by L. M. French
I wasn’t sure of the bro code for wolves fighting hounds, but I felt like my grievance outweighed Phin’s. Trulio, idiot that he was, lunged with his smaller frame for Phin’s much larger wolf.
Phin checked him and Trulio was thrown sideways. Before he could rise, I fired a round into his flank. Phin froze and I heard Emerick cursing as he saw that I was no longer waiting obediently.
Trulio whined and growled as he hobbled on his one good leg. I kept the gun aimed at him. “Shift back.”
He growled menacingly, apparently not a fan of that idea. It was the attitude, really. I fired another shot and grazed his shoulder infuriating the wolf. He charged at me awkwardly, but Phin was in front of me before I could line up another shot. Trulio skidded lamely as his back leg was unable to maintain his weight.
I felt Emerick stop next to me but I didn’t spare him a glance. No, I had something to finish here. I mediated for a lot of different groups but not the vamps or hounds. While this made me a little indifferent to their politics and disputes it also means I’d never done anything to earn the hate from them like witches, wolves or halfling communities.
I’d considered Trulio a friend and he’d tried to eat me. Literally and possibly figuratively. I wanted to kick him in the balls.
“Shift back or I’ll shoot you again. These are silver, I could get lucky and the next one will kill you.” I kept the gun up. Phin sat back and leaned his heavy body against me. I decided this was a show of solidarity and tucked my left hand into his scruff.
Trulio groaned as his hound gave way to his human form. He lay there on his belly, shoulder oozing and leg bleeding. He lifted his head and speared me with angry look.
I snorted. “Buddy, if you think that look phases me, you don’t know Bay.”
Emerick leaned in. “Buddy?”
I flushed then remembered I was pissed off and glared at him.
Jericho trotted into view behind Trulio and slowed evidently getting the gist of the situation. He stopped and shifted where he stood, his orange-gold body giving way to ebony skin.
“The rest fled through the barrier. Is he all that’s left?” He smirked down at Trulio.
Bay’s midnight wolf circled around coming to stand on my other side. He was big in this form too, his body stocky and tall enough to reach my shoulder. Trulio tried to hold his head up but one long menacing growl from Bay made him drop his eyes.
“Go ahead, baby girl. You don’t kill me he will.” Trulio’s eyes were on the ground but his tone was far from subservient. Bay heard it and rumbled some more.
“I shot you for being an asshole in the pawn shop. I’m not shooting you now because I have questions.” I lowered the gun. He couldn’t fight off this many wolves if he wanted to. “Ivory trying to kill me is not a surprise. But treason? How is he justifying that?”
One breath to the next and Bay was on two feet. Gripping my arm, he frog marched me away. “Restrain him.” He tossed over his shoulder at Ozias who shook his head but started towards Trulio.
“What the hell is your problem now-oomph-” My back collided with the rock walls of the pass and a very pissed off Bay pinned me there with his hands braced on either side of my head.
“You didn’t think to mention Ivory was accusing you of treason?” his jaw ticked as fury rolled off him.
He could not be serious. “You cannot be serious, Ivory’s been trying to kill me for years,” I spat. “He’s just trying to do it without Sai killing him.”
Bay pressed in. “It’s a death sentence, Veda. In more ways than one. They’d use a snake-eater on you.” And any lie could kill you.
The words hung between us, but I was so shocked by the sound of my name coming out of his mouth I almost didn’t comprehend the rest of what he said. When I did my eyes slid to the side. I tried to breathe normally but I could feel my heart pick up. I was trapped between a little rock and a definite hard space. A naked hard space.
“Veda.” The word hummed between us. It was a question, excuse me, a demand.
I shut my eyes and took slow breaths. Really, how else could this go wrong?
“Ivory already kidnapped me once-”
Bay grabbed my chin and lifted my face to his. “I know that part, skip to the part I don’t know.”
I swallowed. “He and Vaughn had brought a snake eater with them. Whatever Ivory thinks I did he believes it, or he thinks he can make others believe it.”
His face hovered over mine our foreheads touching. “How did you get away?”
My mind drifted back to the Moths bite, the pain, the fire that burned me from the inside out. That burned Moth from the inside out. “I don’t know.”
His hand slid down my neck to the collar of my shirt. I grabbed his wrist, but it didn’t slow him as he peeled the collar away from my neck. I knew the marks were there, I didn’t heal as fast or as completely as them. I could scar from injuries and Moths fangs had been vicious.
He ran his finger across the mark “What are you, Sentinel?”
Sai trusted him above almost all others. That’s the only excuse I have for my answer. “I don’t know that either.”
He sighed and dropped his head against mine. “I have to find Sailas. Time is running out.”
I nodded gently. He had to find Sailas. He didn’t have time to keep saving me.
I whispered softly; our face’s close. I told him of the old woman in my vision that was with Sailas and of seeing Sai at Callio Lake and his warning to stay away. I didn’t tell him about the mystery woman and her crazy message. That was for me. He needed to find Sai. I needed to get out of the way.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Veda
We crossed the barrier with no more issues. Trulio claimed he was out of the loop on Ivory’s witch-hunt, pun intended, so the Daenali took custody of him for questioning until such time he could be dealt with by Sai.
Emerick and Jericho were in charge of transporting Trulio. Ozias, Phin and Bay took me back to Sai’s estate where I would be “safe and out of the way”. I didn’t bother telling them I could get there faster with a gate. They wouldn’t have listened, and it would only have dragged out an already long ass day.
The SUV pulled into the gates and rolled down the driveway. I reached for the door handle as soon as I could without having to tuck and roll out of the car. I’d no sooner stepped out than Pike and four Daenali wolves surrounded me.
Pike’s face was stony, and the guards seemed all business.
“Veda.” Bay’s voice. Probably not going to apologize for proving how big an idiot I was for putting myself in the position. Never ever trust anyone that isn’t Sai. When you do you end up under full guard under suspicion of being... something. Something different. Something other.
I moved towards Pike ready to get on with it. They could guard me all they wanted but I was a sentinel and even half a sentinel could find a door.
“Sentinel.” Phin’s voice stopped me in my tracks. Seriously?
I turned and threw my hands out. See? I could ask questions without speaking too.
Phin came in close and bent his head to look in my eyes. I waited for words, some explanation or, I don’t know, an apology.
Just when I was going to give up and use actual words, he grabbed my hand and lifted it to the back of his neck before cupping his other hand around my nape. He dropped his forehead against mine. “Dhara.” His words were soft, barely above a whisper.
He pulled back and I couldn’t hold it in. “You know I have no idea what that means, right?”
And just to take this whole experience to the next level, he pressed a kiss to my forehead. He moved away and Bay took his place. I was half nervous this was going to get weirder, but his eyes were shuttered. Guy literally couldn’t give an inch.
“Until we have answers this is best for everyone. Especially you.”
Face tight, I nodded. “Right.” I turned made my way inside the estate. The guards followed but Pike stayed behind with Bay and the others. I’
d visited many times but had never stayed more than a night. Figuring a guest room was a guest room I headed for the stairs.
A hand on my arm stopped me. “There’s a room ready for you on the downstairs.” The wolf had a baby face and knew it. His smile said, you wouldn’t give a nice guy a hard time, would you?
My eyebrows went up. Bet. “You mean the basement.”
He was good. Turned up the wattage on his smile to full dimples. “It’s nicer than it sounds.”
I scrunched my nose. “I’m sure it is. But I have a room upstairs.”
“Downstairs would be more secure. In case of a breach.” He gestured behind him.
We marched en masse down a set of stairs off the kitchen. He did not lie. The room opened to another living area with a pair of overstuffed couches and a television on one side and a full kitchen on the other. A hallway stretched out in front of me and I assumed my “room” was there.
Dimples waved a hand down the hall. “There’s a master bedroom, only door on the right. We’ll hang out here. You can just let us know if you need anything.”
I was nodding again so I turned and made my way down the hall. A shower was top priority, followed closely by food and then a door. I moved through the second door on the right and felt nothing. Not that I expected to, I can sense doors and there wasn’t one on this floor.
The bed called to me like a luxurious siren, but the smell of blood and sweat and other things clung to me, and it would be a crime to lay on any bed in the condition I was in. I could smell myself.
The bathroom wasn’t a bathroom, it was a wet room. Twice as big as my bathroom at home, and my bathroom didn’t suck by any measure. But this was, well, fit for a king. The walls resembled sea glass and stood out against the white porcelain tub. I turned towards the mirrored wall and immediately realized my mistake. Nothing was good there.
I stripped off my clothes and discovered the critical flaw in my plans. No clothes. Instead of dressing in the ruined articles I went against my nature and resolved to sort that problem after I smelled better. Towels were already set out, so I opened the glass partition and switched on the overhead shower.
My thoughts swirled through my head like the water around my feet. Phin survived whatever had happened. Whatever I’d done. Sai was still missing. Ivory was still being Ivory.
On autopilot, I washed the shampoo from my hair and the soap from my body. Exhaustion made each task more tedious than the last. As soon as I was as clean as this modern marvel could make me, I shut off the water.
When I stepped from the shower, I could barely keep my eyes open and the room spun a little. Securing an extra-large towel around my body, I made my way slowly into the bedroom and crawled gingerly onto the mattress. I just needed to recharge so I could figure out my next step.
I blinked and the darkness took me.
UNLIKE THE POTION EPISODE, I knew as soon as I opened my eyes I was dreaming. I walked on a floor that was not a floor but a sea of stars beneath my feet in a room that was cavernous but otherwise empty. I was not alone. In the center of the floor that was not a floor was a female sitting with her back to me.
My feet were bare, but my dream had been kind enough conjured up a tee-shirt and loose pants. I came to stand in front of where she sat and lowered myself down to sit with my legs crossed in front of her.
Her eyes were centered on a light that seemed to hover just above the ground between us. The light glowed brighter, its color changing to a burning orange like a mini sun as I watched.
I looked up at the mystery woman and found her eyes on mine. They were a shade of hazel that was neither green nor brown. She smiled as if we were friends and this was a welcome visit.
“What is it?” I gestured towards the orb light thingy.
“What do you want it to be?”
Frankly? A cheeseburger. My hunger had followed me into my dream and no amount of curiosity was going to thwart hangry.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breathe through my nose. “Okay let’s try an easier question. Who are you?”
“Myra.”
My eyes popped open. “Myra?” I parroted.
She’d actually given me a name. Of course, there was a fifty-fifty shot she was a figment of my imagination. “What are we doing here, Myra?”
Her braids were pulled back from her face and the light highlighted her cheekbones and made her eyes glimmer. “I wanted to give you something to help you.”
“Help me with what? Getting killed by my brother or getting skewered and eaten by scorpions?” The sarcasm was unavoidable. I mean my ‘situations’ were unraveling so fast it was laughable.
She chuckled and it was an earthy sound. “You do seem to have a lot going on. Maybe we should call it a gift. For your myriad.”
Myriad was a fancy way of saying I was born a little over twenty-seven years ago. The equivalent of ten thousand days of existence. “Do you know what I am?”
She arched a brow. “Do you?”
She wanted to see my mean face. “How ‘bout you tell me?”
“You feel it,” She indicated the orb then touched her chest, “right here.”
Warmth had stirred to life with my anger. That she seemed to know more about it than me fanned it brighter. “Either tell me something useful or get the hell out of my dream.”
“The time is coming for-” the second I heard her ‘prophecy’ voice I popped off the ground.
“Nope, not doing it. You can tell me what I am. You can tell me where Sai is, but we are not playing ‘riddle me this’ again. I’m done.”
I marched around her and her stupid little ball of sunshine and headed for the exit. The proverbial exit because this place didn’t seem to have a door.
Myra spun around and stood facing me. “Yours is a force of destruction or didn’t you notice?” She’d dropped the tone in favor of attitude.
That was fine with me. Attitude I could work with. “What the hell would you know about it?”
“I know you’ve killed two creatures and almost a third in the last thirty hours.”
She made that sound so premeditated. “Moth and Vaughn attacked me. And Phin is very much alive.”
“Until when?” she countered.
I wanted to tell her to fuck off and wake up to a buffet. It wasn’t fair, I wasn’t trying to kill anyone. It just kept happening. “So fine. You clearly know something I don’t. Want to share since you brought me here.”
Her eyebrows scrunched. “I didn’t call to you, Veda. You called to me.”
“Bullshit. I’ve only ever dreamed with one other person and he invited himself along.”
“Sailas.”
“What do you know about Sai? You were following him when I first saw you.”
“You sure it was him I was following?” It sure as hell wasn’t me which left the older woman Sai visited. “Who is she?”
“Someone I used to know.” Her tone said she didn’t want to talk about this and normally I would be all about boundaries, but I didn’t have that luxury. My existence was in question and Sai was still MIA.
“So, it’s just a coincidence my king goes missing and you’re the only one following him with knowledge of who he is?”
“It’s true I know about Sailas, most of us beings do. But I told you I wasn’t following him. I told you I want to help you.”
“And how can you help me?” I threw my hands out. “With anything that is happening right now. Cause I think your bluffing. I don’t think you know much more than I do.”
“I know someone who does. He’s like Sailas, powerful, and he knows much about your kind. What they are, what they can do, what you can do. He wants to help you too.”
“So, where is he?”
She reached into her skirt pocket and pulled out a familiar looking stone. “Take this and he will be waiting. You’ll have all your answers, Veda.”
The Travelers stone sat in her palm glowing softly. “Why is it glowing?”
“Ask him when you
see him.” She countered.
I didn’t trust her, but I needed answers. The stone would take me to another dreamscape that would be no more dangerous to me than this one.
Apparently, I was doing this. I reached for the stone and as my fingers brushed it, she closed her hand around mine.
My eyes shot to hers as I pulled on her grip. “Travelers stones are one way, one seat. What the hell are you doing?”
“Protecting you from yourself.”
Well, wasn’t that a familiar theme.
Light burned its way through our clasped palms. I pulled harder but it was as if we were cemented together. Her center and mine burned like the little orb and I realized we were mirror images of each other. What was happening to me was happening to her.
“What did you do?”
She wrenched me close with impressive strength and pressed her mouth to mine. I braced against her and tried to pull away.
Worst first date. Ever.
Something inside me began to tear free and I screamed into her mouth.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Veda
I was in a soaked bed. Again. Phin was braced above me on his hands and knees while Bay and Pike stood on either side of the bed with basins hanging from their hands. Water dripped in my eyes from Phin’s hair and he grinned before shaking his head back and forth like a mutt.
I shrieked, giggling madly as water sprayed everywhere. He trapped me with his arms making sure he got me with every shake of his head. Pulling back, he laughed as he reached down and wiped the some of the moisture from my eyes.
“You two about finished?” The wry question came from Bay and served to break the moment I found myself in.
Phin winked and slid back on his heels surveying the bed. “Not my best work but it’ll do.”
Pike snickered and I could feel the blood rush to my face. He did not say that.
The male grins and taunts being tossed around told me otherwise. It was this moment I realized I was still wearing the towel from my shower. Well, some of it anyway. The rest appeared to be somewhat singed. What the...? “Was I on fire?”