Brother Of The Dark Places

by Miranda Bailey

  I went around a snow bank, heading back up the hill, my thoughts totally on the quandary. Otherwise I might have noticed the man that appeared behind me. I might have been able to escape.

  I didn’t see him though and before I knew it, I had a cloth in my mouth, my hands were tied behind my back, and a very evil sounding voice was whispering in my ear.

  “Ah, so Endre has finally found himself a woman. I was starting to think he’d turned into a monk out here on this frozen island all alone. Good, you’ll come in handy very shortly.”

  Before I could even try to scream the man used a little more magic to shift into a wolf, a very large one, and his pack appeared to drag me to a portal that appeared. All I could think to do was scream for Endre as the wolves drug me away, each one with a bit of my shirt clamped between their teeth.

  Then, we were somewhere else. Somewhere full of blue ice, the sound of dripping water, and a small cave that was warmer than I expected. I looked around and saw nothing but ice, except for a blue pool of water in the very center of the cave.

  No more than 14 feet long and 7 feet high, I somehow knew instinctively that above us there was a mountain of ice. LED lanterns brightened the place up, but there was little else to offer comfort in the place. I wiggled away from the wolves as one came near me, murder in its eyes.

  This one shifted, and became a woman. She looked familiar with her dark hair and gray eyes, but I couldn’t exactly place where I’d seen the features before. My head swam as she came near, too many shocks in too short a time was definitely taking it’s toll.

  “You idiots, you didn’t tie her feet! She can just get up and walk out of here!” She produced a rope from her pockets and stupidly, all I could think was, how did she manage to keep her clothes on when she’d been shifting back and forth between human and wolf form.

  It didn’t matter in the end; she still tied my feet up and pulled me up to sit against the back of the ice wall. It was cold and she knew it because she brought a fur to put between me and the wall.

  “Shut up, Aska. She’ll freeze to death if she steps foot outside. She won’t be going anywhere.” Airitech had shifted as Aska tied my feet and came over to stare down at me.

  “Yes, Father.” The girl muttered and moved away. She went off to sulk and I watched her go. That was Abigail’s sister. I wonder if she knew about that?

  9

  Endre

  I knew she was gone before they even had her through the portal. I looked to Wruin, and he sensed something was wrong.

  “Thyra’s gone. Airitech has her.” I closed my eyes, trying my best to see through her eyes but all I could see was blue ice. That could be anywhere frozen. It could even be in the Arctic. There was a magical world up there too.

  “Can you see her?” Wruin asked, far more in the question than just the need for a location.

  He was asking if we were mates, the kind of mates only shifters could have, the once in a lifetime kind of mate. I think that’s why Wruin had been so blithe about forcing Riever out of my life. I’d loved the girl, but she hadn’t been my mate, at least not to his standards. Not the way I was with Thyra.

  Knowing that Riever wasn’t my bonded shifter mate after all of this time didn’t ease the eons of anger I’d felt towards Wruin, but it did explain why he’d ordered me to marry a woman that didn’t want to marry me or be banished. He knew it wasn’t real, mated love.

  I’d never quite understood what that was supposed to be like until Thyra came along. The fact that I’d known the difference from the start, but hadn’t realized it, wasn’t lost on me.

  “What can we do?” Wruin asked, watching me for a sign of what needed to be done.

  “I don’t know, I really don’t know, Wruin.” She was safe, and that was all I knew.

  We waited for his army to arrive, along with more from Taka’s, and sent out trackers. These weren’t ordinary trackers though, they tracked portals, and where they led to.

  Abigail, Wruin’s mate, was with them, using powers she’d only learned she had.

  “I protected her and her mother for years, until her mother passed away.” His voice ground to a halt but I’d noticed the gravelly sound it had taken on. The mother had meant something to him.

  “Abigail is my mate; I knew it before she was even born. Airitech, her father, had really done a number on Abigail’s mother. He’d led her along, led her to believe he loved her, but he was only using her. Somehow he’d figured out that Doreen was special. She would give birth to the key that would open my world, that would allow me back into my kingdom.”

  “I’d heard you’d been banished somehow.” I’d heard whispers. I’d felt the ripple that went through all of the magical kingdoms when Wruin was brought back into our world. I hadn’t felt the slightest sympathy for him.

  “I was. Doreen found me in my cave when she was only a child. She grew up playing with me during her summer holidays from school. Eventually, she stopped being able to see me. Airitech, well, he used her. He had other women, and tried to cage her up when he found out he’d got her pregnant. She escaped, came to me, and I hid her and Thyra from him, until Doreen’s death. Now he wants back into Tir Na Nog. We have to stop him. He’ll destroy everything.”

  “We can exist as we are now, but I don’t think the modern world is ready for our kind.” I could picture wars as the human world tried to use the magical world for their own ends. I saw laboratories where fairies, shifters, and others of our kind were experimented on, used as weapons. No, that wouldn’t be good at all.

  “Not at all. I lived in it for a long time. Two hundred years ago we might have been able to form an alliance. Now? I don’t know, Endre. I don’t think the Earth would survive it.” He swiped a hand over his eyes, worry etched in every line around his eyes.

  He’d aged, both of us had, but neither of us looked beyond 35. We still had a long life to live, even with our mates speeding up our ageing process.

  “What do we do then?” I asked, my gaze distracted by the giant and his woman coming in.

  “We’ve got something. One of the trackers thinks she knows where they are.” Lothar came in, his feet shedding snow and dirt all over the floor. It would disappear in seconds, our natural magic cleaning up after us often.

  Abigail came into the kitchen where we were sitting and joined her mate.

  “You ready?” She asked, her face excited. She’d been human only a week before. Now she seemed to be confident in her abilities. I’m sure Wruin has helped her with that.

  She was half-wolf shifter, but she’d never shift. She only had the magic of the wolves, and whatever genetic traces of magic that her mother had carried. She was powerful, though, I could sense it.

  “I’m more than ready, let’s go.” I stood but Wruin put a hand on my shoulder.

  “We need a plan brother; we can’t just go storming in there. Abigail should go first.” He started but I didn’t let him finish.

  “I’ll go first, thank you, she’s my mate.”

  “Abigail will go first, Endre. She can handle it. I swear. You won’t believe what she can do.”

  “I can’t help but be doubtful, Wruin, she’s only half-shifter.” I stared at her dubiously but he just grinned.

  “Thank goodness or we’d all be fucked. My mate would be ruling the world with a flick of her finger. All of it.”

  I wasn’t sure what any of that meant but he was honest, even if he did destroy lives. I didn’t like hanging back, with only the giant Lothar and Holly behind me, but I did as Wruin suggested. Before he’d totally fucked me over he’d been a good leader, and a good brother. I couldn’t forget that now.

  We left the house and went out to where a portal was now open, one of the green fairies standing there, bouncing from foot to foot, anxiety making her pace beside the green and purple portal. The fairy was human sized, but every inch of her was green, from her eyes to her hair, right down to her toes. Her long hair was in pigtails that had been braided with the ends pinned
to her scalp. She looked comical, but somehow, still sexy.

  “Fern, we’re coming, calm down.” Abigail called out to the fairy. The fairy slumped in relief and her face broke into a grin. Even her teeth were green!

  I’ve seen fairies before, but never a green one. This one must be from some land I’ve never visited, I thought as we all took one final breath and looked at each other.

  “We’ll get her back.” Abigail said, her gray eyes zeroed in on mine. She was new to me but something about her calmed the dragon in me, and I felt some of my worry slip away. I shook my head in acknowledgement and she turned away.

  Abigail went first, a move I still found surprising even knowing she was going to do it. Wruin didn’t look worried at all as he waited for a second before he pushed through. He was right behind her then as she disappeared through the portal, both gone in an instant. We didn’t really have a plan, other than they were going first.

  I was prepared for anything, or so I thought. I shifted as I stepped through, my size shrinking immediately to fit my environment.

  I heard shouts of surprise, and watched as Abigail’s hands came out suddenly. A bright purple light flashed from the ceiling to crash down in a thunderous boom in the center of the ice cave I found myself in. Wruin had shifted into his dragon form, only scaled to the size needed for the room. I’d shifted in the blink of an eye, and my shifter heart burned with happiness as I let him loose to play violently with the wolf shifters now trying to escape the ice.

  Fire roared from my throat, a wave similar to napalm shooting out to singe the tail of one wolf shifter, as Abigail’s energy storm blew several out of the cave. Wruin spotted Airitech and tried to follow the fleeing wolf, but couldn’t turn in the cave. He was still too big.

  Abigail tried to blast her father with some kind of red energy, but only managed to stop the smaller black wolf on his heels. The heat started to make the ice melt around us as mayhem took over, and I scanned the cave, looking for Thyra but water kept dripping into my dragon eyes.

  I found myself facing off with a gray wolf, a large beast without fear in its eyes. He snarled and nipped at me, but I blasted him with fire and that was the end of him. He disappeared totally and I turned, trying to find Abigail. Had Airitech managed to get her out before we arrived? Had he harmed her?

  I’d know, surely I would know. I used my tail to whip four younger shifters away from Holly as she kicked out fiercely at a white female wolf that was launching herself at the woman. Lothar swung a giant sword at another female, but she turned tail and ran as I cleared out her compatriots. Wolves ran from the cave, their yips a communication to the others to get out while they could.

  I was about to turn to search for Abigail when I felt movement at the lower part of my back, just above my tail. Something was moving on me. I felt it move up my back, a she-wolf, trying to bite into the soft spot at the back of my neck with a vicious, shaking hold. I flexed my wings and flew into the ceiling, a move that stunned the wolf. I landed to see it was the black wolf that had tried to flee with Airitech.

  I shifted into my human form and put my foot to the wolf shifter’s throat. She rolled to her back, her eyes staring up at me with fear mixed with defiance. She knew not to expect any sympathy though; she was part of Airitech’s pack. They were all outcasts in our world.

  “Where is Thyra?” I growled at her, my boot pressing into her throat harder as she tried to slink away. “Stay still. Where is Thyra?”

  I knew I was being unreasonable but I could do little to stop it. Her gray eyes moved, to an area of the cave where a part of the ice hadn’t melted. It formed a wall and I went behind it to see Thyra there, bound and gagged.

  I magicked away her bonds and she ran to me, her legs wrapping around my waist as her arms went around my neck.

  “Endre! Thank goodness! What was all that noise? And the light, that light was brutal! I thought I’d go blind from it!” She was babbling as she covered my smooth face in kisses. I didn’t care, she was safe.

  “Let’s get you out of here.” I said, looking around to make sure it was safe to get back to the portal.

  Airitech was being tracked by the same green fairy, Lothar and Holly were with her, the black she-wolf was chained in another corner, and the rest of the pack had either escaped or were dead. I glanced at one of the still forms in a corner before I averted my eyes. There had been a time when killing another of our kind was punishable because there were so few of us left. Now we were so many a few lives didn’t matter. At least to Airitech, I still counted every life precious, even if they chose the wrong path. They could change.

  Not everyone had escaped with their lives, but the one that was most important to me had. I’d take that as a win.

  I saw Abigail and Wruin in his human shape once more and went to them, Thyra still wrapped around my waist. I was starting to wonder if she’d ever let me go again. I’d take that as a win too.

  “I’m taking her home. I need to put up more protection if they snatched her in the front of the house.” I didn’t ask what would be done with the captives. That was Wruin’s business.

  “Wait. Endre. That one you captured, the little female wolf. She’s...” Wruin stopped, and I turned to look at him. Abigail was crouched in front of the woman and I knew why the wolf was familiar now. She was a more delicate version of Wruin’s mate.

  “What the hell?” I asked, looking between them.

  “Abigail has a sister. A sister that wants to strangle her. Can you take her back with you?” Wruin implored me with his eyes; they had to take care of the others. “Send Taka and some men down here. We’ll sort the rest out.”

  “Sure, give me her chain.” I took the end of the silvery chain as Abigail handed it to me. The end was joined to a collar around the wolf shifter’s neck.

  It wasn’t silver, we weren’t purposely cruel, it just looked like silver. She followed behind me, sullen as I pulled her close so that we could go through the portal.

  I came out, Thyra still wrapped around me, shivering in my arms, the wolf on my heels. Taka was there, and I handed the wolf off to him. “Do something with her and then go find Wruin through the portal. He needs you.”

  I missed the stunned expression on Taka’s face or I’d have taken her myself.

  I put the evil version of Abigail out of my mind, and went to the house. Thyra needed my attention. The rest could fuck off.

  10

  Thyra

  My whole life my name has been mispronounced. Kids at school used to tease me about my thighs, using my name as the pun. I’d rolled my eyes a million times and walked away. Hearing Endre pronounce it, hearing him speak it so softly as he pulled a fur over me in the bed, was one of the sweetest things I’ve ever heard. I’d stopped shaking now, and clung to him out of content rather than fear now.

  I’d heard the screams, saw the light, and suspected it was him but I wasn’t sure. I’d just been terrified of being blown up by purple lights. Now I was safe again, and for the first time, I thought maybe staying put was a good idea. If men can just blink in and out and kidnap me, then being out in the world on my own wasn’t a good idea.

  “I don’t want you to stay out of fear though, Thyra.” He said against the top of my head, his hand on my leg where I’d thrown it over his hip.

  I leaned into his chest to inhale his scent, a smell that only Endre had, and kissed the skin there. “That’s it, though, Endre. I was leaving out of fear. I know I’ll be safe with you. Without you, I’d not only be alone, I’d be unhappy. I’d rather die happy and with you, than alone.”

  “I won’t let that happen.” He growled, pulling me closer.

  “I didn’t think you would.” I found his lips, silencing him for the moment.

  I was safe again, even if that bad guy was still out there.

  It was hard to believe I felt desire again so soon after escaping from that ice cave and being kidnapped but I did. I needed him again; I wanted to explore him this time and drive away th
at fear of mortality that had left me trembling for so long. Earlier today he’d focused on me, I’d barely touched him. I wanted to know how he felt, how he smelled, what he tasted like in all of his secret places.

  “Thyra, you should rest…” I stopped him before he could finish.

  “No, you let me worry about me, Endre, you worry about how you feel. Just you. You can worry about me, about Wruin, about Airitech later if you’d like to, but for now, it’s just us honey. Nothing else matters.” I ran a finger under the edge of his black shirt, revealing bare skin.

  His chest stopped moving as my finger went further, his eyes locked on mine. I glanced up and into his magical eyes. Our link was broken for now, I could not feel him, but I hoped I would feel him later, in my head and in me.

  I pushed my fingers up his shirt, and found his puckered nipple. Circling my finger around it I felt it grow tighter beneath my fingertip. I didn’t know men’s nipples were so sensitive.

  “Don’t you want this, Endre?” I asked, teasing him with my voice as he went to his back and I straddled him. “To feel my mouth here, hot and wet? Don’t you, Endre? Haven’t you dreamed of it the same as I have?”

  I spoke low, quiet, wanting to cast a spell over him.

  His eyes watched me now, my finger revealing his bare nipple to the night air. I saw his eyes widen and knew he wanted it to go further.

  “Yes. Touch me, Thyra, please. I can’t think of anything but you touching me.” I felt a surge of desire course through my body as he spoke, his hand coming up to pull my head down to his in a wet kiss.

  I pressed my lips to his, running my tongue over their soft plushness.

  Endre pulled away, gasping for air as he looked into my eyes.

  “You’re sure, you don’t want to sleep?” His words were a plea for permission to let himself go.