Truce: Book 1 in the Aftermath Series

by Alainna MacPherson

  A reluctant ache settled in my chest I’d forgotten what this was really about for a moment, so I waited a beat before I stepped up, bringing him out of his reverie.

  “Come on,” I told him. “Let’s get everyone settled.”

  It was hard work, but we got it managed. A lot of coordinating, made easier with Bri’s preparedness in that area. She’d supplied clipboards for each tent, which had numbers over each door, and began to hand them to myself, Gearden and Senior. The portal was finally closed and it was just a matter of getting everyone situated. But it was a lot of work making sure that bachelors were all in the same tents, guards in their own and keeping couples together. Just as I finished with my fourth tent of new residents, I let out a squeal as I was grabbed by rough hands and turned around quickly.

  Pack, Luna determined, right as I recognized Ro myself. Lifting me up, he squeezed me tight. In turn, I wrapped my arms around his head and hugged him back. It was brief, but the second he set me down, he stepped back, always weary of showing emotion.

  “Good to see you,” he told me.

  “You too,” I said. Suddenly, Lugh was there, like right there, standing between myself and Ro. The instant he did, Ro’s hackles rose, and I knew right away that I’d need help.

  “Gearden,” I cried out silently.

  I could feel him respond that he was already on the way, having sensed his brother there.

  I didn’t need to look at either of them to know they were snarling at one another. I’d seen Lugh do it enough times with Gearden. Ro’s lip, which I could only see by looking around Lugh’s unmoving body, was curled up, showing elongated canines.

  “Stop!” I told them both out loud. They heard me, I knew it, but neither of them cared.

  Lugh

  The son of a bitch had grabbed her, scared her. He didn’t belong. He was different, I could feel it. If I was calmer, I could probably have picked out what exactly set him apart from the rest of the McIntire pack that was surrounding us then. Their woods were flooded with their scent, on their territory. And though his clothes smelled like them, his blood was different.

  “Stop it,” Maeleigh cried again, but I could barely hear her. All I could see was red, the need to protect what was mine so strong. The male in front of me was equally pissed off, and I was ready to beat something up, so I stepped closer, just aching for it. Punch me, wolf, go for it.

  Before I could get even an inch closer though, Gearden appeared out of nowhere, towering over me, snapping his extended teeth at me.

  “Back off,” he growled.

  Looking around him, wanting to challenge the both of them for a moment, I saw that he had a hand anchored on the other man’s chest.

  I felt Maeleigh trying to get around me again, but I pushed her back with my arm.

  Zap!

  I hissed at the lightning that zinged through me, snapping me out of my dangerous haze. Looking around, I realized that, despite his scent, the other male was still family, still pack.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, shaking my head. Damn it, I would have to learn to control myself better where she was concerned. What a mess I’d found myself in. She was mated for Danu’s sake. What was I doing falling for a taken woman? While powerful faeries weren’t necessarily monogamous, I doubted that her wolf would accept me.

  She stepped to stand beside Ro, teeth clenched and shaking her hand out, as if the energy she’d shocked me with had bit her back.

  “What the hell?” Gearden demanded, retracting his canines.

  I glanced down at Maeleigh again before I answered, guarding my words. “I’d heard her cry out, I thought she was in trouble,” I said, shrugging a shoulder that said, “no big deal.” I could see that it irritated the crap out of Gearden.

  “This,” Maeleigh looked up to the other male briefly as she signed, “is Ro, Gearden’s brother.”

  Though I could argue that his scent said otherwise, I let it go. No matter where his blood originated from, he was obviously pack to them.

  Ro signed back, “Her protector.”

  Maeleigh’s eyes went round as she turned to look at him fully. “You learned sign while I was gone?” she asked.

  “We all did. Sally gave us lessons,” he answered. I could see the pride and happiness light up her face at his words. Silently, I was pleased with the male before me, seeing that he’d taken the time to learn, along with other members of her pack.

  Turning to his brother, Ro signed and said out loud, “Dad’s on his way. He and Mom were out of town when you arrived.”

  “Okay. We’ve missed you all,” Gearden said, fumbling a little with his own sign.

  Ro nodded, gaze his brother’s shoulder a squeeze, then dropped his hand to say, “I’m going to find Bri, see if I can lend a hand.” His brother walked with him for a moment.

  It was starting to settle, almost everyone having found a new place to call home, albeit temporarily. I knew that, like me, no one would even think of complaining if it meant fresh air, seeing the blue sky and sun again.

  Just as I started to turn to go back to my own work, Maeleigh whipped around to lay into me. “What the hell is wrong with you?” she signed angrily; brows scrunched together.

  “I’m sorry,” I told her. “I…” I didn’t know what to say. There was no way I could tell her that I felt a pull to protect her, to keep her close. To… No, I couldn’t tell her that.

  Without another word, I turned my back to them, intending to return to the tent I was filling when she raced to stand in front of me. “I’m tired of you acting like you have some sort of right to me. It’s…” she searched for the right word, her fingers ticking as she did, “…weird. I’m with Gearden. Why can’t you get that?” I wasn’t prepared for this. Like a trapped bear, my temper came to the surface in a fight or flight response. “Don’t flatter yourself, woman,” I growled, not bothering to sign. I had no doubt that she got the message when I saw the flicker of hurt in her eyes.

  I noted Gearden’s approach from behind her, a murderous expression all over his face.

  “Lugh,” Maeleigh signed, using my name sign, a quick change of ‘L’ to ‘G” at her right temple.

  It had my heart clenching. By the Goddess, what game was Danu playing at, giving me these feelings for this girl? I was two thousand years old and she chooses now to play games with my heart?

  “Tell me what’s going on. I can’t help you if you don’t let me in,” she went on.

  Inside me, something snapped and I found myself taking a threatening step closer to her. “Let you in? That’s my problem!”

  Her gasp at my sudden aggression froze me in place, mere inches away. I saw Gearden to the side of her, waiting for his cue to step in. Shaking my head, I stepped around her and stormed off, bypassing the tents to go deeper into the woods.

  As I trudged through the trees, I noticed they got thicker, closer together. I wondered how far the McIntire’s territory ran. When I suddenly found myself in a clearing, it was shocking to see the death that lay before me. Corpses of trees lay rotting on the ground, once homes to insects and other wildlife, they were now just crumbled pieces of dried, useless wood. The grass there was dry, roots shriveled up and lifeless. There was nothing but death there, a shocking difference from what was to my back. Feeling the pent-up energy and anger inside me, I let it burst forth. The same second I did, I fell to my knees and punched my fists into the ground, sinking them into the useless soil up to my wrists.

  The power reverberated for what was probably a mile as the energy left me and shot into the earth. It rumbled and shook the ground. And, before my eyes, life started to return to the valley. Blades of grass turned dark green again, shoots of buttercup, thistle and clover popped up from the now dark soil. Towards the center, where old trees had fallen, new saplings crept up, reaching for the sky.

  When my magic leaked out enough, leaving me feeling tired but not depleted, I cut it off. Breathing heavily, I sat back on my heels, staring up at the sky that was turni
ng darker by the minute as the sun started to disappear behind the trees.

  “You really do know how to make a guy feel inadequate.” came a voice from behind me. Whipping my head around, I saw Gearden standing there, hands loose at his sides, looking out at the new greenery.

  He continued to look out at the new growth, when he said, “This area was wiped out by a nasty beetle infestation. Once the trees died, everything else followed. Luckily, we were able to eradicate it before it spread any further. But it’s been like this since I was little.” I could see the awe in his eyes and I wished I felt satisfied by his envy, but that wasn’t what was inside me just then. All I felt was that it was long past time. The earth had been deprived of us faeries. I could only imagine what other areas were in need of repairing.

  “Did you want something, wolf?” I asked, not looking at him.

  I heard him step closer. I didn’t move though, as I didn’t sense any aggression from him. Not this time.

  “You’re tying Maeleigh up and I can feel it’s hurting her,” he said. I could hear the discomfort he felt in saying those words. I felt it too, where it clenched my damn chest and twisted the insides of my stomach.

  “Are you here to tell me to back off your girl?” I got to my feet, brushing off my slacks as I asked him. “Because I can tell you that I have no intentions towards her, so you don’t have to worry…”

  Before I could utter another word, I was being pushed against a tree, the bark digging into my back. But it was the partially shifted wolf pressing on my chest that I was more concerned with. His face contorted just enough to reveal a monstrous image, elongated teeth a few inches from my face, growling. “You can’t lie to me, faerie. I know you want her; I can smell it.”

  That bit of information had me stilling. I hadn’t calculated that little tidbit into my plan to be indifferent to his mate.

  Well, shit.

  “I’ll leave,” I told him softly, knowing that’s what I would want if someone was sniffing around my girl.

  He froze, his breath hitching mid snort. “You…You can’t. She feels the pull just as you do. She won’t admit it, not even to herself, but I can feel it.”

  A quick wave of excitement washed over me, but I tamped it down before I got carried away with it.

  “So…” I held my hands up, showing we could have a calm conversation without him crushing me. “What do we do?”

  Slowly, his face shifted back, and he pulled the claws – which I hadn’t felt until they retracted just then – out of my chest. I winced but rolled my eyes. Great.

  Head down, he said, “I don’t know. But I can’t handle her pain from your rejection.”

  “If you’re waiting for me to suggest that I explore what it is that is going on between myself and Maeleigh, then I’m here to tell you I’m not crazy,” I told him, rubbing at the marks on my chest, feeling the sticky ooze of blood under my tunic.

  His nostrils flared with a deep breath, as he stared, studying me.

  “That’s what you’ll do, though,” he said.

  I dropped my hand. “Excuse me?”

  He turned to pace a few steps away, looking out at the new foliage unseeingly. “You’ll have to talk to her,” he said, the pain etched into his features.

  “You understand that this is the way of my people. Our people. We aren’t born for just one person. Our magic…” I trailed off, looking for the right words. “It needs things we don’t understand sometimes.”

  It took him a few moments, but he nodded, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed.

  Poor man, I thought, watching the last of the weeds sprout their purple flowers. When I’d first met them, I knew they shared a monogamous relationship, which is why I’d held back as long as I did. But when I…

  “I’ll give you some space,” Gearden said unexpectedly.

  Confused, I looked over to see him turning away, already walking back into the woods. That was when I heard other footsteps, lighter, feminine.

  Goddess, help me, I silently prayed.

  Coming through the trees into view, she stopped for a moment to watch Gearden. I could tell from their eyes that they communicated to one another, but he must have been vague because the fire that had fueled her steps suddenly leeched out, replaced by a perplexed look as he left her there, disappearing from sight.

  “You’ve something to say to me, my lady?” I asked, signing, and instantly regretting myself. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath. When I opened them, I saw her standing there, watching me collect myself. “I’m sorry,” I told her.

  “For what?” she asked. “For just now or for what happened back there with Ro?”

  Touché, I thought. “For everything. I don’t know what came over me.”

  A few heartbeats passed by, then she finally said, “Thank you.”

  I nodded. Then, Gearden’s words came to me, about lying. He was right. I couldn’t continue to lie to her, or to myself, when he’d already made it clear I wasn’t fooling him.

  “That’s a lie,” I signed, stepping into her line of sight as she’d turned to look out at the renewed land.

  Perplexity made her eyes scrunch and her nose wrinkle just a tiny bit.

  “I do know what’s going on. With me. With…us,” I told her.

  When she didn’t react, I wondered if Gearden was right in that instance as well, that she wasn’t consciously aware of what her magic craved that her wolf didn’t.

  Then, like two puzzle pieces coming together, it seemed to dawn on her. Eyes going wide and denial already on her lips and hand raising to sign “no,” I cut her off.

  “Don’t insult me by telling me you don’t feel it. I tried to deny it and it’s only caused trouble for the three of us,” I told her. “I’m drawn to you. From the moment I stepped through the portal after the contract was broken, I’ve felt it.” There, I did it. There was no coming back from it, either.

  Thoughtful, she tucked her lips in, pressing them together. As she did, she turned to look into the woods where her wolf mate had just disappeared.

  “Did he say something?” she signed.

  “He might have told me to stop running from this,” I admitted, not wanting her to think this was all the wolf’s idea, even if it was.

  Nodding, her gaze cast downwards to the new grass before her. She stepped out into it, the long blades brushing her leather clad ankles. She hadn’t changed into her modern clothes yet, and I suddenly wondered what she looked like in clothes from her own time.

  Twisting, she signed, “I didn’t want to admit it.” Through her hands, I saw a tear run down her face.

  Heart clenching tight, I cleared the space between us to gather her up. I’d never had her so close outside of training. Her soft curves fit to mine like a missing piece that I never knew I missed until just then.

  “Shhh….” I crooned, even though she couldn’t hear it.

  She was rigid at first, but, after a moment, she started to loosen and sink into me.

  My people and I had just left the only home we’d known for the last couple thousands of years but just then, feeling her melt into me, I knew it had always been just temporary. This, her…she was home.

  Chapter Five

  Gearden

  When I stepped back into the clearing of tents, I spotted Dad talking with Bri.

  “Dad,” I said, quickening my pace. He met me just as eagerly. It was good to see him again. I hadn’t known how long we were really gone, but still, the idea that we’d had him worried didn’t sit well with me.

  “Gearden,” he said, hugging me close. My wolf recognized its alpha and family right away, feeling the homecoming, too. Mom came up to us then, pushing Dad out of the way to get her own squeeze in. I felt Rowen’s tiny arms wrap about my legs as mom pulled away to study my face. She used to do that when I was younger, after getting scraped up on my bike or something. I smiled at her, seeing the tears collecting in bright eyes.

  “I’m okay, Mom, honestly,” I assured her.
>
  “I can see that. I’m just trying to convince my heart,” she told me, stepping back to let me pick up Rowen for a bear hug.

  “I missed you,” she said, laughing as I tickled her ribs before setting her back down.

  I’d missed her, too. “Sorry, kiddo. We didn’t know how long we’d been down there,” I told her. Glancing up at Dad briefly, I saw his perplexed expression and told him with my gaze that I’d explain later.

  “Well, you’re back now,” Mom proclaimed. “Where’s Maeleigh?” She looked around at all the faces milling about as people visited and settled in. The day was waning and we’d have to start feeding people soon.

  “She’s talking with someone right now. She’ll be around soon,” I assured her, trying to ignore the pang in my chest the thought incurred.

  Rowen slipped her hand into mine and looked up at me, beaming the brightest smile. “I lost a tooth!” she announced, showing off an obvious gap in her lower front teeth.

  “Hey, awesome. Did you get anything for it from the Tooth Fairy?”

  She started to tell me about something special she found under her pillow the next morning, but I couldn’t focus on her words as they were drowned out by the feeling of Maeleigh’s distress as she returned to the compound. I didn’t need to turn around to know that she stood beside Lugh, and I resigned myself to having to share her. My wolf hated it, but he, too, seemed to accept it. Not that we wanted to share her with anyone else, just that we would rather share than feel the anguish she subconsciously fought inside her every day. No doubt she confused it with disgust since her natural reaction to another male when mated, according to her, was to fight it. And fight it, she did. To the point that it hurt her.

  I could feel people around us stall. The other wolves could probably smell it on her, the scent of another male mixed with mine. To my knowledge, it had not been heard of, a female lycan having two mates, or sharing herself with someone other than her mate. Though, she wasn’t just lycan. Hell, she wasn’t even just druid, either. She was a freaking deity.