The Reluctant Amazon (Alliance of the Amazons)

by Sandy James

  She was mortified. “Artair! You can’t—”

  But it was too late. Johann came striding through the door, skidding to a stop next to Megan. His wide-eyed stare made Rebecca’s face flush hot again.

  “I’m interrupting,” Johann said, a note of mirth in his voice. “I can come back later when you’re…finished.” He glanced at Megan. “Fire and the Sentinel, huh?”

  Megan shrugged, shifting her guilty gaze to Artair.

  They’d finally been caught in their game.

  “Fire?” Artair arched an eyebrow at Rebecca.

  “Rebecca is as surprised by this as I expected her to be.” She waited to see if Artair would follow her lead or expose their deception. She gave him a poke in the ribs, hoping to push him in the right direction.

  “Aye, Megan. It does appear that Rebecca is shocked by the turn of events.”

  There was another knock. Megan shouted, “Come on in! The party already started without you!”

  “I thought I saw Johann duck in here. Is he here?” Sarita asked as she and Gina came walking into the cabin. They came to an abrupt halt and gawked.

  How could she possibly get the hell out of the cabin and away from all of them? As it was, Rebecca felt as exposed as she did in dreams where she showed up to some incredibly important event butt-naked.

  Artair growled at the intruders. “’Tis a sorry day when a man’s bedchamber becomes as crowded as a marketplace.”

  Rebecca had been rearranging the plaid to cover herself better when Artair tugged it back over his middle. With a frightened squeal, she pulled harder on the cloth. He let her win the tug of war. Grabbing the pillow from behind his head, he held it over his lap, stood up and then backed his way to his bathroom. The laughter of the Amazons followed him. Johann was chuckling but pretending to cough politely into his fist.

  Since someone in this group needed to act like an adult, Rebecca gathered the material over her. “Why don’t you all go have some breakfast? Let us have some privacy. We’ll meet you in the mess hall.”

  “Breakfast?” Johann asked with a snort. “You’re kidding, right?”

  “No, I’m not kidding. Go get some oatmeal or—”

  “It’s lunchtime. You were sleeping the better part of the day.”

  “Lunch? Seriously?” She glanced around the Spartan cabin, looking for a clock, but found none.

  “You must’ve been mighty tired to sleep so late,” Megan drawled.

  Rebecca’s patience came to an end, punctuated by the slapping of some tree branches against the cabin shutters. “That’s it. Get out. Just go on. We’ll be out to train in a little bit.”

  As if oblivious to Rebecca’s manipulation of the trees, Johann threw another smile at the women. “Time to go, ladies. Let them have a little bit of privacy.” He led Fire, Water and Air from Artair’s cabin, the thump of the closing door marking their exit.

  Artair came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his hips. Rebecca had never seen anything sexier. Except when he was naked.

  Lord, she had suddenly turned into a sex maniac. The night they’d shared had been sating, yet she found her thoughts drifting to grabbing that towel and baring the assets she’d find beneath it. Then she’d pounce on him and make love to him again.

  He opened the door to the large oaken bureau and pulled out a clean, folded plaid. She had no idea how he put one of those silly things on and was settling down to watch when he dropped it on the bed.

  “Care to explain your trickery?” he asked, the laughter plain in his handsome green eyes.

  She shrugged. “Megan started it when the computers came and Johann was bitching about Beagan and Dolan not getting them running fast enough. I just keep it up to make her happy. Torturing Johann seems to be important to her. We’ll stop if you want.”

  “Nay. ’Tis just a harmless game. He’ll figure out which Amazon is which soon. Megan will have some trouble containing her wee fireworks once he raises her temper, which I imagine will be verra soon.”

  A heavy sigh of appreciation fell from her lips as he stood there half naked. He shook out the plaid and began to fold it into layers of what would be pleats when he donned it.

  “If you keep looking at me like that, lass, I’ll nae be able to leave the cabin.”

  “Looking at you like what?”

  “Like you’d like me to make love to you again.”

  She smiled, wondering if her cheeks would ever stop feeling warm. “I would. But we should both get dressed, get something to eat and find out what happened to Sparks. I can’t believe she’d leave Avalon. How could she do that, knowing Jin’s out there somewhere, targeting all of us? I have no idea how to locate her if she’s gone. I always feel Megan. Most of the time, I can pick up on Gina and Sarita. But Sparks is harder for me to link with. And she won’t be able to find her way back.” A passing thought troubled her. “Artair?”

  “Aye?”

  “You needed me to find Megan. Remember? On the day you came to get me, you needed me to find Fire.”

  He nodded, a wry smile crossing his lips. “Aye. And you did yer job well.”

  “Then how did you find me? You came to me first.”

  “Ah, ’tis a good question,” he said as he worked his way into his kilt. “Once you were called, I was able to find you. Just as Helen was the first I went to in the last generation, then she led me to Sparks. When the Amazons are called by the Guardian, I’m sent to fetch Earth first. She helps find her sisters.”

  “So you’ve always known where I was?”

  “Nay. Not ’til you were called. ’Tis a gift to the Sentinel from Rhiannon. As soon as Earth is called, I can go to her.”

  “I see. But then why can’t you find Helen now?”

  “A mystery. I assumed I lost touch with her because she rejoined the world. It was many years ago, but I suppose I should have questioned that loss more.” He shook his head. “’Twas not something I felt the need to dwell on since there was no danger. Each generation eventually left or passed on.”

  “What did you do when the Amazons left?”

  His mouth pulled into a grim line. “I kept watch, hoping I wouldn’t have to call them back or bring in a new group.”

  “You waited here in Avalon? Alone?”

  “Aye. Alone. The goddesses would pop in from time to time, and I had Beagan and Dolan for company.”

  No wonder he wanted to go back to the real world. Years of isolation with only capricious goddesses and changelings who seemed more comfortable as rabbits than in their own skin had to have taken their toll.

  More questions popped in her mind. “How did Johann find Gina and Sarita?”

  “You were called before Johann was ready. The goddesses feared bringing the four of you together ’til your new Sentinel was able to train you. I was given you and Megan while Ganga and Ix Chel found the other Amazons and brought them to him.”

  New Sentinel.

  The words hung like an ominous cloud over the room.

  “I need to go.” Rebecca wrapped the plaid they’d used as a blanket around her body and quietly headed to the door. Before she ducked outside, she glanced over her shoulder, a plea to have him stay in Avalon on her lips. The words wouldn’t come. His path was set, the path he chose and so richly deserved, and it led away from her.

  She left without a farewell.

  * * *

  Letting her walk out of the cabin was one of the hardest things Artair had ever done. His mind was in turmoil, all his plans for a normal life lying like litter around his feet.

  He wanted to call Rebecca back, to tell her he wasn’t leaving her, that he wasn’t abandoning her to another man to watch after her safety. That thought alone turned his stomach. Artair was her Sentinel. He was the one who’d taught her, coached her, trained her. And he was the one who loved her. How could he possibly leave her now?

  But if he stayed, would he be able to let her be an Amazon?

  Artair had allowed his feelings to get in
the way when they’d tried to rescue Trishna. Now that he realized Rebecca was the love he’d waited for his whole life—his whole incredibly long life—how could he knowingly send her into danger? How could he watch her fight revenants and demons and not want to rescue her? How could he truly be her Sentinel?

  Visions of Amazons he’d known and lost haunted him. Trishna’s lifeless body filled his thoughts as the face slowly changed until Rebecca stared back at him with glazed, dead eyes. A cold shudder ran the length of his spine.

  Pinning his brooch over his heart as he’d done every day since he became the MacKay, Artair realized the irony of honoring a clan long gone. What was he returning to by taking back his mortality? He’d wanted a life. A mortal life. A wife. A son. Those dreams seemed to have turned to ashes now.

  What woman could he possibly take to wife if he left his heart in Avalon? What other woman would do when the one he wanted was laying her life on the line without thanks or recognition for her sacrifice? Why couldn’t he take Rebecca as his bride? Why couldn’t she bear his seed and give him the son he so desperately wanted?

  Because she was an Amazon.

  Amazons didn’t become wives. They didn’t become mothers.

  Amazons died.

  The fact Artair was even considering her in those roles showed just how utterly confusing his world had become. He was trying to merge reality and fantasy in his Becca.

  Taking a long look around his cabin, his home for so many years, it suddenly felt cold. Empty.

  No closer to an answer about his future, Artair walked out, slamming the door behind him.

  * * *

  After Rebecca finished her walk of shame across the compound, Megan was waiting in her cabin. Sprawled on the still-made bed, Fire was grinning like a cat with yellow feathers still clinging to her mouth. “It appears he wasn’t too good-looking for you after all. So?”

  “So what?”

  “Sooo… How the hell was he?”

  Rebecca picked up the clean pants and cotton shirt lying on the foot of the bed. “You’re crazy if you think I’m answering that question.” She shut the bathroom door behind her, dropping the soft plaid and donning the clean clothes. She wanted a shower, but didn’t figure she’d have enough time. The day was already half spent, and Sparks was missing. A shower was a luxury she couldn’t afford.

  Before she left the bathroom, she grabbed Artair’s plaid. Holding it to her face, she breathed in his comforting woodsy scent that clung to the cloth as if it was woven into the threads. The notion was silly, but she wanted to wrap the plaid around herself and gain comfort from his essence. Folding the material into a neat bundle, she wondered if he would notice if she kept it.

  Megan was still grinning when Rebecca came out of the bathroom. “You and the Sentinel, huh?”

  “I’m not talking to you about this, Megan.” Opening her bureau, she slid the folded plaid deep inside and closed the door. She wouldn’t give it back unless he asked. Her heart ached as she pictured some lonely night, years from now, when he was gone. She’d wrap the material around herself and dream of what they’d shared.

  “Ah, come on. We’re sisters.” Megan pouted her lip. “I can’t have sex. At least not here. The least you can do is tell me about your escapades. All I could tell was last night you were very, very happy. Tell me!”

  Rebecca ran a brush through her hair, trying to organize the tangles into a ponytail. “No.”

  “He was good, wasn’t he?” She waited a beat before she slammed her fist into the quilt. “Damn, I knew he’d be good. A guy that handsome—”

  “Megan…” If she tried to growl like Sparks and Artair, could she get Megan to give up her inquisition? No, because she’d be doing the same thing had she found Megan in bed with Johann.

  “Fine. I’ll let it go. For now.” Her face sobered. “I’m worried about Sparks.”

  “Me too.”

  “She’s into something bad, Rebs. Something really bad.”

  Since she sensed the change in Sparks as well, Rebecca saw no need to deny it. “We’ll help her.”

  “Promise?”

  Rebecca nodded.

  Megan bounced off the bed and followed her out of the cabin.

  In the courtyard, Johann was fussing with his fancy cell phone as Gina and Sarita sparred with swords. Megan let out a delighted squeal, grabbed a sword from where several were stuck in the grass and bounded into the sandpit to join the other Amazons.

  Rebecca couldn’t help but laugh. Watching the three of them playing like kindergarteners in a sandbox, clashing swords as they laughed and smiled, she could almost forget what they were supposed to be doing with those weapons.

  It all came crashing back down on her when Sparks stumbled into the courtyard. The sparring came to an abrupt halt. The laughter froze in Rebecca’s throat.

  There were no visible wounds, but Sparks wasn’t herself. She righted herself from where she had tripped, and then she shakily walked to Rebecca’s side, looking to the world like someone who’d drunk too much.

  “Sparks? What happened?” Rebecca reached out to touch her friend’s hair. The small streaks of gray had grown to large stripes of shock-white fanning from her temples to the end of her long red hair.

  Megan joined them. “Since when did you start channeling Bride of Frankenstein?”

  Artair came marching across the grass in long, angry strides. “Where in the hell have you been?”

  “Out.”

  “You may not leave Avalon on your own. You know the rules, damn it.”

  “Fuck the goddamn rules. I need to find Helen.”

  Rebecca noticed Sparks’s eyes and gasped. The warm brown had been replaced with black, her eyes as dark as any she’d ever seen.

  Artair planted himself in front of Sparks and grabbed her upper arms. “What have you done?”

  “What I needed to do,” she replied, her voice hard, her dark eyes wild.

  Artair knew something he wasn’t sharing. Gina, Sarita and Johann had come to watch the show, but he would never open up with an audience.

  “I need some sleep.” Sparks jerked her arms away from Artair and started walking like a drunk toward her cabin. Her typically cocky swagger was gone, and Rebecca wondered for a moment whether Sparks would even successfully make the trip across the courtyard. She arrived, but the journey had been slow and painful to watch. The slam of the door echoed through the compound.

  “What’s happening?” Rebecca asked Artair. The other Amazons had gathered behind her, and Johann had come to his side.

  “I think Sparks has turned to Freyjr.”

  “Freyjr?” Johann asked. “Freya’s twin brother?”

  “Aye. He doesn’t follow the rules of the Amazons and the Ancients. He may have lured Sparks to dabble in black magicks.” Artair shook his head. Then he raised his gaze to meet Rebecca’s. “Did you see her eyes, Becca?”

  Rebecca nodded. “What did he do to her, Artair?”

  “Seior.”

  “She wouldn’t.”

  How desperate did Sparks have to be to resort to using Seior—something that could change her from good to evil?

  The Amazons practiced simple spells like glamours and developed powers endowed by their goddesses. Basic white magicks. Seior, however, could give its practitioner stronger abilities. Some learned teleportation. Some could master reading minds. Some might see the future. But it often spread like an infection, making a victim hungry for power, wanting more, more, more. Only Ancients could practice it without losing themselves.

  “’Twas how she was able to leave Avalon and find her way back. She has gone to Freyjr to find Helen, and he’s taught her Seior.” Artair shook his head, anger and hurt clear on his face. “The lass didn’t trust us to help her find her sister.”

  “But she didn’t bring Helen back with her,” Rebecca couldn’t help but point out. “The magicks didn’t work.”

  “I don’t know what Sparks did while she was gone, whether she searched for
Helen or nae. I don’t think the Seior has entirely turned her yet, but we best keep a wary eye on the lass.” He turned to the other Amazons. “We must return to training. The day has wasted away. Get your weapons and go back to sparring.”

  He had to be insulted when Gina and Sarita looked to Johann instead of immediately following his instructions as Megan had. Fire was already in the sandpit, sword in hand before Johann nodded at his Amazons to join her.

  “There’s only room for one Sentinel,” Artair whispered, looking at Rebecca with emotion in his eyes she couldn’t read.

  Johann ended the awkward moment. “Give Sparks a little time to cool down. If I’ve learned anything from working with the girls, it’s that a man shouldn’t hover when they’re angry.” He nodded to Rebecca. “Let her friend talk to her.” Grabbing a sword, he extended the hilt toward Artair. “Show me some swordplay, MacKay?”

  Artair took the weapon with a nod as Johann picked up another sword, and the Sentinels headed to the sandpit to spar alongside the Amazons.

  Johann was right. Artair would just keep Sparks riled up. But to keep the Amazons safe, they needed answers, and it was time she and Sparks had a long talk.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “Don’t even come in here and start lecturing me,” Sparks said as Rebecca shut the cabin door behind her. “You’re the charge and I’m the Guardian. Not vice versa.” Sparks lay flat on her back on her bunk, her face turned to the ceiling. She was pale. Despite the warmth of the cabin, she trembled.

  “Where were you?” Rebecca asked. “We were worried sick.”

  “Listen, little girl, you’ve got no right—”

  “I’ve got every right. You may be Guardian, but you’re an Amazon too. We’re all in danger. Did you ever think that we’d be frantic with worry, or did you even think about us at all?” When Sparks didn’t answer, Rebecca’s voice changed to a shout. “Where in the hell were you? Artair thinks you were with Freyjr. Did you really go to him?”

  “So what if I did? At least he’s trying to help me find Helen.”

  “Through magicks? He taught you Seior, didn’t he? You know what you said about using Seior, how it changes people. You’re the one who warned Megan that the twins dabble in dark arts and might reach out to her—or even to me. Didn’t you tell us there was never a reason to use black magicks? That once you started down that path, there was no turning back?”