by Maia Dylan
“Neve, I—” Liam said, and there was no mistaking the turmoil in his voice.
“Despite what you must think of me, I am capable of not only looking after myself but defending and protecting my friends.” Neve spoke softly, her eyes returning to normal. Ryan’s wolf growled within him, unhappy that this usually bright and happy woman had deflated before them.
“Sisters,” Casey said as she stepped forward to stand just behind Neve’s left shoulder.
“We are more than friends.” Ariana moved to stand to Neve’s right, effectively flanking her. “We are sisters, bound together by this prophecy, and by the goddess Olwen bestowing upon us the power to manipulate elements. We may be women, Liam, but we are warriors. And we will fight to defend ourselves and our realm from Aeron and his demonic idea of ruling over all of us that live here. We have been destined by the Fates to men who will help us on this quest, and for some reason, you have also been tasked with helping us. But, and this is a pretty big but, if you don’t think the same way we do, or if you believe that we are not cable of doing what must be done, then just fucking leave. We’ll do it without you.
“Go now, and don’t look back. We are going up to the Pagan Stone in just under two weeks, and we will face whatever that prick throws at us. I will bleed as it is prophesized that I do in order to solve this portion of the prophecy, and at the end of the day, we will walk away victorious. As we have done the last two times we have faced this demon. We cannot win if there is even a sliver of doubt among us. It is clear that you believe that Neve is not your mate, and that’s not anything we can change. If you cannot fight beside us and trust that we will win, then don’t come with us on the December solstice. We don’t need you.”
With that, the women gathered closer around Neve and herded her gently into the house. Ryan and his brothers stayed outside, staring at the bear shifter, who stood watching the women walk back into the house. Ryan recognized that look. It was filled with a longing and yearning that could drop a man to his knees. It was a look Ryan had worn a lot before he and Ariana had managed to find their way to each other through the what-ifs and would-be-betters.
“Damn, boy,” Travis said with a grimace. “Your ass must be jealous as hell of all the shit that just came out of your mouth.”
Liam’s head dropped forward, and his shoulders slumped. The man was the perfect picture of defeat. Liam pressed the heel of his hand against his chest as if rubbing a pain away. Ryan guessed it would take more than that to ease the ache.
“I didn’t mean it the way it sounded,” Liam murmured. “I guess I was still running on adrenalin. If she had made contact with these stairs, she could have really hurt herself. And damn it! She was shot! Twice!” He took a deep breath, squared his shoulders, and raised his gaze to meet Ryan’s. “I still have a job?”
“Cut that shit out,” Ryan snapped. “I don’t know that the fuck is going on with you and Neve or anything, and to be honest, I have enough on my plate, worrying about keeping my own goddamn mate alive and well, to be worrying about your shit. Yes, you still have a job, dumbass!”
“I know what it is like to have a woman you care about hurt,” Micah added with steel in his tone. “The day I met my Casey, she was in the bottom of a creek bed, with two gunshot wounds to her side, slowly bleeding out. These women are warriors, chosen to carry an enormous burden on a dangerous journey, and they might get hurt. We do everything in our power to prevent it, but shit happens. You just gotta get over it. Not to mention you had better be ready to fight on the twenty-second of December. We will need everything we have to beat this fucker again, and do it without losing Ariana, because that is not a fucking option.”
Liam’s eye’s flashed, and Ryan saw the spirit of his bear just below the surface. “You better fucking believe I’ll be there. I may have said some things this afternoon that were, well, fucked-up, and I deeply regret them, but I won’t turn my back on my friends. Not ever.”
A moment of silence passed between the men, and Ryan felt like a pact had been made. A vow that each of them would stand and fight for each other and the woman currently in his lounge, no doubt planning the vivisection of his deputy.
“So,” Cole asked a moment later, with an innocent look on his face that Ryan knew meant he was about to say something that was anything but, “I guess we get ready to lay another Elemental smackdown on Aeron’s ass! You reckon our mate will fry that bastard again, Trav?”
Travis’s shit-eating grin told him that this was a setup, and Ryan waited for the punch line. His twin brothers were never without a witty retort or comeback line. Ryan often wondered if the two of them set these things up beforehand and simply waited for the opportunity to say it.
“Does a bear shit in the woods?” Travis asked, his grin spreading.
“I don’t know. Ask Liam,” Cole answered with the world’s largest grin.
* * * *
Despite the warmth in the house, Neve shivered. She had always shied away from confrontation. It always left her feeling shaky. And this time was no different. Hearing Liam tell her that he basically didn’t think she had the strength or the ability to help the Elementals in their quest to save the earth hurt. To be honest, it hurt like hell.
“What a douche,” Fiona muttered as she placed the hot cup of tea in front of her, then sat down on one of the armchairs across from her. They were sitting in Ryan’s lounge. Neve had been hustled to the couch to sit between Casey and Ariana, and Fiona had gone straight to the kitchen to make tea. Neve leaned forward to take the cup from the table, ignoring how shaky the cup became as soon as she lifted it to bring it to her lips. Sipping the overly sweet tea, she grimaced.
“Jesus, Fi,” she coughed. “How much sugar did you put in this?”
“About four spoonfuls. Why?” Fiona frowned. “You looked like you were in shock! I figured you might need a little glucose.”
“A little glucose would have been fine, Fi. But I think that qualifies for the title of shitload instead of little. Don’t drink that, Neve.” Casey winced as she took the cup from Neve and put it gently back on the table. “We want you to feel better, not fall into a diabetic coma.”
All four of them laughed, and Neve took a deep breath, leaning her head against the back of the couch. Everything was just so damn confusing. She had come here believing with everything within her that she was walking into her future. When she had first met Ariana, Casey, and Fiona, that thought had solidified. When she caught sight of Liam, she had recognized him immediately as her dream bear.
But he wasn’t. Her bear loved her. Her bear would have crawled across broken glass on his knees rather than say anything that would hurt her like Liam just had. Jesus, was it too much to ask for her to have people in her life that had a little faith in her ability?
“You know he was talking from a place of fear and concern, though, right?” Ariana asked pointedly from beside her. Neve turned her head to look at her and figured her confusion must have been clear on her face, as she clarified. “Although I agree with Fiona that what he said makes him a total douche of epic proportions, I saw the look on his face when he thought you were going to fall. He was scared, Neve.”
Fiona leaned toward her, and Neve turned to look at her. “And although I stand by my douche assessment of his actions just now, I remember the way he looked when he came across you on that ridge. You didn’t see him because you had gone all kick-ass Wicca with the power to drown anyone who fucks with you, and were right in the middle of bringing the rain. But I saw the look on his face when you flamed out. He was beyond scared. He was absolutely fucking terrified. Then, he refused any offer to help carry you back to the house. I don’t know what the hell is going on with him. But what I do know is that you definitely mean something to him. You just have to help him understand and see exactly what that is. Well, only if you want to, of course.”
Neve sat there for a few moments staring at Fiona. What she said resonated with what she remembered happening up on that ridge
for sure. But she had been afraid that she might have imagined his concern.
Huffing out a huge gust of air, Neve dropped her head into her hands with a groan. “This just confuses me more.” With a dramatic groan, she threw her hands in the air. “Well, what the hell am I supposed to do with that now? After that brain explosion from Liam outside just now, I want to hate him. I want to be able to forget he exists, head to the nearest bar, get my groove on, and fuck the first man who shows any interest in me just to forget him.”
“Is that really what you want to do?” Casey asked gently. “If it is, then we will come with you, help you on the road to drunken oblivion. Then we will make sure the lucky guy isn’t some crazy axe-wielding rapist with a penchant for cutting off the nipples of the women he’s raped, killed, and left at the side of the road.”
Neve stared at Casey in horror. “Well, not anymore! Jesus, Casey.”
Casey blew on her nails and buffed them against her shoulder. “Then my work here is done.”
All four of them laughed, and Neve felt marginally better. She was going to have to think a little more about Liam, but that could wait. Right now, she needed to think about this next battle and try to solve the puzzle within the riddle that would let them all walk away from the Pagan Stone on the night of the December solstice.
If Liam turned up to fight with them, and Neve wasn’t an idiot, so she hoped he did, because they would need all the deadly force they could muster, then she would just have to grin and bear it—pun intended.
Chapter 8
Air is third when the Autumn leaves fall
The power of blood could win or lose all
A champion must rise and bring forth a shift
To hold them in light and close off the rift
Ariana sighed as she read through the prophecy for what could quite possibly have been the billionth time. Nothing jumped out, just as nothing had in all the years she had been preparing for her portion of the prophecy to start. She glanced at the clock across the room and winced when she saw it read 12:23 a.m. And it started today.
Turning off her tablet and placing it on the bedside table, she snuggled back under the thick winter blankets of Ryan’s bed and curled herself into his side. She wasn’t surprised when he turned and pulled her tighter against him. They had both left her parents’ house, where they had been going over the plan for the next day, telling the others they needed to rest before the madness of the day ahead of them. But the truth was they just needed to be alone.
When they had left, her mum and dad walked them out to the car. It had started to snow a little, and Ariana had told them to stay inside in the warm, but neither of them would hear of it. Before Ariana could climb into the car, Maggie pulled her into her arms.
“You have to know, your dad and I are so very proud of you,” Maggie spoke softly as she squeezed her a little tighter. Ariana nodded, fighting the tears that she felt building. Maggie let her go, pressing a kiss to Ariana’s cold cheek, and turned her so that Ariana faced her father.
Kingi reached out with both hands to cup her face, something he had done since she was a child. He stared into her eyes for a long moment, then smiled as he placed his forehead against hers. “Ka mahi te tawa, uho ki te riri. Ko nui taku aroha, pepi.”
Kingi moved back, then pressed a kiss to her forehead. Ariana closed her eyes against the sudden sting of tears when she felt him tremble against her before he walked away, not into the house but around back. Ariana looked to her mother, who watched as her husband never looked back.
“He’ll be okay, baby. He just wants so badly to protect all of you.” Maggie turned to face her. “You may think you hid the fact that you believe it is your death that completes this next stage from your dad. But you were wrong. He has always known. We will be with you tomorrow. We will stand together, and we will fight together, and if needs be, my baby girl, we will bleed together.”
Maggie had pressed a kiss to her temple, then followed her husband around to the back of the house, perhaps to offer him solace or to seek it for herself. Ariana thought perhaps it was both.
“You’re thinking about your parents, aren’t you?” Ryan’s voice broke through her thoughts, and Ariana found herself smiling. Her wolf was perceptive and had this way of knowing exactly what she was thinking. Despite not having completed the claiming bite, the mating bond was strong between the two.
Ariana wriggled closer to her wolf. “Yeah, I was. I know we have done everything possible to be able to fight through tomorrow. Casey, Fiona, Neve, and I have all got wicked control of our powers, and when we combine them, we get these pretty lethal weapons against Aeron’s demons. But I don’t think it is going to be a physical fight this time. I think it is going to be more on the ethereal realm. This means we may be fighting something that strength and skill simply will not kill.”
Ryan sighed as he ran his hands up and down her naked back, careful to keep the blankets in place, knowing she hated it when cold wind swept beneath the blankets. “Your dad will hate that. Hell, I hate that! I’m a supernatural wolf shifter, but I don’t know how to fight something I can’t see. Was that what he was saying to you by the car?”
“No, well, not really. He praised me and told me I had the heart of a tawa tree. A native tree at home, known for its strength. Then he told me he loved me.” Ariana pressed her face against Ryan’s chest, not wanting to cry. She had a feeling that if she did start to cry, she just might not be able to stop.
“Damn,” Ryan whispered reverently, obviously as affected by her dad’s words as she was. “That native language of yours is hot! You mom had no chance against all that suave Maori stuff. I bet he had no trouble getting women when he wanted them.” Or he was envious of his skills to hook up with women!
“Ryan!” Ariana screeched. “What the hell! I’m sitting here talking about a moment of deep emotional turmoil with my parents, and you’re admiring his game?”
“Yep, and I got you to stop thinking all that heavy stuff, which was my original intention.”
Ariana simply stared at him as grinned down at her.
“You may thank me properly now.”
“Does ‘properly’ involve punching you in the eye?”
“Ah, no…I was thinking of something a lot less violent and on something a little lower.” Ryan waggled his eyebrows suggestively. Ariana couldn’t help but giggle, and it felt good. As the time had drawn closer to the December solstice, and the conclusion of her portion of the prophecy, she had found less and less to genuinely laugh about. She’d put on a brave face for the rest of her family and their group.
Ariana leaned up to meet Ryan’s descending head, falling into the kiss as naturally as it had been to fall in love with him. She felt the need for him rise within her, and she was helpless against the intensity of it. She pushed gently against his shoulders, and as if he had that very same need building within him, he fell onto his back, lifting her above him, so that she settled with her knees on either side of his waist.
She let the kiss between them build for a few moments, simply content to revel in the power he wielded over her, all through a simple kiss. Then, just as the need became almost painful within her, she lowered her hips, knowing he would help her, and sure enough, with nothing more than a slight hip roll, she nestled her hips to his. His cock buried deep within her.
Lifting up slightly, she started to grind her hips on him, loving that his beautiful gray eyes darkened to wet steel as the pleasure she gave him obviously drove his own need for her sky-high. “You are my wolf,” she breathed, her lips moving against his as she spoke. “No matter what tomorrow brings, no matter what we do at the completion of this prophecy, and no matter how crazy our lives become. You are my wolf. You are my mate. Your claim on me is more than skin-deep. Your claim on me is eternal and unbreakable. Ko nui taku aroha koe.”
Ryan rolled them over so that he could start to move within her, his eyes never leaving hers. Ariana arched her back at the feel of his hard length
sliding in and out of her pussy, leaving her empty and wanting one second and then filling her so damn right the next.
“Ariana.” Ryan’s voice was reverent in the quiet room, and Ariana’s world shrank to just the two of them. “My beautiful air goddess. Our lives will be crazy tomorrow, the next day, and hell, the next forty years. When we get married and have our pups, our lives will be chaos but filled with joy and laughter and a whole shitload of sex.” Ariana gave a short puff of laughter that turned quickly into a moan as he started to move faster within her. “I love you, baby. And at the risk of sounding like that jerkwad Jerry Maguire, you complete me.”
Ariana never had time to giggle or congratulate him on his movie reference. Ryan began to slam into her, and her orgasm built hard and fast within her. Soon she was sobbing, reaching for her release, desperate to fly with her wolf. Just as she thought her mind might actually splinter into madness, her orgasm crashed over her. She screamed her release to the room. She felt Ryan’s cock swell within her, and then with a growl, he paused with his hips slammed to hers as he came in hot spurts. Breathing hard, Ariana squeezed her arms around him, pulling her tight to her chest.
“Tomorrow,” she panted in Ryan’s ear. “When we are back in this bed tomorrow night, I want a proper proposal. None of this Winters brothers just telling their mates they’re getting married shit. Tomorrow, you ask.”
Ryan pulled back so he could see into her eyes. Ariana got the feeling he was searching for something in particular, and whatever it was, he found it. His face relaxed, and he pressed a soft kiss to her lips. Then leaning forward, he placed his forehead to hers.