by J. D. Tyler
“Great,” he said, taking her words as acceptance. He looked vastly relieved, more than he should at the news that a stranger was staying. “I put your clothes and camping gear in your room already. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Of course not. Thank you.” She gestured to the sack. “What’s in there?”
“Oh, these are some of your clothes. Didn’t think you’d want to leave here with your butt hanging out of that gown. Not that I’d mind.”
His statement and the impertinent grin made her laugh. “You must be a handful.”
“I can be. Want to find out?”
He was so cute, she couldn’t possibly take offense. “Not before you feed me. I was promised a meal, right?”
“You bet.” Handing her the sack, he backed away. “I’ll get a wheelchair while you get dressed.”
“A wheelchair? I don’t think I’ll need one of those.”
“Trust me, you do. After what you went through it’s a miracle you’re breathing.”
“And why am I breathing?” she asked pointedly, gesturing to the pink scars on her arm. “Why am I practically healed?”
“All in good time. Baby steps, huh?”
Frustrated, she watched him walk out and shut the door behind him. Clearly, he was reluctant to get into many more details with her, but given the way she’d reacted to his delusion of being a wolf shifter, she wasn’t really surprised.
But was it a fantasy on his part? She should be dead, not getting ready to leave, even in a wheelchair. Her bizarre recovery aside, she’d soon get the straight story on Ryon. She was sure his teammates would clue her in that he was suffering from some sort of mental illness and they humored him. That was the only explanation, and it made her sad.
Getting dressed took her longer than she had imagined, and she was just slipping on the borrowed tennis shoes Ryon had brought when he walked through the door pushing the wheelchair. But he wasn’t alone.
“Daria, I’d like you to meet my commander, Nick Westfall.”
Ryon’s boss was an imposing man with short, feathery dark hair with the slightest bit of silver at the temples, and steely blue eyes. He carried himself with his back straight, his projected demeanor warning don’t mess with me even though he had yet to open his mouth. When he did speak, however, his tone was kind.
“Miss Bradford.”
“Daria, please.”
He nodded. “I’m Nick. I try to keep my team in line, and sometimes I actually succeed. We’re glad to have you here, even though it’s not under the best of circumstances.”
“Thank you. I appreciate your taking me in like this. I could go to a hotel if it would be less trouble—”
“Not at all. It’s our pleasure, and we wouldn’t hear of turning out a fellow nature lover after what you’ve been through.” His lips turned up a bit. “You might want to hide out here anyway, at least until the media frenzy dies down.”
She stared at him. “I don’t think I like the sound of that.”
“We have some reporters lurking outside the first gate, and they’ve asked to talk to the biologist who found the body in the woods. If you want to speak with them, I’ll set up a place for you to meet.”
Shuddering, she rubbed her arms. “And if I don’t?”
“I’ll make them go away.”
Simple as that. She had no doubt he would follow through, and with pleasure. “I don’t want to relive what I found for the media. Let the authorities talk to them.”
The commander’s expression reflected approval. “I think that’s a wise decision. You will have to talk to Sheriff Deveraux, though. Ryon told him your story, but he wants a statement from you directly.”
“I guess that’s to be expected, but I don’t want to talk to anyone else.”
“Then you won’t. Now, I’ll leave you in Ryon’s capable hands.” He winked, turned and left.
“Nick is an interesting man,” she said to Ryon.
“He’s the best superior I’ve ever had.” His voice told her of his real affection for the man. “He’d do anything for any of us.”
“He strikes me as that kind of boss and friend.”
“Yeah.” He paused. “Are you hungry?”
“Starving.” Her stomach rumbled again.
He helped her into the chair, holding on carefully when she swayed. Perhaps she did need the thing after all, since she wasn’t nearly as steady on her feet as she’d thought she would be. He didn’t say I told you so, just got her situated and rolled her out by an adorable blond male nurse who waved at them as they went past.
“That’s Noah,” Ryon told her. “He’s a fixture around here.”
“Yes, I met him. He came in to check on me from time to time. Very sweet guy. Does he live at the compound, too?”
“All the staff does.”
That was so weird to her. “Why?”
“My team is required to live on base. We get dispatched at a moment’s notice so it would waste valuable time if we had to wait on everyone to get here from town. Living on-site, we can train, plan maneuvers, discuss ongoing cases, and generally be ready for whatever comes our way. We get time off, though. We relax when we aren’t busy.”
“Sort of like the military.”
“Exactly.”
“What about the doctors and other staff? Surely they could live in town.”
“They could, but we’re kind of isolated. It makes more sense to live here rather than driving to and from town.”
“Very logical, but why do I sense there’s more to it than that?”
“There is. All of the traffic coming in and out of our compound would attract too much attention. We definitely don’t want that.”
“Because of what you do here,” she said, unable to mask the doubt in her voice. “You’re out saving the world from paranormal predators like vampires and such.”
“I know you don’t believe me yet, but you will. It’s true.”
They would see about that. Her broken arm was still in a sling—even some sort of new super-healing ability couldn’t fix that overnight—and she examined again the healing pink scratches on her arm. And the two mysterious puncture marks on her wrist. Unbidden, something Ryon had told her before popped into her head.
But I heal fast. All of my kind does.
Staring at the punctures, a question came to her that she wasn’t ready to deal with. She wasn’t ready to know the answer, and so she shut it down. For the moment, anyway. Instead, she busied herself taking in the compound’s interior as her companion rolled her along.
The décor was nothing like she would’ve expected of a place where a military-style team was housed. Instead of being stark and white with serviceable industrial-tiled floors that had no personality, the walls were painted a soft sandy beige, and the hallway was carpeted in a short, smooth weave that allowed the chair to make easy progress. There were nice fixtures on the walls, giving off plenty of light instead of drab fluorescent ones overhead. The place was homey. She was impressed, and that only increased when they arrived at the cafeteria.
The area was really a large dining room. It was filled with several tables that allowed the occupants to sit in groups and chat, which many were presently doing. Food was served in the middle of each table, family-style, and they ate off real dishes and used actual utensils instead of paper plates and plastic forks.
A wide door beyond the dining area gave her a glimpse of the big kitchen beyond, where a number of cooks were busy going about their tasks. The wonderful aroma brought her attention back to the food, which consisted of hamburgers with all the fixings, and fries.
Ryon rolled her to an empty spot, making sure she could reach the table. “How’s this?”
“Fine, thanks.” She noted that some people were watching them with interest, Daria in particular, and she smiled at some of them. Nerves tried to get the best of her, but she pushed them down.
“You okay?” he asked in concern, taking a seat across from her.
“Ye
s. I’m just not used to being around so many people.”
“I can imagine, being out in the woods so much. Do you miss the interaction, or are you one of those who only comes back to the real world when you have to?”
She looked at him in surprise. “That’s a perceptive question. I don’t think anyone has ever asked me that.” Reaching for a bun, she thought about it. “I do miss being around other people, talking, laughing, and sharing stuff. I love my job, but it’s so isolating that I sometimes miss doing something as fun and simple as meeting the girls for drinks or going to a movie.”
“Stuff other people take for granted. I totally get that.”
He did, and she found it was nice. “Do you miss having a regular job?”
He smiled. “Honey, I wouldn’t even know what that means. I’m happy here, doing what I do.”
Warmth slid over her, her entire body reacting to his calling her honey. Even when her ex-fiancé had used endearments, she hadn’t felt as though she wanted to wrap herself in the man and never emerge. It was a good feeling, and scary.
They piled goodies on their burgers and munched for a while, and she took the opportunity to study him, trying not to appear as though she was doing it. He was so handsome, with those crystal blue eyes. And she had a thing for blonds, always had, maybe in part because she found her own black hair so plain and boring. She found herself wanting to bury her fingers in those sunlight tresses and do delicious things to his mouth.
She almost choked on a bite of burger.
“You okay?”
“Fine,” she said, coughing. In the next instant, she was very glad she’d swallowed that bite of food.
From her seat she had a good view of the entrance, and when she turned her head slightly to the right, something, or someone, strolled in that she’d never forget.
“What the hell?” she whispered, burger plopping to her plate, forgotten.
Just inside the entrance to the dining room stood a tall, breathtakingly beautiful male creature. An otherworldly being, not a man. He stood six feet tall, maybe a little more, and was slender, jeans slung low on his hips. He had a gorgeous face with high cheekbones and large, golden eyes like an eagle’s that almost glowed.
But his most stunning features were his waist-length jewel blue hair that cascaded like ribbons in water, and the magnificent feathery wings of the same color that had brushed the top of the doorframe when he’d stepped through. The wildlife biologist danced in glee at this find. The woman stared, not sure whether to greet him or run and hide.
“Incredible.” She couldn’t take her eyes off him.
“Isn’t he?” Ryon’s voice was wry, tinged with humor. “Sariel tends to suck up most of the air when he’s in the room.”
The male made his way toward them, having noticed Daria. His wide smile was warm as he stopped beside their table.
“Hello there! You must be Miss Bradford, our guest.” He bowed slightly. “I’m Sariel, or Blue if you prefer. For obvious reasons.”
Her mouth worked, speech having died between her brain and her mouth.
Ryon interceded with a chuckle. “She’s going to need some time to get used to us, buddy. Just call her Daria. Daria, this is our resident Seelie prince.”
“Removed from my throne,” he said smoothly. “Titles don’t mean much here, unless you’re the commander.”
“What’s a Seelie?” she managed at last.
Blue explained patiently. “A member of the Fae realm, a world that exists parallel to this one. The portal to the Fae realm is located in a country you call Ireland. The Fae consist of two groups—the Seelie and the Unseelie. Members of my Court consider us to be the good guys, if you will. Though we all know not every world is made of entirely good or bad people.”
A shadow passed over his face as he related that last bit, and she wondered at it. “What are the Unseelie, then? The bad guys?”
“Essentially. They devote their existence to pleasing themselves, no matter who they hurt. Their minions are the Sluagh, Seelie who’ve given themselves to evil, and have fallen.”
She took this in. “And you’re a prince.”
“Yes, formerly from the Seelie Court. Old news, and a long story.” He waved a hand at a vacant chair. “May I join you both?”
“Sit,” Ryon said. “Eat. You’re way too skinny. Haven’t you been following the diet Melina put you on?”
Blue, as Daria was starting to think of him, wrinkled his nose at the hamburger patties as though they were the most revolting things he’d ever seen. “I seriously doubt those should be on anyone’s diet.”
“You just need to gain weight, man. Doesn’t matter how at this point.”
Blue glared at his friend. “Thank you for so helpfully pointing that out.” He reached for a bun and piled it with vegetables, leaving out the meat altogether and ignoring the fries.
Thankfully, Ryon didn’t comment on his choice. She could see that Blue was rather sensitive about the subject of his eating habits. She wondered if food was so different in the Seelie Court that he couldn’t find things here to satisfy his palate. Then she ground to a mental halt at the direction of her thoughts.
She was pondering the eating habits of a Fae prince. As though that were perfectly normal.
We’re wolf shifters, Daria.
She had believed Ryon to be mentally ill. And the proof that he wasn’t was sitting here, politely chatting away with the man who’d appointed himself her friend and protector.
Ryon had been telling the absolute truth about his world and the creatures in it.
And her world had just been irrevocably turned on its head.
Five
Ryon witnessed the exact moment Daria knew the truth.
He saw it in her brown eyes, on her stunned face. She was shaken, but didn’t do anything dramatic like dissolve into hysterics, and for that he breathed a sigh of relief. That didn’t mean they were out of the woods on her acceptance of things, but it was a start.
To her credit she held it together, focusing her attention on Blue, who preened under the attention. The prince regaled her with tales of his brothers, his adventures with them, and the good times they had. Well, before he’d been thrown out of the realm when Elders in the Seelie Court found out that Blue was a bastard. A product of the Unseelie king Malik’s forcible taking of the Seelie queen, Blue’s mother.
“I’m so sorry,” Daria said, her pretty face empathetic.
Blue smiled, though Ryon knew it was a front. “I’ll see my brothers and Mother again one day. In the meantime, I have Kalen. He and I recently found out that we’re half brothers.”
“Who’s Kalen?”
Ryon pointed to the man, who was sitting at a nearby table, eating and talking with Aric and Aric’s mate, Rowan.
“Wow, physically you guys are total opposites,” Daria observed. “He’s completely Goth, and you’re like sunlight and sky.”
Ryon had gotten so used to Kalen, he didn’t notice anymore how different the man was from the others. But it was true. With his layered, black rock-star hair falling to his shoulders, the black jeans and T-shirt with his new black leather duster over it, and the matching kohl-rimmed green eyes and nail polish, the guy definitely made people look twice.
Blue smiled. “Sunlight and sky? That might be the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me.”
She shrugged. “Well, it’s true.”
Ryon knew she had definitely earned a friend in their Fae prince.
“So,” she went on, “how are you and Kalen half brothers?”
“It’s complicated, but I’ll try and simplify. We had different mothers, but like me, Kalen’s father was also Malik, the fortunately now-deceased Unseelie.”
“Kalen fried his ass in a big battle we had with Malik and his forces not long ago,” Ryon supplied helpfully.
“Did Kalen live in the Seelie Court, too?”
“No. If he had, we would’ve met long ago. He was raised in the human world, led to believ
e he was human with magical powers. His grandmother didn’t want him to learn the truth of his ancestry, in order to keep him safe from Malik and his minions.” Blue sent his half brother a look filled with sympathy. “When she died, the man Kalen believed to be his father threw him out of the house, leaving him to survive on the streets. He was fourteen.”
“Rotten bastard,” Daria hissed. “What happened then?”
“He survived for years, until the Alpha Pack found him in a nearby cemetery, raising a corpse to speak to it while investigating the man’s murder.”
“Hold up—Kalen raised a corpse? Out of the ground, and spoke to it?” Her eyes were wide. “As in ‘Hellooo, Mr. Corpse, let’s have a chat and tell me who killed you?’”
“Not so simple as that. It’s not easy to raise the dead, you know.”
Daria blinked at him. “Guess not.”
“So Kalen was taken into the Pack. He was just finding his place here when he met Mac and started to fall in love with her, and then Malik came along and tried to steal him away from all of us to use his Sorcerer’s power.”
“So, he’s a Sorcerer and can raise the dead. What else?” She said it sarcastically, as if there couldn’t be anything else.
“He’s also a black panther. That’s all.”
“Sure.” She rested her elbows on the table and looked around the room. “So Kalen is married to the doctor, Mackenzie Grant.”
“Mated, not married. Much stronger bond than some piece of paper,” he said. “But yes, and they’re expecting their first child.”
“I sort of got that from the baby bump she’s carrying around. Any other mated pairs here, as you call them?”
“Aric and Rowan. Aric has been with the Pack since the beginning, like a lot of the men, but Rowan recently joined the team. She’s a former police officer from some vile place called Los Angeles.” Daria snickered. Blue pointed to the redheaded wolf and his brunette mate. Then he gestured to a goateed man and a small blond woman.
“Then there’s Jax and Kira. Jax is an original member, a silver wolf and RetroCog, meaning he can touch an object and see important events surrounding it. Kira is one of our lab assistants who specializes in DNA and gene strand stuff. Don’t ask me more about that, it’s confusing. She’s also working to build a sanctuary for displaced paranormal beings, and I’m helping her,” he said proudly. “That’s my job here.”