. “What do you want?”

  “Nothing big. I need a ride.”

  Gilly looked like she’d bitten an apple and found half a worm. “Where?” She didn’t like Justin and hated flying him anywhere, especially since he treated her like some kind of dumb beast.

  Not that he was partial; he treated everyone that way.

  Ignoring her disgust, he said blithely, “Blue Wood. I need to talk to Grandpa.” He gave her a significant look. “You’re getting off lightly, considering you owe me big.”

  She growled in disgust. “Fine. Stash your car somewhere and let’s get this over with. I want to be back by dark.” She looked at Juniper. “But first apologize to Juniper, or I’m not going anywhere.”

  Justin’s lip curled. “What are we, three? Fine. Sorry about the pictures, sis. No hard feelings, right?” he said with disinterest.

  “Wrong,” Juniper spat, vibrating with rage. As far as she was concerned, nothing was resolved, and probably never would be. Justin would never change. “Stay off my property, deadbeat. My trees will bind you on sight.”

  “Ooo,” he mocked, nodding to her shattered tree. “Trees like that? I’ve got nothing to worry about.” He sauntered off and climbed in his car.

  Gilly gently shook Juniper’s shoulder. “Tone down the headlights, sis. You’ll scare the locals.”

  Kjetil had allowed them a measure of privacy, but now he joined them. He watched Justin like a hunter, calculation in his eyes.

  Juniper nudged him. “Our mother will cry if his body is never found.”

  He glanced at her, unconvinced.

  She sighed and admitted, “I don’t want him dead, just gone. Not that you will arrange that,” she stressed.

  “I’m out of here,” Gilly said, launching skyward as a dragon, following Justin’s car.

  Grigori looked at her with sympathy, but said nothing as he grabbed a rake. His family might struggle, but at least they loved each other.

  “There’s one in every family,” Kjetil soothed, and changed the subject. “We’ll be done here soon, and my shift starts in an hour. There will be plenty of wolves around the park, though you probably won’t see them. Your park is a very popular these days.

  “Anyway, they’ve got a few ideas on how to deal with any water flingers who might show up.” He glanced to where yesterday’s attacker’s body had fallen. The elves had taken the body to study, but there was still a pile of chopped roots left behind. They’d had to remove the wood themselves, since she’d been too drained.

  “Good to know.”

  Later that day, she stood in her kitchen and looked absently at the yard as she called Thornshadow and made arrangements for visitors from the university. While she valued her privacy, there was nothing uber-secret in her tree. She’d concluded that she could handle a few professors and students. After all, the park was already swarming with wolves.

  She snorted in amusement as she drank her coffee, admiring the late afternoon light. She’d had visions of having an entire park to herself, and she had more company than she knew what to do with.

  The light suddenly fled as something large blocked the sun. Gilly careened to the lawn, wings braking weakly, and switched to her human form to save her wings. She tucked and rolled, but it was sloppy, and she ended up on her back. A second dragon back winged, his glittering green form shrinking to reveal Verbreaker. He landed in a crouch in human form, the lawn too tiny to accommodate his mammoth dragon form, and ran to the fallen girl.

  “Gilly!” Juniper grabbed her staff and rushed outside, pausing when her sister raised one bloody hand. Breaker had his arm around her back, helping her to sit. “What happened?”

  “Justin,” Gilly said grimly, her face wet with angry tears, smoke and blood. “He bailed when the demon apes attacked.”

  “Demon apes?” Juniper echoed, confused. The winged apes were nowhere near the Blue Wood, and her grandfather would have killed them on sight. The apes were carnivores, with long, serrated teeth, and would attack anything that moved.

  “Later,” Breaker said, scooping the girl up. “Get her inside. My healer is on the way.”

  “Why didn’t you take her to the hospital?” Juniper demanded, pulling out a kitchen chair.

  “I wanted you,” Gilly gasped as Breaker gently lowered her.

  “Well, what do you think I’m going to do? I fix trees, not people!” Juniper was panicking, so she took deep breaths to calm herself. “We need Twix. Wait, no. We need the first aid kit.” She fetched it and pulled out her phone. She’d never been so afraid for her sister. “I’m calling an ambulance.”

  “I don’t need an…argh!” Tears sprang to Gilly’s eyes as Breaker gently peeled the arm she’d cradled over her stomach to check her belly.

  “My healer is going to be here any moment,” Breaker said soothingly. “You’ve got some cracked ribs for certain. Juniper, she could use something to clean her face.”

  Juniper fetched a washcloth; her hands trembling as she gently washed the grime away to assess the damage. Gilly’s cheek was gashed, but she had no other head wounds. Thankfully, having a task to do calmed her. “What happened? I thought you were visiting Grandpa.” The flight should have been safe, since it was over well patrolled airspace. Even monsters avoided dragons.

  “Ma’am? Do you need assistance?” Two werewolves stood in her door, assessing the situation. One was in human form, the other in fur.

  It was clear they’d take on the dragon if he were causing problems, so Juniper shook her head. “We’ve got this. Thanks.”

  “There she is,” Breaker said with relief, calling his healer and her assistant inside as they landed in the yard.

  Juniper backed away to give them space, relieved that someone who knew what they were doing worked on her sister. The werewolf spokesman and Breaker joined her, and Breaker filled her in.

  “I found her a couple of miles out, struggling to make it in. From what I gathered, your brother took her to the bad side of Griswold, looking for an i
tem. It’s an ugly town, too close to an untamed forest.”

  “I’ve heard of it,” Juniper said grimly. Nasty things bred in the wood there, and magic mutants ran the town like a gang of thieves. She wouldn’t send her enemy to Griswold; why had Justin taken Gilly there?

  “She said demon apes attacked them on the way out. Justin bailed off. She thought he might need rescue, but he’d made the trees close over him, hiding inside. By the time she realized he wasn’t coming out, she was badly hurt injured and had to abandon him.”

  “He didn’t help her?” Juniper’s eyes blazed. Chills raced over her scalp, sliding to her back in fury and horror. He’d deserted Gilly to save his own hide?

  “It sounded that way.” Breaker’s voice was cool, but his body language said otherwise. If Justin had been within reach, he would have broken him.

  Shock made her legs weak. She’d nearly lost her sister. “I need to call my father.”

  She sat at the table and fumbled with her phone. She rarely called Indris, and he picked up on the first ring.

  “Hello?”

  “Daddy…Gilly’s been hurt. Justin…” It took her a moment to find her voice, and when she was done, she was fighting tears.

  “I’d like to speak with him,” Breaker said, and stepped away when she handed him the phone.

  The wolf brought her a glass of ice water and a paper towel. “I’ll be outside if you need me.”

  The water helped. She blew her nose and went to the bathroom to splash cold water on her face, and that helped more. She was being stupid. Gilly needed her, and she was acting like a helpless child. She could handle it if she was hurt, but someone she loved was something else.

  She took a deep breath and got her act together, ready to be the support Gilly needed.

  Breaker looked at her determined posture with approval. “Your father will be here tomorrow. He plans to fly through the night. Meanwhile, we’ve agreed that I will look into Justin’s whereabouts.” His smile was bloodthirsty. “I’m the least likely to kill him.”