Nephilius - A Walker Saga Book 5

by Jaymin Eve

  I worked hard to keep all expression from my features. I didn’t need to invite these sort of questions right now. I must have been semi-successful because Colton removed his laser eyes from me.

  Lucy quickly detailed everything that had happened since we came to the forest. When she was about halfway through her story, a Walker doorway opened and out stepped my parents and the half-Walker girls. A wave of disappointment drowned me, although the smile remained on my features. The fake smile I’d learned to cultivate the past few weeks.

  I don’t know why I’d expected it to be Brace. I felt like he should be storming around like Colton, worried off his brain. Which won me moron-of-the-year; he didn’t remember me, and it was all my fault. If we’d still been melded and I’d disappeared like this, there was no doubt that right now I’d be cuffed to his bed, and he’d be debating whether to keep me prisoner for fifty or a hundred years.

  I was distracted as Lallielle and Josian engulfed me in huge hugs.

  “Don’t ever do that to us again,” my bear of a father scolded me. “When Colton lost sense of Lucy, and then no one could reach you mentally, I didn’t know what to think.”

  Half-Walkers had an inbuilt protection. No one could sense our energy, even though we were all pretty powerful. So this made it really difficult to keep tabs on us.

  “Sorry, once we were in, there was no going back, and I couldn’t trace or open a doorway. We were definitely stuck,” I said.

  All of the girls stepped forward to hug me too. I welcomed each one with their vastly different energy. All of the half-Walkers varied in power and looks.

  Fury had hot energy, and with her red skin and white hair she was a very dramatic contrast against the woodsy backdrop. Talina with her cool, watery power had emerald hair that wrapped around me during our hug. And last was Ria, stunningly beautiful and with an affinity for nature. Vines were emerging from the forest line to brush lovingly against her.

  As we finished up all of the hugging, Lucy summed up the last few details of our journey. Josian stepped around me and handed Colton a pair of pants. He must have brought them knowing the boy was going to be bare-assed in front of his in-laws. The blond Walker turned his back and dressed quickly, which allowed Lucy to step forward and introduce everyone to her newly discovered family.

  “Queen Malisna.” Josian clasped her hand briefly. “It’s been far too long. I feared the worst for your species when you disappeared.”

  It was clear that Josian and Malisna were well acquainted with each other.

  “We’re back now. Lucy told me about the Seventine, and in light of the bond between my daughter and yours, I offer the skills of the pixies to once again work with the Walkers.”

  Josian inclined his head respectfully, before he turned to where Cerberus was sitting by my side. The puppy was back to his horse height.

  “I don’t know what to say, Cerberus, how are you here?” His tone sounded reverent. “We thought you had forsaken our race.”

  “What are you talking about?” I asked, my nose crinkling at the intensity between Josian and Cerberus.

  “Cerberus is one of the sacred guides. Walkers have animal spirit guides, and they’re important in our lives and customs.” He straightened, his eyes finding the hound again. “There are seven different guides.”

  “Seven,” Fury said, mock astonishment written across her wide-eyed features. “Never would have guessed that.”

  I bit my lip to stop a grin.

  “Where are the others?” I asked.

  Josian waved his hand. “They’re scattered around the worlds. They often return to us during times of war. Maybe the others will also find you, Aribella.” He stared off into the forest for a moment.

  I saw his shoulders rolling, as if he was uncomfortable.

  Finally he caught my gaze again. “I’ll give you all the details of the other six another time. Right now you need to get moving to Nephilius.”

  “But you said we had two weeks,” Lucy protested. She’d moved back to her Walker; he’d become agitated when she was too far away from him.

  Colton’s broad shoulders were still bare, the corded muscles in his arms flexed as he held Lucy close. He couldn’t keep his hands off her, seemingly fascinated by her physical changes as he touched her wings and the glittery green on her skin. The simple act of being able to touch and scent her was calming him.

  “You’ve been missing for twelve days,” Colton murmured, his voice low and rough. “You’re lucky I managed to stay sane and control my wolf. I just wouldn’t accept you were gone; I’ll never accept it.”

  Lucy tightened her arms around him, and even though he was twice her size and four times her weight, it looked as if she was holding him together.

  Damn, twelve days! Once again time moved differently on every world and apparently even within portals of worlds. And we needed to get to Nephilius before the tournament started. I couldn’t lose my legitimate excuse to be wandering around; I had to find the half-Walker.

  “Lucy, you need to stay and learn about your pixie abilities,” Malisna protested.

  My oldest friend shook her head. “Sorry, end of the world and all that junk. Abbs and I just don’t have time. You noticed how we didn’t have a clue that there were Walker animals. Well, that’s just one of a million other things we still need to learn, and we’ve known about Walkers for months now. We learn the hard way.”

  Malisna locked me in her gaze. “Give me just one day with her. Maybe we can get to the bottom of these planted visions and strengthen her mind enough to prevent any further deception.”

  I hesitated. I didn’t trust the pixie queen, but it was clear Malisna was not ready to give up this precious time with Lucy, and who could blame her? And it was pretty important to figure out Lucy’s visions, since we continued to base our decisions on them.

  “So what will happen to pixie land now?” I asked while I considered. “The portal is gone.”

  “Now that the spell on the portal has been broken, our world will slowly seep back into First World,” Malisna said, sweeping her arms. “This forest used to be home to many of us fey, both greater and lesser.”

  I guessed goblins and such were considered lesser.

  “It seems as if in our absence the land has grown wild, but we will tame it to our will again.”

  I had no doubt they would.

  Her serious flower eyes locked on me. “I really do need time with my daughter. Just one day.”

  Finally I nodded. “One day,” I said, before leveling a glare at her. “But if I hear any more shit like the chest-stabbing incident, I will hunt your pixie ass down.”

  “What?” Colton’s voice was a growl. He started to shift the collar of Lucy’s shirt in an attempt to see her chest.

  She stilled his hand. “I’m okay; I’ll explain everything to you later.”

  I locked eyes with Colton and raised one of my eyebrows. He gave me a succinct nod in return. He’d keep a close watch of Malisna for me.

  I spoke again. “Alright, I’ll head back to Angelisian. Colt can stay here and bring Lucy across. I can’t give you more time. We have to gather the half-Walkers –”

  “The worlds depend on it,” chorused Fury, Talina and Ria, their voices blending together.

  I snorted. Okay, maybe I was a bit of a broken record lately.

  Josian opened a doorway while I hurried over to hug Lucy.

  “Stay safe and call for me if you get into any trouble,” I said as I pulled back from her.

  I hated to leave her behind, but I knew Colton would not let her out of his sight. And I could trust him to fight to the death to keep her safe.

  “I’ll see you soon,” Lucy promised.

  Cerberus followed me as we entered the short-length doorway taking us back to the beach in Angelisian. And I have to admit, it felt right having him around. We had bonded, the connection between us real and important. I sensed that it was actually very important.

  I was at the back of the
group, behind my parents and the half-Walker girls, so I didn’t see him straight away as I exited the Walker doorway. But the jolt of awareness, from deep in my soul, stopped me dead in my tracks.

  Brace.

  He was leaning against the railing of our big front porch, in that sexy but casual pose he had down pat. His Walker marks framed his perfect features and when I managed to move my gaze past his face I realized that he held a huge bunch of flowers. Not just any old flowers, but what looked like twenty colorful varieties, stylishly thrown together in a bouquet. I could smell the sweetness from where I stood. A lump immediately formed in my throat; I stepped closer.

  “Are you okay?” Josian asked me in a low voice. “Do you want me to run interference?”

  I shook my head.

  Lallielle laughed then, before proceeding to drag her mate away. “Stop being so overprotective. Let Aribella have a few moments with Brace.”

  She was matchmaking. I’d have thought it funny if it wasn’t so heart breaking.

  Everyone else faded off to do other things, leaving me alone with Brace. There were no witnesses and no Lucy around now to stop me from throwing myself into his arms and reforming the bond. All I had was my own strength and conviction to hold me back.

  The worlds were screwed.

  He straightened then, and my ability to breathe fled, along with all the feeling in my lower limbs.

  “I’m glad that you’re alright, Abby.”

  His deep voice washed over me, all the way down to my toes. My body reacted. It knew him intimately and was conditioned to respond to him. Heat flooded through me and I almost whimpered at how hard it was to keep my distance.

  “Abby?” Questioning entered his voice.

  God damn I missed hearing him say Red, but at least he’d stopped with the Aribella, like we were strangers.

  “Lucy and I were stuck in pixie land,” I finally blurted out, trying not to sound like a love-sick lunatic.

  He moved closer again, the smell of flowers mingling with the spicy cinnamon scent of Brace. He was just like a donut, only hotter and non-fattening.

  “I kind of figured after Colt broke his chains and knocked me out cold.” He rubbed his chin. “You should have called me for help; I’m always here if you need anything.”

  I couldn’t halt my smile. This calm, reserved Walker was so unlike the bulldozer he’d been as my mate. And in that moment I realized something. Maybe it was the look in his eye or the slight tremble of his hands: Brace was nervous.

  But nervous or not, it didn’t stop him taking the final steps right up to me. And extending his long arms for me to take the flowers. I accepted them. The bunch was surprisingly solid.

  “I wanted to get you something,” he said, the faintest smile crossing his full lips. “I’ve been worried about you.”

  Oh, my.

  Be still, my trembling heart.

  Brace was courting me.

  And he was going to smash me into a million pieces if he didn’t stop. I took a step back to give myself some room, and to break the tension between us.

  Suddenly his dark eyes flicked up and away from my face. “Is that Cerberus?” He took a step toward the beach. “What the hell? I can’t believe … how is he back?” His eyes were wide. “He’s an old friend of mine.”

  I turned, a smile curving my lips when I saw my new buddy frolicking in the edge of the sea, his heads bouncing around as he swam. Talina and Ladre were close by, which wasn’t strange. Ladre rarely left the ocean.

  “Yes, he was trapped in pixie land,” I started to say.

  Brace gave me a brief grin, one hand resting warmly on my arm for a few intense seconds. “Hold on a moment.”

  And then he was off. He dashed right up to the big black beast and threw his arms around him. Cerberus gave some happy barks and I wondered if he was one of those animal friends Brace had told me about a long time ago. I didn’t take my eyes off them, my gaze locked like glue.

  “You care about him, don’t you?”

  I spun my head to find Ria beside me.

  “I recognize that look,” she continued. “There was someone that I once looked at the same way.”

  Was she talking about one of the beasts? Because I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. She noticed my expression and grinned. “He was humanoid, like us, appearing during my vision quests. One day he just stopped.”

  Her voice was low, hurt lacing each word.

  “You never found out who he was?” I grasped her hand briefly, squeezing it.

  She shook out her chestnut hair. “No.”

  We stood silently, until Brace started to make his way back to me.

  “I’ll see you inside, Abbs.” Ria left me then. I watched her for an extra moment, before Brace reached my side and distracted me.

  “Sorry about that,” he said. “I thought he’d been lost like my sister and mother. I’ve missed him.”

  It was amazing the life he’d lived, and I wondered if Cerberus had formed such a bond with me because of our mutual ties to Brace. Or if it was as Josian said: we needed to find the animals because of the impending war.

  “Tell me what else happened in pixie land,” Brace said.

  And then, before I could stop myself, I ended up sitting on the grass, Brace next to me. I filled him in on everything that had happened. He was just so easy to talk to, and I missed sharing my life with him. Losing a loved one is not just the loss of their physical being, it’s also losing all the little moments. And knowing there won’t be any new memories. No new fragments of joy that make life worth living. Because let’s face it, there’s not much to get you through each day if you’re alone.

  While we spoke the flowers had spilled out half on my lap and half on the ground in front of me. I never took my hands off them and Brace never took his eyes off me.

  “So Colton said you needed me to fight on Nephilius.” He switched to a new topic after we’d exhausted pixie land. “Just like old times, finding the half-Walker females.”

  It was strange the way Brace remembered the worlds and our journey through each one, but only bits and pieces. The lalunas seemed to have taken certain memories, and then it was as if his mind just kind of glossed over these gaps and joined everything together.

  “Is going to Nephilius going to be a problem with your new princeps’ duties?” I sat up straighter, waiting for his answer. I couldn’t stop thinking about him going back to the Abernath world and Magenta.

  He grinned, the flash of white pearly teeth tantalizing. “Things are running as smoothly as I could hope, for now anyway. I’m looking forward to the distraction.”

  “I just hope it’s not too hard to find the half-Walker.” I brought my knees up higher so I could rest my elbows on them. Flowers scattered further. “And that you don’t get hurt, of course.” I shifted my eyes to the side.

  He grinned even wider. “I’m not worried.”

  At least his confidence hadn’t gone anywhere.

  “So, since we can’t leave until tomorrow, I was wondering …”

  I faced him as he trailed off.

  “Well, maybe, you’d like to have dinner with me tonight?”

  I coughed. “Like … a date?”

  He laughed. “Well, that’s very Earthling of you, but yes, that’s the general idea.”

  I opened my mouth to refuse. It wasn’t a good idea; he already owned my heart and soul. Spending too much time with him was going to end in trouble. But then I saw the worry in his eyes, the slight thought that maybe I didn’t want to go on a date with him, when there was nothing else in the world I wanted more. I couldn’t hurt Brace again. My heart was still raw from breaking the bond and I would never forget the anguish in his voice when he’d realized what I had done and that there was nothing he could do to fix it. I’d go on this date and I’d take the dual joy and agony of being near him. It was my duty to ensure that no more pain befell Brace.

  “I’d love to go to dinner with you.” I let the quiet words free. And
the satisfied joy in his gaze was more than reward for my pain.

  “I’ll be back at nightfall,” he said, getting to his feet. He hesitated before leaning over and laying his lips briefly against my cheek.

  I almost gasped, or screamed or cried. But thankfully I did none of those things. Instead I smiled and nodded. Brace left via a doorway.

  I continued to sit there, staring down at my flowers, trying to scrape together the pieces of my heart.

  Two huge heads dropped into my lap. Cerberus surrounded me in warmth and slobber. Like so many things in the Walker world, his scary and brutal outside hid the center of a softy.

  With a sigh, I knew it was time to head inside. I needed to store my pixie book until I could find someone to translate it, and I needed to get ready.

  “Come on,” I said to Cerberus. “You can help me choose an outfit.”

  There was no way I was going on a date with the man of my dreams and not looking as hot as possible. No way.

  Chapter 7

  The nerves were attacking me as I waited patiently in the white room. And by patiently I mean I’d chewed my nails off, stubbed my toe due to excessive stomping around the room, scared Cerberus off with my cursing, and had to run upstairs to change my outfit eight times.

  Finally the sun started to sink in the indigo sky of First World. I took a deep breath, smoothing my palms down the front of my jeans. I’d decided against a dress, not knowing where we would be going that night.

  Instead I wore tight fitted black jeans tucked into ankle-high black heels. I had on an emerald green top. It was low cut across my breasts, displaying my visible marks. My blood-red curls hung freely down my back, and the only jewelry I wore was my locket and the emerald earrings Lucy had given me for my eighteenth birthday.

  I had no bag, because I had no need for one. There was no identification I needed besides my Walker marks, and they were always there.