by Elle Thorne
Circe shrugged.
“Never seen it happen?” Sean was curious, though it felt like a morbid curiosity.
“No.”
“So, I take it you’re going in?” Camden asked Circe.
Circe gave her younger sister a quizzical glance, as though she were surprised to be asked that question. “I have to.”
“And I cannot go with you… why?”
Circe frowned. “I’m not risking you.”
“I’m going,” Marco announced.
Sean studied their brother. He had barely said a word the whole time, just staying in the background, quiet, his eyes gleaming with a glow in their inky depths that ranged between gold and amber, though for a brief second, Sean would have sworn he saw a flash of indigo.
“No. You’re not.” Circe’s tone was hard and firm.
“Listen—” Marco begin.
“No. I said no.” Circe’s jaw was set in a way that Sean had noticed Eden’s did at times.
Not that he noticed it while Eden was talking to him. No, she didn’t talk to him that much. But he’d noticed it once when he’d walked in on a conversation she was having with Camden.
Sean wished he could go. He wanted to be there, to help Eden. Not to mention, the whole thing sounded interesting as hell.
Circe glared at her siblings. “I’m going in. Alone. I have to talk to Piria.”
“I want to go.” Sean froze. Was that his own voice? It seemed it was; everyone was staring at him. “I do.”
Circe pinned him with her gaze. Now, he saw the difference between this older sister and her younger ones. She was damned near formidable. “You care for my sister.”
Sean straightened his shoulders, rolled his neck. “She’s my fated mate. And before you go off thinking I’m crazy… no. I didn’t believe in that shit. Until I met Eden.”
Camden nodded. She clearly got it.
Circe nodded, too. Then pursed her lips. “I understand. More than you’ll ever know. It hits ya like a Mac truck, doesn’t it?”
Sean couldn’t resist the small smile that crept to his face. “It sure as hell did.”
Circe crossed her arms. “Do you believe she feels the same for you?”
He exhaled with a whoosh. “I don’t know if this makes sense, but I think her eyes tell me one thing, but her lips another. And… crazy as this may sound, I’m pretty sure what she verbalizes is what her elemental wants to hear. What she says with her eyes, is what her heart and panther feel.”
Circe raised her brows.
He wondered what that meant. Did she get it? “But I won’t let Piria kill her to keep us apart. I’ll withdraw.”
“I brought you out here because I want you to go in with me. But I didn’t want Piria to hear me say so.” So maybe she did get it.
He paused. “You think she’s listening right now? Can she hear us?”
“Albani—my elemental—seems to think she might be.”
“So, I’m going in?”
“I think it would be for the best, though I don’t think it will prove an easy emotional expedition for any of us.”
Chapter Nineteen
Eden’s panther stretched against Eden’s body, jarring her from a catnap. Eden laid her hand on the panther’s chest, felt for her heartbeat.
It was strong. Much stronger than it had been when they’d first awoken in the cave.
“She’s healing,” Piria said from her corner of the cave.
Eden nodded, wanting to say, no thanks to you. But she kept her lips zipped. She noticed the sound of the wind had died down. “Think perhaps we can take that walk outside the cave?”
Piria shrugged. “Is your panther well enough?”
“Why do you hate her?”
“Why does any elemental have a problem with a shifter animal,” Piria countered.
“That’s not an answer. And I’m not asking about any elemental. I’m asking about you. You, specifically.”
“Shifter animals compete with elementals for space and control.” She shrugged, as though it were that simple and not a big deal.
“Elementals kill shifter animals.” Eden fought to keep her voice from becoming shrill.
“I’m aware. But I never have.”
“Have you ever been in a host that you had to share space with a shifter animal?”
Piria’s smile was terse, as though she was tiring of the conversation. “No.” She rose to her feet. “Do you want to go out, or not?”
The feline rose to her feet, silent. There was no snarl, no rumbling, nothing.
Eden wondered if she were processing what Piria had said. Could she understand? She’d never stopped to think whether her panther would understand language when she wasn’t in her body.
Piria began to walk toward the cave’s exit. Then stopped, and bent down, reaching behind a large boulder. She took out a folded garment and set it on the boulder.
“A cloak.”
Eden frowned. She could have given her the cloak earlier, when she was cold but didn’t. Did Piria suddenly have a change of heart? Why did she yield to kindness?
It occurred to Eden how little she really understood her elemental, though they’d been in the same body for more than two decades.
Piria started toward the cave’s exit again.
The panther took two steps in that direction, then looked over her shoulder at Eden, as though waiting to see if she were going to join her.
Eden nodded, snatching the cloak along the way, unfurling it and tossing it around her shoulders.
The first thing that struck Eden as she exited the dim cave was the low light of the desert. She looked overhead. The sun was out in all its glory, and yet their surroundings were as though cast in shade.
The ground shimmered in areas where the snow had yet to melt, but the temperature around them, surprisingly, was nowhere near what needed to sustain snow.
Could Piria control the elements and temperatures and sunshine in her world? Is that how it worked? Eden would have thought the elemental simply existed in the world their own world, but now she was more apt to believe that she created the world.
Directly about them the land was barren, but in the near distance a dark forest came into view. Gnarled trunks and gloominess loomed foreboding and ominous.
And Piria was walking directly toward that sinister forest.
Eden picked up her pace, catching up to Piria. “Where are we going?”
Piria pointed toward the trees.
Just great, the last place I’d want to go.
“You seem to feel we don’t know each other very well. I thought I’d show you more of me.”
“And the only way to do that is by going in there?” Eden shuddered.
The panther released a low snarl.
And yet the three of them kept walking.
They were almost at the forest’s perimeter. Eden could see an opening between two trees. A path, but barely.
Eden released a breath, and hoped Piria wasn’t so damaged that she’d risk hurting all three of them in this quest of hers to getting Eden to understand her.
She kept her gaze on her feet to keep from looking in the shadowy forest. It was the panther that alerted Eden that something had changed. Out of her peripheral vision, Eden picked up the twitching of the panther’s tail. And then the feline stiffened, her muscles on her neck and back bunching, seeming poised to leap into action.
Suddenly, the panther’s muscles and posture relaxed.
Eden looked at the forest.
From the very path she’d been dreading entering, her sister Circe stepped out. Next to Circe’s side, her flank touching Circe’s thigh, was Circe’s panther. On the other side of Circe, was a tall, slim, dark-skinned woman attired in the robes of crimson and eyes of an obsidian hue, widely placed, and offset her high cheekbones. Eden knew immediately this was Albani. Circe had once described Albani, a high priestess in blood-colored robes.
A smile flew to Eden’s face, one she wouldn’t have been abl
e to contain, pure joy that her sister was here. Circe was more than a sister to Eden. Circe was her hero. Not that Eden had ever told Circe so.
Nor will I.
Circe’s gaze was locked on Eden, assessing her wellbeing. She glanced at Eden’s panther, gave a slight nod, then turned her gaze to Piria, her face not giving the tiniest hint of horror at the awful scar on Piria’s face.
“Circe,” Piria said in greeting.
“You don’t seem surprised to see me.” Circe’s tone was measured and controlled.
“Your protective instinct is strong. I think that’s no secret,” Piria said, then pointed to Circe’s elemental. “Albani.”
Eden gasped. “You know each other? From before?”
Piria nodded.
Albani’s visage was calm. “You’ve been hiding from me, Piria. You didn’t want to talk.” Her eyes took in Piria’s face, her scar, then she raised an arm and waved it about, indicating the surroundings. “I see the world you’ve created reflects your life’s circumstances.”
Piria tilted her head, studying Albani. “Is that so uncommon?”
“No, child, it is not.”
Eden frowned in confusion. Child? Albani hardly seemed older than Piria.
Circe caught the frown, and explained. “Albani was her mentor. Before…”
Another woman stepped out from behind Circe. Pale, with the lightest eyes Eden had ever seen set in dusky skin. The woman was in a long flowing dress and emanated calmness.
Piria released a light chuckle. “So, you brought Ciara the Intuitive.” She nudged Eden as though they shared a secret. “I told you she had an Intuitive.”
Ciara nodded at Piria, then turned to Eden. “It’s nice to meet you, Eden, though it could be under better circumstances.”
“I don’t need an Intuitive.” Piria’s voice was peevish, as though a child proclaiming she didn’t need to go to school or learn.
Again, it was the panther that told Eden. The panther’s tail twitched. Her muscular body leaned forward.
From Circe’s other side, stepped Sean.
Eden felt like the planet had started to spin uncontrollably, and that there were only two people on that planet. Her and Sean. His intense gaze was locked on her face.
She felt his pulse beating, though how that was possible without being joined by her panther, she had no idea. She’d thought that was only possible between their shifter animals.
He nodded a greeting to her.
She nodded back, emotions overwhelming her. He’d come here for her.
A scream ripped through the air.
Eden turned to look at the source.
Piria’s eye had grown wide. Her face was a mask of sheer horror. She raised her arms, and tiny flames licked forward from her fingertips.
Eden turned to see what she was pointing at.
Behind Sean, a large grizzly lumbered.
Shit.
Eden hadn’t thought that through. Of course, Sean’s bear would be there. She froze. How was she to help Piria through this? What was she to do?
A flame, much like what would be sent from a flamethrower surged from Piria’s outfacing palm, directly toward the bear.
Eden floundered. She wanted to grab Piria and put a stop to this, but knew she could not. Only an elemental could counter and elemental’s show of force in this realm.
The dilemma was taken from Eden’s hands.
Albani raised her hands, and between them rose a wall of sheer electricity.
The flames were blocked, diffused, and rendered nonexistent when they hit the wall.
Albani stepped forward. She put her arms around Piria. “Stop, little one. Stop.”
Piria burst into tears and buried her face in Albani’s shoulder.
Sean lunged forward and put his arms around Eden. “I’ve been so worried. Are you okay?”
Eden nodded. Near her, her panther joined Sean’s bear, nuzzling the large ursine.
“Isn’t this a cozy little scene.”
Eden snapped her head in the direction of the new voice.
A woman, clad in black, dark-haired, skin so fair it was translucent, and eyes the color of midnight had approached them from behind.
Who was this woman?
Circe released her hold on Piria and put her behind her. She and Albani stepped forward.
“Who are you?” Circe asked.
“How did she get here?” Piria’s voice shook.
Eden was caught off-guard by Piria’s question. She’d thought Piria had brought her here. Or if not Piria, then Circe.
But clearly it was neither as both of them seemed to be surprised by her presence and didn’t recognize her.
“What do you want?” Piria asked, because that question alone was the one that plagued her most. Second to that was the question regarding how the woman managed to get there. How did she enter Piria’s realm?
Chapter Twenty
For a brief second, before the interloper had joined them in Piria’s world, while Sean held Eden in his arms, he’d felt a sense of what life could be like, holding her.
That had flipped the second this new woman joined them. He found himself bristling at the danger that emanated from her. She was bad news, and that was evident from the tone she’d used when addressing them, to the body language she was exhibiting.
He stood at the ready, glancing at his bear to be sure the animal would also be prepared to act—if needed.
“Who am I? What do I want?” The newcomer tapped long nails against each other as she paced back and forth in front of them. Her gaze traveled between Circe to Piria to Albani to Eden. Over and over her eyes wandered over those four, essentially ignoring Ciara, Sean, and the shifter animals.
Circe stepped forward. “Realm-Crosser.”
Albani joined her.
“Ding, ding, ding. The award goes to Circe.”
Sean looked at Eden, wondering what the hell a Realm-Crosser was. Eden gave him a shrug. So he asked,” What’s a Realm-Crosser?”
The woman snapped her head in his direction. “Why is he even here?” She turned to Circe. “Why did you bring him in here. He does not belong.”
Circe’s jaw was tight, her full lips in a line. She pointed toward the black-attired newcomer. “She’s a witch that can travel along elemental paths. Entering elemental worlds when the veil is lifted to allow others in. When I made an entrance for us in the veil, it allowed her access.”
Sean did a double take. “A witch? They captured the witches at the cabin.”
Eden put her hand on his shoulder.
The newcomer scoffed. “I was not at the cabin.”
“So, you’re the boss-witch of those other two. One of your minions is dead, just so you know. The other is being held and questioned.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You talk too much, shifter.” She shot her hands outwards, sending waves of shimmering light directly toward Sean.
Eden pressed her fisted hand toward her mouth in a panic.
Piria’s hand rose, a flame cascading outward.
Circe threw her hands out, lightning bolts flying toward the witch.
Sean knew when those waves of shimmering light hit him, it would be over. He just knew it. He processed all the activity and all his thoughts in the brief seconds it took for her to attack him.
He didn’t know what he could do to counter the attack. He couldn’t duck, the waves extended from the ground to above his head, and they were too wide to outrun.
Just as the waves were about to touch him, a brown blur appeared before him, catching the brunt of it.
His bear collapsed to the ground. The waves vanished.
Sean dropped to one knee, putting his hand on the bear’s chest. It rose slightly.
“You could have killed him,” he yelled at the witch.
“Silence, shifter.”
He rose, stiffened, his muscles bunched up, ready to leap on the witch.
Eden grabbed his forearm, held it tightly. “Don’t, please,” she
whispered.
Sean reined in his temper.
The Realm-Crossing witch turned to Circe and Eden. “What I want is for you to get out of the way. But you won’t. You insist on interfering with our agenda.”
“Who is our?” Eden asked.
“Our is the witches in Europe,” Circe replied. “They are the ones that want the twins.”
“Where are they? I know you moved them.”
Sean clenched his jaw, his gritting teeth sounded loud in his ears. Eden tightened her grip on his arm.
“You can’t have them.” Albani took a step forward in front of Circe.
Piria joined Albani, making a shield that protected Circe.
“You cannot stop me, elementals. All I have to do is kill this one,” she pointed at Piria, “and you’ll all be trapped here, and unable to stop us.”
Sean frowned, the hell he’d let that happen. The next series of events were a blur.
The witch raised her hands, more shimmering light, though this time it was like a laser beam rather than a large wave.
Piria raised her own arms. A flame sprouted from her fingertips and turned into a shield of fire that surrounded her.
Sean shrugged Eden off and stepped between the witch and Piria, but the vicious blast of her light knocked him to the ground, forcing the air from his lungs.
Albani pushed her hands toward the sky. Lightning flashed, searing through the atmosphere, attaching itself to her fingertips. She made a circular motion with both hands, shoved them outward, then was flung into the air, catapulted into a somersault, and brought down on her back, next to Sean.
The witch pointed to Albani. “No parlor tricks. I’ve bound your elemental skills to me.”
Albani’s face contorted with panic.
Chapter Twenty-One
Eden was beside herself. This damned witch could take Albani out, the most powerful elemental Eden had ever seen. She’d bound Albani’s powers so that if she tried to use her electric elements on anyone, they’d boomerang back on her.
Piria didn’t stand a chance against this witch. Her face was pale, her countenance horror stricken.
Next to Eden, fur moved. She glanced down. Sean’s bear was struggling to awaken. She was thankful he was alive. Her panther was nuzzling the bear, pushing on his muzzle with her head, trying to revive him.