On Wicked Ground (Solsti Prophecy Book 4)

by Kay, Sharon

  Gunnar nodded grimly.

  Brooke came to stand beside Nicole, squeezing under her arm. “Kai’s on his way. I-I just can’t believe this.”

  Nicole turned around to check on Mathias and Gin. “You saved us, Mathias. I don’t know how they figured out our location, but I’d bet money they didn’t know you were here.”

  “You saved the group, Nicole.” Awed gratitude lit the Hunter’s face. “And I’m betting they had no idea the Solsti were here.” He dropped a quick kiss to Gin’s mouth. “I gotta go while their scent is still semi-traceable. Brenin, you in?”

  “Yeah.” Brenin stalked across the fresh snow. “I’d love to kick some Deserati ass.”

  “Be careful.” Gin watched Mathias catch up to Brenin, then turned to her sisters. “Or do they know we’re here? Why else target our house?”

  “I know rumors have been spreading, but half of Torth still didn’t believe them,” Nicole said. “Not while we were there.”

  “The bigger problem is that our location has been compromised.” Gunnar scrubbed a hand over his jaw.

  All eyes turned to him, then to Rilan. “So, what do we do?” Nicole asked the Elder.

  “If Mathias doesn’t find them, someone needs to stay and keep eyes on the area.” Rilan shoved a hand through his mop of hair. “Rhys. You’ve spent the most time on Earth. You stay. The rest of us will go to the safest place I know of.”

  “Which is…where?” Brooke asked.

  “To Lash demon headquarters on Torth.” Rilan gave a tight smile. “Where else?”

  CHAPTER NINE

  ALINA WOKE AND REALIZED TWO things. She was lying on the softest cotton sheets imaginable, and the room was utterly silent.

  So quiet. She and Sebastian so often lived in cities and heavily populated places that she was used to a constant level of background noise. Even when they had lived in more remote locations, there were birds squawking. This was…surreal.

  She opened her eyes to her simple yet elegant room. The lower portions of the walls were painted light brown, the upper half cream, with a mahogany chair rail circling the room. The same dark wood echoed in elaborately carved crown molding and in a writing desk and armoire. The four poster bed was piled with beige and cream linens. Alina ran a hand across the sheet, absorbing the tactile pleasure of touching something so exquisite.

  She’d hadn’t figured the Watcher headquarters would be in a cave, but she hadn’t imagined this level of luxury until she’d seen the marble floors of the compound last night.

  She turned to face the other side of the huge bed. It seemed so empty. She wriggled to the middle, lay on her back, and extended her arms and legs like she was making a snow angel.

  I’m a Solsti.

  She stilled, eyes settling on the heavily carved bed posts. Since the night of the party she’d had her suspicions, though she’d barely dared to attach words to them, even in her mind. It had seemed to make it too real.

  Yet here she was. Rescued. Protected.

  By Caine.

  Disappointment flared in her chest, knowing he would be away for two days.

  A soft knock at the door drew her from her thoughts. Alina got up and crossed cautiously to the door. “Yes?” she called, without opening up.

  “It’s Ashina,” the healer called through the door. “I just wanted to check on you.”

  Alina opened the door wide to see the other woman holding a glass of juice, dressed in a green T-shirt and jeans. Just like last night, seeing the juice made her parched. “Come in. And thank you.”

  “I didn’t know what you wanted for breakfast, so I just brought you orange juice.” Ashina handed her the glass and walked over to the desk.

  Alina gulped greedily. “Mmm, this is great. I’m not that hungry. I don’t usually eat breakfast.”

  Ashina smiled. “Did you sleep okay?”

  “Like a baby.” Alina bit her lip. “Did Caine leave for his assignment?”

  The healer paced to a huge paned window draped with a mix of sheer white curtains and heavy burgundy ones. “Yes.”

  Alina sensed heaviness in the healer’s mood, but she didn’t know her well enough to know for sure. “So, what’s on the agenda for today?”

  “There are some people here who want to meet you.” Her gaze shifted around the room. “Actually, quite a few. But I’ve informed everyone that you got caught up in the chaos of a club fight, and you sustained a minor injury and need rest. Healer’s orders. I’ll look at your cut, but I’m sure you’re fine to walk around and meet everyone as soon as you’re ready. And three people, in particular, have priority.”

  “Three?” Alina whispered. She sat on the bed, knees wobbly. The emotion in the healer’s eyes answered her unspoken question, but something pushed her to ask anyway. “My sisters? They’re here?”

  “Yes.” Ashina came to sit beside her and took her hand.

  Shock drummed through her veins. “Did you contact them?”

  “No.”

  Alina frowned. “How did they know I was here?”

  “They didn’t. Not until they arrived. It was an unplanned visit.”

  “I’m confused. Do they come here often?”

  “No.” Ashina shifted, propping a knee on the bed. “They came last night, with their mates and the Elder who lives with them. An attempt was made on their lives.”

  Her shock tuned to guilt-infused terror. “What? Oh my gods.” The mirror. Alina placed a hand over her heart and gulped air that didn’t seem to be enough. “Oh no. Are they okay?”

  “They’re fine, thank goodness. Their mates are too.” Ashina tilted her head. “Arawn was going to contact them, but they beat him to the punch.”

  She swallowed hard and stared at her hota’s kind eyes. Her next words stuck in her throat, her jaw locked as if determined to keep her quiet.

  Ashina blinked in confusion. “Really, they’re fine. Not even a scrape.”

  Worried her hota would think less of her, but needing to own up to her role in this, Alina forced her words out. “I think this is my fault.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  The juice churned in Alina’s stomach. “When I…I tried to find them…there was a counter spell that I didn’t know about. Sebastian told me. I gave away their location.” Her vision swam and she dropped, limp, on the duvet. Her eyes slid closed.

  Ashina’s voice cut through the fog of dread that threatened to pull her under. “Shh, nihja. The girls are fine. You didn’t do anything wrong. Just rest. I’m not going anywhere. Rest.”

  A soft hand rested briefly on her forehead. She fought to regulate her breathing and absorb the amazing fact that her sisters were here. Right under the same roof. Because they’d been threatened.

  A thread of anger started deep in her heart. Someone had tried to harm them. And whether it had started with the mirror or not, Alina wasn’t going to let that slide.

  The door opened, and a deep male voice rumbled. “Hey.”

  Not Caine. Who?

  “Raniero’s here.” Ashina stroked Alina’s hair. “Could you get me a cool washcloth, love?”

  Alina heard the sound of water running, then heavy footsteps coming closer. A burst of coolness flooded her skin at the gentle pressure of cotton on her head. “You’re fine, sweetie. The girls are fine. I know you’ve had a lot to take in.”

  Soft fingertips pressed along her temple, and Alina guessed Ashina was checking her cut. She lay with her eyes shut, lulled by the smooth tone of her hota’s voice and the comfort of her contact. She didn’t know if it was because they were related or if it was Ashina’s healer’s touch but, slowly, Alina’s pulse gave up its pounding pace. She opened her eyes to see her hota watching her, green eyes assessing.

  Green, just like mine.

  Alina sat up and leaned into Ashina’s arms. “I’ve missed so much. You two, and my sisters and now, because of me—”

  “Sweetie,” Ashina handed her a tissue. “I will tell you again, this cannot be your f
ault.”

  Alina’s shoulders drooped. At that moment, her motives seemed so selfish. Would her sisters be glad at the chain reaction she’d started? She took a deep breath. “I used a special scrying mirror a few days ago. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I had family somewhere. Blood family. I mean, my dad found me when I was twelve. I was in an underground cave on Earth, and I have no idea how I got there. Was I abandoned? Was I left there for safe-keeping? I have no memories before that.”

  She sighed. “I asked the mirror to show my family. And all it showed was children—four little girls, two with dark hair and two blond. And one of the blond girls was in the hospital a lot.”

  Ashina’s breath caught, and tears brimmed in her eyes. “Go on.”

  “Then I asked it to show my sisters. I used a spell and three drops of my blood. And it showed me three adult women, all standing in a cramped hallway.”

  “The dream they all had.” Wonder tinged Ashina’s voice as she looked to her mate.

  “Dream?” Alina asked.

  “They all woke in the middle of the night, all three at the same time, and they had all just had the exact same dream.”

  Confusion and joy warred in her mind. It worked! But a dream? Then again, they probably didn’t sit around with scrying surfaces nearby, waiting for messages from people they thought were— Alina clapped a hand over her mouth as realization dawned. “They thought I was dead.”

  A tear trickled down Ashina’s toffee-colored skin and she nodded.

  “We all did,” Raniero said gently. “Until that moment. But we had no idea where you were, or how you had survived.”

  “And I didn’t know where they were. I had no idea it was Earth,” Alina said. “So, then my dad came running in and said I had to stop, that we had to leave immediately.” Her voice caught. “He said there was a spell to balance the power of the mirror. It would alert the person who is threatened the most by my search. It-it would inform them of my location, and also…” she gulped, hating herself but needing to let them know why she was at fault. “…the location of whatever, or whomever, I was looking at through the mirror.”

  Ashina and Raniero exchanged a look. “You didn’t know that would happen, nihja. Any of it.” Ashina squeezed her hand.

  “And that makes it even worse. I used it without knowing every part of it.”

  “If you hadn’t used it, you wouldn’t have been at Hell’s Gate, met Caine, and ended up here. Sometimes things happen for reasons we can’t comprehend until later.” Ashina looked at her mate, eyes full of love. “Much later.”

  Alina made a mental note to find out what that was about.

  “Your sisters have been in dangerous situations and have always wanted to fight.” Raniero shook his head. “My gods, the situations they’ve walked into. But they’re here. They’re fine. Our Hunter was there. He picked up on the danger and they got out in time. Then your sister Nicole diverted the projectiles into a large body of water.”

  “Diverted?” Alina asked.

  “Explosives were aimed at their home.” His tone was grim.

  Explosives? A new wave of sickness surged through her. But she fought it, drawing strength from the woman beside her. “My…sister was able to send projectiles full of explosives…where she wanted to?” The words felt clunky, but Alina couldn’t help it. She was still wrapping her head around her new reality.

  “She sure can.” Raniero grinned. “And a lot more. They can do amazing things, and I’d bet they can’t wait to show you.”

  “And now they’re here, and you too—you’ll all be safe. No one can get near here,” Ashina said. “But your dad is still out there somewhere.”

  Alina nodded. The crux of the situation came crashing down. If her sisters had been targeted, Sebastian might be too. She weighed her last lingering uncertainty over having him brought here against the warmth she’d been shown since she arrived, and decided to call him. Better to have him close and safe than hunted and scraping by, hiding out, worried. “I’ll call him, find out his location.” She turned to Raniero. “You said he’d be escorted here?”

  The tall demon nodded. “I’ll find him personally. I owe him that much at least, for keeping my khali safe all these years.”

  “Thank you.” She crossed the room to hug him. Gods, he was tall, taller than Caine. She felt like a mouse, wrapped in his paternal embrace. “Um, I should probably tell you that he’s a vampire.”

  The big warrior stilled. “Vampire?” He pulled back to study her. “How did that happen? Vampires aren’t known for working well with others.”

  Alina twisted her hands. “It’s a long story. Could we tell it when he’s here? That way we only have to go over it once?”

  “I think that’s a great idea,” Ashina murmured. “I’m curious too.”

  Raniero nodded. “Vampire or not, he still deserves my—our—gratitude for raising you.” His focus dropped from his mate to Alina. “You have your hota’s eyes. You and Nicole and Gin.”

  She turned back to the healer. “Nicole and Gin?”

  “And Brooke.” Ashina smiled.

  Nicole, Gin, and Brooke. Hearing their names, curiosity uncurled a tentative vine and Alina wished fervently that they could, somehow, be close.

  “Would you like to meet them now?” A hopeful note danced through Ashina’s voice.

  “Um…” She wanted to see them. Had waited for this moment her whole life. But now that they were here in the same building, nervousness made her tongue-tied. She wished Caine were here. Though brute strength radiated from his frame, somehow he could switch gears and be a regular guy. He could laugh and joke as easily as he could snap a dark elf’s neck. And that little fact hadn’t bothered her in the least. When they had talked last night on the balcony, the weight of the world had seemed so far away.

  And today it had crashed at her door.

  CHAPTER TEN

  “I WANT TO MEET THEM.” The words tumbled out of Alina’s mouth before she could do any more thinking. She turned to Ashina. “Will you come with me?”

  “Of course,” the healer said. “Do you want to call your dad first, so Raniero can go get him?” Her focus slid to her mate.

  He handed Alina his phone. She took it and walked to the far side of the room while her grandparents talked quietly.

  Sebastian answered on the second ring. “Yes?” His tone was wary.

  “Dad, it’s me.”

  “Alina! Are you okay?”

  “Yes, I’m fine. I have so much to tell you, but you need to come here.”

  “Do you need me to get you out of there?”

  “No, no. Nothing like that. Everyone here has been wonderful. There are people I want you to meet.”

  “Are you sure? Are they forcing you to say this?”

  “No, Dad. No one is making me do anything. And you’re not safe out there, running from whoever the mirror alerted. Please come here. I’m sending a special Watcher to escort you.”

  “Special Watcher?” Sebastian repeated her words with a tinge of disbelief. “You just got there. How do you know—”

  “He’s my grandfather.”

  A beat of silence followed. “I know they may have been nice so far, but how do you know these people aren’t lying to you?”

  “My hota is here too. And I know this is hard to explain, but I feel a connection to her. I know, just know, that they’re telling the truth. Please, Dad. Tell me where you are and I‘ll send him. His name is Raniero.”

  “If this is a trap, we may never get out.” Worry laced his voice. “Then again, if it’s a trap, I don’t want you in there alone.”

  “It’s not a trap.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Yes.” Alina wanted to scream at her dad. His caution had kept them safe in the past, but right now it was driving her nuts. “And if you don’t, I’ll send someone to find you. Their Hunter.” True, she had never met this mysterious expert tracker, but if he had detected an impending explosive attack, he must b
e good at his job.

  Sebastian sighed. “Well, no one can hide from the Lash Hunter. Guess that means you’re convinced. Fine.” He rattled off his building’s coordinates.

  “I’ll see you soon, Dad.”

  “You too, little one.” He ended the call.

  Alina smiled at the nickname. She’d only managed to grow to five feet tall, and while vampires weren’t tall, Sebastian was half a foot taller than she. The nickname had stuck since he’d first found her and right now, it warmed her heart to hear the affection it conveyed.

  She gave Raniero the coordinates and returned his phone.

  “I’ll head out now” He stopped to kiss Ashina then walked out the door.

  “So.” Ashina turned. “Your sisters are exploring the place, since I told them you needed to rest. I said I’d let them know when they could see you. This is their first visit to HQ, and I’m sure if we start walking we’ll find them.” She gave a small chuckle. “We may hear them first.”

  “Hear them? Are they loud?”

  “Not necessarily loud, but they definitely are talkative.” Ashina smiled.

  “Um, okay. Let me just change clothes and wash my face.” Alina was glad she had showered last night. She found jeans and a black T-shirt and ducked into the adjacent bathroom to change. The jeans were too long, a problem she, unfortunately, was used to. She sighed and rolled them three times. At least the shirt was stretchy and didn’t hang off her shoulders, though it was a bit long.

  Emerging, she found Ashina staring out the window. The healer turned to her. “Ready?”

  “As ready as I’ll ever be.” Her nerves vibrated beneath her skin, live wires sending zaps of energy through every muscle. “Nervous and excited.”

  Ashina gave her a quick hug. “I think they’re one hundred percent excited. You’ll get to meet their mates too.”

  “Are they all mated?” Alina asked.

  “Yes. All to Watchers.” They walked out into the hallway. “Arawn has sworn our entire race to protect the Solsti.”

  The weight of her words settled on Alina’s shoulders. The Watchers were elite warriors—huge, imposing, trained to kill. Then there were the rest of the race, all of them predatory and capable of summoning demonfire, even if they weren’t warriors. Like Ashina.