Dancing with Shadows

by Bridie Henderson

  “Daddy?” He whipped his head to face her, his knees almost giving out at the sight of her running towards him. “Daddy!” She leapt at him and they went down together, her face buried into his shoulder, her long blonde hair covering her back.

  “Sh-Shay?” he murmured, large fat tears rolling down his cheeks as he buried his face in her hair, smelling the scent of his baby. A scent he thought he’d never smell again. Memories of hugs and games and sleepless nights flew through his mind as he clutched her close to him. Her shoulders were shaking erratically as she cried.

  “Daddy, I missed you so much.” Her voice was barely above a whisper as she held onto him as though her life depended on it and he was certain of one thing… Right then, his life definitely did.

  “Let me look at you,” he murmured, forcing himself to pull away so he could make sure she was real. Not a figment of his imagination or a dream. She leaned back, her big blue eyes staring up at him, wide and clear, her soft pale skin, and her long blonde hair surrounding her face like a halo… Gods, she was beautiful. “Baby… I thought I’d never see you again. Not like this… not like this,” he couldn’t stop his tears from falling, couldn’t escape the cascade of emotion as he sat there holding her to him, feeling a hole in his heart mending itself as she continued to clutch to him. He had his baby back. He had his baby back! He pulled back again, just to make sure but no, she was still there. He had his baby back. He could hold her, he could protect her… “I love you so much, Shay. You are my world. I’ll never let you down again, I swear it.” His words were barely above a whisper, the world falling away as he sat there in the middle of the underground dining room surrounded by strangers, holding on to the one person he’d hadn’t dared to believe he would hold again. The minutes ticked by but he didn’t care, apparently Shay didn’t either. Neither of them had any intention of moving for a while.

  A hand fell on his shoulder and he felt that same animalistic drive surge through him as he snapped his head to bare his teeth at the intruder. Aaron snatched his hand away, once again holding them up in surrender.

  “You need to eat, brother, and then there’s a few people who want to see you,” he murmured, ducking his head as though he were submitting to him. Slade stopped growling, confused.

  “Come on, Dad. Let’s get you something to eat. You’re always a beast when you’re hungry,” Shay muttered with a chuckle. He allowed her to lead him to a large table filled with food on one side of the wall, not really understanding the joke. It was soon forgotten, however, when she began heaping meats and vegetables, some he had never seen before, onto a plate and guided him to a table. The smell of the food and the watering of his mouth was enough to distract him from all the eyes on him as he took the seat Shay directed him to and began to dig in.

  “You need to try these, Dad… they’re unbelievable,” Shay said, picking up a few white slices of vegetable from his plate.

  “What are they?” he asked, finding his voice. Maybe she had been right. Maybe his strange reactions were just because he was hungry.

  “They’re called parsnips. You wouldn’t believe some of the stuff they have here,” she said, filling her mouth with the weird-looking food.

  “Where is here, exactly?”

  “Apparently, it’s a resistance base. From what I’ve heard, they’ve been waiting for us. This underground cavern has been hollowed out to hold over three hundred rooms… it’s as though they knew we were coming,” she said, keeping her voice low.

  “I don’t understand. Who the hells are these people?” he murmured back, as Aaron took a seat beside him.

  “Most of them are the prisoners Colt and the others freed, some are surviving rebellion fighters and some are the survivors from Aurelia. When we made it back to Aurelia we came out to find a group of Resistance fighters. They opened another portal and we all came through here,” Aaron muttered.

  “Colt? Is he-,” Slade asked, his mouth full of some amazingly succulent meat. Gods, where had it been all his life?

  “He’s fine now. Wasn’t when we found him, neither was Dax. Diana had stabbed them both, left them for dead.”

  “Gods… Mum? Dad?”

  “Both fine. They’d been corralling the prisoners when Diana lost her freaking mind. Beth wasn’t so lucky. Amira wasn’t able to save her, she was too far gone.”

  “Shit… why’d she do it?” Slade asked, dropping his fork on his plate with a clatter, losing his appetite.

  “From what we can gather, Jackson had her son.”

  “Shit… is he…?”

  “We don’t know… Diana told Dax and Colt that he was safe with family up north but intelligence suggests he was taken in the raid on Monkshood. He’s presumed dead.”

  “Fuck me… Why couldn’t Quinn feel her duplicity back in Aurelia?” Slade muttered, feeling sorry for the dead Immortal. Not, you know, a lot. She had almost caused the death of his daughter after all. Still, to lose a child… His hand reached for Shay automatically and she squeezed it back. She’d gone awfully quiet. He turned to her, seeing her staring at the table expressionless.

  “Not sure, but I don’t remember her ever using her gifts on Diana… could be she just got lucky,” Aaron murmured with a shrug.

  “Shay?”

  “I’m sorry dad. I didn’t know… I didn’t know he was tracking me… all those people… it was all my fault,” her shoulders began to shake as silent tears rolled down her cheeks, splashing onto the table below.

  “Hey, don’t say that. None of this was your fault. There is only one man to blame… Aaron, tell me he’s dead. Tell me Quinn killed him,” Slade murmured, pulling Shay in for a hug, still amazed by the fact that he could.

  “Can’t, I’m afraid. From what we heard, she’s knocked him down a peg or two but Caleb seems to think she might have made him stronger in the long run.”

  “Caleb? Who the hells is Caleb?” Slade muttered, running his hand through his daughter’s hair to calm her, just as he had when she was little. The small things he’d missed over the past six years…

  “Oh… er, well, I think you should meet him before I tell you,” Aaron muttered, biting his lip as though he was chastising himself for bringing the name up before the time was right. Slade badgered him for a proper answer for a while, finding the energy to finish his meal, but Aaron wasn’t budging. Eventually but reluctantly Slade let it drop. A few minutes later and the question of Caleb left his mind altogether as a few familiar faces came to sit at the table with them.

  “About time you woke up,” Colt muttered, sitting directly opposite him, a plate piled impossibly high in front of him.

  “Yeah, we were getting bored of babysitting duty,” Dax murmured, sticking his tongue out at Shay as he too took a seat.

  Slade found himself chuckling as Shay picked up a carrot and threw it at the immortal with a groan.

  “Seriously, she’s hard work,” Dax muttered, rubbing his arm as though the carrot had caused a severe injury.

  “Sorry, guess I was tired.”

  “Yeah, well, suppose you kind of earned it,” Colt muttered with a raise of his eyebrows, talking around a mouthful of food.

  “Excuse me… Slade?” A young voice called from behind him and he turned, not removing his arm from around Shay’s shoulders. He wasn’t sure he ever would again. Amira stood before him, chewing on her lip nervously, Kieron directly behind her. Slade stood from his chair to face her, practically dragging Shay with him.

  “Amira? We were looking for you,” he gave her a smile and ducked his head a little, in an effort to look less intimidating. She looked terrified as it was. When she rushed towards him, throwing her arms around his waist he was more than a little shocked but after a moment he relaxed, placing one arm around her shoulders.

  “Thank you… thank you so much,” she murmured, Kieron looking mightily uncomfortable behind her.

  “Wasn’t about to leave you there, kid,” Slade muttered awkwardly, now feeling exactly how Kieron looked.


  “Not for me… for Quinn. You brought her back. You could have left her there but you brought her back,” she whispered, a wracking sob breaking her voice.

  “I really couldn’t,” Slade murmured, stroking her back and meaning it. Shay squeezed his side compassionately, apparently understanding his meaning… probably better than he did, knowing her.

  “Well now, this is a party. Why wasn’t I invited?” A deep male voice sounded behind him and the dining room that had slowly gotten louder and more relaxed, once again fell into deathly silence. Slade turned his head as both Amira and Shay took a step back. He didn’t recognise the man… or did he? There was something familiar about him. Maybe it was the dark auburn hair? Had he seen that before? Light eyes the colour of…

  “Who the hells are you?” Slade growled, his hackles raising for some reason.

  “My name is Caleb. I’m a man who owes you everything. You did, after all, save both my children,” he murmured, lowering his eyes before bringing them back up again. He was tall, thin but muscular, the tiniest bit of grey in his auburn beard.

  “And who are they?”

  “Well, he is my son,” the man pointed at Kieron with a nod of his head. Slade turned to Kieron with a frown, only for it to deepen when Kieron nodded in confirmation though he himself didn’t seem too certain about it.

  “Alright… I didn’t save him though, Quinn did,” Slade muttered belligerently, getting aggravated though he wasn’t sure why…

  “From what I hear it was a joint effort. Regardless, you did save her, didn’t you? You were the one who pulled her through the portal?”

  “What’s your point?” Slade had a bad feeling… a real bad fucking feeling.

  “Well, she is my daughter,” Caleb murmured.

  “Bullshit! Her Dad was killed, she told me herself,” Slade growled, putting himself in front of Shay, readying for a confrontation.

  “Yes… but they never did find a body, did they? Come, we have much to discuss,” Caleb murmured, turning away from him.

  “Yeah, I’ve heard that before. Recently, in fact. That conversation didn’t end too well,” Slade growled, reaching down to pull a blade from his belt that just wasn’t there.

  “I am not Jackson,” Caleb turned back, the lines of his face filled with tension and his eyes alight with anger. Stormy grey eyes… eyes he knew well. “If you want to understand the connection between you and my daughter, you will follow me so we can discuss it. I will not force you, you are welcome to stay here as long or as short as you wish but my daughter will not be leaving until she has awoken. The choice is yours,” there were those words again. Slade was getting a little pissed off with the all the damn choices he was being given.

  “I’ll hear you out but the minute she wakes up, we’re gone,” Slade muttered, stalking past the red haired man he didn’t much like and definitely didn’t trust.

  “Well, this’ll be interesting,” he heard Aaron mutter as the group stood up to follow after them, Shay’s hand still clasped firmly in his.

  He was right about that!

  Epilogue

  Hot… too hot… need air… Mud… so much mud… melting… scent… mine… threats… so many threats... must protect… follow the scent… where… stronger… mine…

  “Quinn?”

  Quinn? Where is he? Where is my mate? There… eyes… mouth… scent…

  Moving with the grace and agility of an animal, half walking, half crawling on the floor, looking up from beneath her lashes, her hair, long and knotted, falling around her face and shoulders. She looked as feral as she truly was as she made her way through the dining hall, slowly but with clear intent. Someone moved to her right and she tilted her head towards them, her teeth bared and a guttural growl emanating from her throat. Sniffing the air, like a wild animal, she turned back, eyeing her target. He took a tentative step towards her and she tilted her head in the other direction.

  “Quinn?” he murmured, taking another step and then another. Amber eyes scoured her naked body as he came closer still, a beast-like purr emanating from him. She knew him… knew his scent.

  “Mine,” her lips formed around the word though she didn’t consciously say it. “My mate.” She heard herself say, many voices coming from her mouth. He was almost upon her when she felt herself standing, as though she were drawn to him, like a magnet… or a moth to the flame. She stood before him, looking up from under her lashes. Taunting him. Daring him to take what was his. Neither of them moved, each sizing the other up… waiting for the other to make the first move. One, maybe both of them, reached out and then they were together. Skin on skin and lips to lips.

  “My Mate,” she muttered between kisses. The taste of him, the feel of him consuming her mind, body and soul… a desperate need bloomed within her and then she was airborne, flying yet grounded… He held her, his hands carried her, but she was flying… something hard yet malleable hit her back… his cheeks, coarse and rough, yet beautifully exquisite rubbed against her stomach… soft, wet and hot kisses trailed down her naval as soft, thick hair curled around her fingers… those kisses moved lower still, burning the inside of her thigh, forcing her legs apart without her conscious consent. Her head fell back, hitting the wall with a thud, as his mouth covered her most intimate place, licking and sucking, nibbling away at her sanity as hands gripped her hips, preventing her from moving away, not that she would even if the option presented itself. Too good… too beautiful… She gasped, or maybe it was a growl… she couldn’t be sure… didn’t care to be. He stood before her and she gripped at his clothes, he was wearing too many of them and she needed his flesh… needed to feel his skin against hers… too slow, too slow… growling at her own ineffective movements she began tearing at him in a frenzy, her fingers ripping through his shirt until it simply fell away from him. She was airborne again, carried away on a wind of wonder and ecstasy. Then she was falling, slowly descending until she hit something soft and padded and warm. He was there, above her, worshipping her body with his tongue until she screamed, heat pooling in her core. She couldn’t take much more but needed more at the same time… needed much more. She felt him enter her; so impossibly full as his mouth found her throat, sucking and licking with open mouthed kisses… so much and yet not enough. Without thought or intention, she found herself flipping him over, so he was beneath her, her foot hooked to something hard beside her… he growled, his teeth bared as he fought for control but she denied him, moving her hips against him, teasing as his head fell back with a primal groan. Backwards, forwards… over and over and over… until she thought she might burst. Gasping and groaning she pulled him up to her, her breasts pushed against his chest as she pressed her teeth into the crook of his shoulder, tasting blood as she reached a painful, beautiful crescendo as she felt a sharp pain on her throat and he too came inside her with a guttural roar. They stayed there, lost in the moment. Time no longer existed. Nothing existed. Just him… just her… He fell back, pulling her with him as her teeth released his flesh and her head settled into the crook of his neck. Her eyes drifted closed as she snuggled deeper, still needing his touch, with only one word ringing through her mind…

  Mine.