Shifters of the Wellsprings: The Complete Paranormal Collection

by Leela Ash

  Jordan studied the sweat-drenched Bear. “Think you’re strong enough to try to hammer this thing down?”

  “Don’t know but I’ll try,” Fairburn promised.

  Before he could, Griffin held up a hand. “Back us around the corner. I may have an easier solution.”

  Good thing, because Jordan wasn’t sure they could punch their way into the demon lord’s home.

  Once out of sight of the door, the Chimera whispered, “Magical guardians often aren’t very smart – at least, in the stories. Let me see if I can trick this one.”

  On all sides, Adanai and demons fought, locked in a mortal struggle. Griffin waited until the tide of the war swung away from them… and then, he stepped outside of the Aegis’ protective shell. Before Jordan could shout a warning, he collapsed. In the blink of an eye, a mouse stood where once there had been a man.

  Its tiny nose twitched, its whiskers shivered, as the little creature concentrated. Then, a fountain of black smoke erupted from the ground. It billowed twenty feet above the ground, and eyes opened within it. Burning red eyes, glowing with malevolence.

  Nemagorix.

  Jordan’s mouth went dry as he considered the Chimera’s bluff. At the last defense of Stillwater, the man saw the demon lord and heard it speak. In theory, he could mimic any creature he knew. But if this disguise wasn’t perfect… “Listen, at the first sign that they aren’t falling for it, come back!”

  Griffin swept past them, gliding with complete confidence up to the doorway. “Open!” he shouted.

  Jordan’s breath caught in his throat… until that thin voice warbled, “As my master commands.”

  “Allow these vermin in too,” the Chimera said as he drifted inside. Like the good, dutiful, mindless servant it was, the guardian of the gate let them pass as well.

  The moment they were through the doorway, Griffin Shifted back and leaped within the Aegis’ protective glow. “Yay for idiot guards,” he muttered. “This way, Fairburn. I’ve been here before and I know where to find Nemagorix.”

  Up, he led them. Through echoing corridors and stairs. Nothing – demon or living – awaited them. At the very top, Griffin led the men into a vast chamber. Barren, stark, with neither furniture nor decorations beneath its vaulted ceiling. At one end, lay a black dais.

  Empty as well. Griffin glanced about uneasily. “Last time I was here, Nemagorix stood on that thing.”

  Jordan eyed the large expanse of nothingness that surrounded them. “I don’t see any guardians.”

  Casey Briggs knew the answer to that puzzle. “You would not see a spirit unless it wished to present itself. Let me introduce us.”

  The Dragon knelt at the edge of the light. From his satchel, he withdrew a handful of small pouches, each one full of the oddest things. Tobacco and red ochre paint. Several sage smudge sticks. A gourd rattle decorated with red and black lines. Arranging them before himself, he began to sing in a language Jordan didn’t recognize.

  Hope to hell these spirits know Navajo or Hopi or whatever the hell that is…

  Then again, they’d understood English just fine. Clearly, he didn’t understand the first thing about speaking to spirits. Nothing good happened when ignorant people gave orders, so the Worm shut up and let the expert do his job.

  For several minutes, nothing happened. Briggs droned on, sharp rattles interspersed among his words. Griffin twitched with impatience as the delay grew. Each moment was a threat, a dagger aimed at the heart of his Mate, and the Chimera was near his breaking point. At last, though, two rough human forms faded into view. Eight feet tall, with small bull horns and dull red skin. And flat! More like walking pictures than living creatures.

  The Dragon bowed his head to the strange beings. “Greetings to you, Guardians of the Darkness. You honor us with your presence.”

  “Greetings to you, Bearers of the Aegis. What would you have of us?”

  Now, for the big question: Would they bind Nemagorix? Was it, in the end, going to be that simple?

  “Elders, we ask that you take up the Aegis once more and lock Nemagorix away from the world of mortal men.”

  “We accept this burden for a thousand years.”

  “Sweet!” Lucas gave a quick fist pump.

  Perhaps it was his paranoia, the long, depressing years he’d lived as a Worm, but Jordan couldn’t share the Wolf’s excitement. The story of the Handmaiden still left him uneasy. “Briggs, could you ask the Guardians why the Handmaiden didn’t ask them to do this?”

  Fortunately, these creatures – unlike the Adanai – didn’t suffer from selective deafness. One of them answered him directly. “She did so request, and we agreed. But she could not walk the Gauntlet.”

  And there it was: The hidden catch. “What’s the Gauntlet.”

  “That.” One papery hand waved toward the black dais. “You must place the Aegis in its center. It will draw Nemagorix back and hold him here.”

  Lucas eyed the Guardians with open suspicion. “That’s, like, a ten-foot walk. Why couldn’t Mom pull it off?”

  “Nemagorix does not wish you to pass, and the Aegis shields only your bodies, not your souls.”

  “What happens if we try to walk the Gauntlet and fail?” Jordan asked.

  “Then the Aegis will shatter in your hands, as it shattered in hers. And you will be driven from this realm.”

  Back into their own world. But, unlike Lucas’ parents, they would get to see their home destroyed. Nemagorix had spent the last couple of decades destroying all the bars of his prison.

  Except one. The Aegis.

  “Guess this is it, then.” Jordan gazed about the circle at his brothers in arms. Four strangers who’d trusted him, despite his flaws. “I’d like to give some rousing speech, but I think Griffin would strangle me if I slowed us down any more.”

  “Let me add one request,” Briggs said. “If I fall, leave me. One of us must make it to the center or the world ends.”

  “Same,” Lucas chimed in, as the others nodded. “All that matters is, locking Nemagorix back up.”

  Jordan closed his eyes and drew a deep breath. The image that came to him wasn’t his pathetic excuse of a life. It was Savannah. The light that had led him out of the darkness. He might be a Worm, a loathsome, fallen Dragon. But he had won the love of a good woman. A true Mate. He would do this for her.

  And, if he died, he prayed she’d understand.

  Together, they approached the Gauntlet. One shared look, one murmur of ‘Good luck,’ and they stepped across the threshold together.

  Darkness swallowed them. The room vanished, devoured by a cyclone of screaming voices. They boomed in Jordan’s head, driving all rational thought from his mind. Men and women, children and elders. All screaming in horror.

  Of him. Of his shame and crimes.

  The face of his first love whirled by, tears streaming down her face. “You left me!” she wailed. “You never really loved me!” A child’s terrified cries joined her: “Papa, where are you? Papa, why can’t I find you?” One after another, all his sins joined them. The people he’d killed. The innocents he’d failed. An endless parade of guilt and remorse.

  One he knew very well.

  There wasn’t a single face there that he hadn’t seen in his dreams. No new hauntings. No fresh sins he’d forgotten. He recognized the Voice of the Gauntlet like an old, bitter friend.

  Around him, the other Shifters rocked, faces ashen. “Come on,” he called, praying they could hear him through the onslaught of guilt the Gauntlet poured on them. “Keep moving!”

  Jordan stepped forward. Lucas, Griffin, and Fairburn staggered on as well. But Briggs dropped to his knees.

  “This isn’t right,” the wide-eyed Dragon hissed. “I have failed. I haven’t done the rites properly. I don’t know what to say. I give insult.”

  Fairburn tugged at him, but the man seemed glued to the ground. In the end, they left him, as he’d wished.

  A deed that shook Jordan to his core.


  He was the best of us. If he can’t make it, what hope do we have?

  Two steps later, Fairburn crumbled, weeping about his first Mate, a woman he’d failed to save. Jordan scooped the Aegis from his hands; this time, the little shield did not resist.

  Halfway there, Lucas dissolved into howls. “Ash, I’m so sorry. I’m such an idiot. I am so, so sorry.”

  White as a sheet, Griffin tried to force a smile as the two of them wobbled forward. “Just us assholes now.”

  Ghosts shrieked of Jordan’s crimes, a litany of guilt that threatened to drown him. Yet, a strange emotion threaded its way into the ocean of shame, and the Worm clung to it like a life preserver.

  Annoyance.

  He was irritated.

  Seriously, Briggs? You’re devastated because… you were rude?!? A trivial ‘sin’ like that doesn’t even make it on my list! And Lucas and Fairburn failed once? Ha! Try a dozen times. Try a score of times. One measly sin does you in? Damn, you should try being a Worm!

  Shielded by his growing anger, he marched on. Wrath wrapped him in a blanket, a warmth that kept his guilt at bay. He barely noticed when Griffin dropped, moaning about what a monster he was. Idiots. They didn’t even know what that word meant!

  I do. Like you, I know.

  Cold as a serpent’s kiss, those words slid into Jordan’s mind.

  The darkness faded away. He found himself lulled into motionless torpor only five feet from the dais’ center.

  Ahead, Nemagorix stood. A cloud of pure hatred and greed. Eyes of molten gold seemed to peer into his very soul. Tasting, savoring, the ruin he’d made of his life.

  I know what it means to be a monster, the demon lord whispered. I would honor you for the magnitude of your crimes.

  “I don’t want your ‘honor’,” he snapped. His foot seemed to weigh a thousand pounds now, but he raised it and took a step forward.

  You are not so different from me. Join me. Serve me, and I will place the world at your feet.

  “I don’t want the world. And I’m not like you.” A second step.

  Face your accusers. Black ropes lashed out, pointing at his ghosts. Tell them you are not like me.

  “I have.” Halfway there. “I face them every night.” A symphony of screams and wails filled the chamber, until the air was a solid mass of accusation. One more step. Just one more…

  Look at your fellows! Was that a touch of panic in the demon lord’s voice? How can a Worm like you succeed where they have failed?

  Finally, Jordan understood, and he laughed. “I will succeed because I am a Worm. That’s why the Aegis chose me. Alone, of all of them, I know what a wretch I am.”

  Then you know you are unworthy!

  “Yes. But it doesn’t matter.”

  Because she loved him. Savannah. She had looked upon the rancid mess he’d made of his soul… and she still loved him.

  She saw hope where he found only despair.

  He would do this for her.

  With the last ounce of his strength, Jordan Beaumont fell forward.

  And placed the Aegis at the heart of the Gauntlet.

  Chapter 19.

  ‘Victory’ brought no joy. In fact, Savannah couldn’t force herself to think of the day’s events that way. As the sun set over Stillwater, the black sky overhead matched the darkness in her heart.

  The gate to Nemagorix’s realm closed shortly after the Shifters of the Aegis disappeared. Yet no one celebrated, for none of the men had returned. They were either dead or trapped in that hellish realm with the demon they bound. Closing the portal had been their final act of sacrifice.

  “Can’t you open it just a crack?” she’d begged Maddie Hunter. “Maybe they’re just on the other side. If we could help them escape…”

  Bloody and exhausted from her magical battles, the Witch Hare fought back tears. Griffin, her Mate, was one of the lost men. “I’m sorry, but no. Whatever they did locked the gate from the other side. It can’t be opened from our world. It’s shut… tight.”

  That last word trailed off, and Savannah knew why. It was the final, terrible failure of their ‘victorious’ day.

  The gate to Nemagorix’s realm wasn’t sealed tight. Oh, it was immobile, impossible to open. It gave them no way to rescue their loved ones. Yet, a thin trickle of dark magic seeped through the Cauldron. A thread of energy, a hint of corruption, that proved the gate was not completely closed.

  Jordan and the others had given their lives, and Savannah wasn’t sure their sacrifice had won anything.

  Out in the desert, a fire blazed bright against the night sky. Donnelly had gathered the dead Fangs. Far away from the town, he incinerated their bodies, cleansing the land with Dragon fire. Only six shrouded corpses remained. The Hares who’d been at the Cauldron when the plane crashed. They, however, would be taken home and given proper honors and burial.

  Smaller lights flickered in the dark, and soon, the distant roar of engines joined them.

  An army of motorcycles rumbled up the track that led to Stillwater. All three Packs – Sand, Sage, and Big River – had come to pay their respects. Aaron King led the way.

  When his bike rolled to a stop, a slender woman with brown curls leaped from behind him. She tore her helmet off to reveal a tear-stained, furious face. The moment she spotted Lily, she charged her.

  “Omega…” The Wolf held up a hand. The newcomer threw her helmet as hard as she could, and Lily didn’t even try to dodge.

  “Screw you, King!” she screamed. “Screw you! You promised you’d never leave me behind! You liar!”

  Oh, hell. Savannah knew who she must be. Paige Fairburn. Rex’s Mate.

  “Omega, I couldn’t come get you. It happened too fast. You can’t tell a Dragon to swing by Colorado before he rescues his Mate.”

  “Rex is my Mate! My Mate is gone too, and I… I didn’t…”

  The rest of her words vanished in a sob as the young woman’s strength crumbled. With a wail, Paige collapsed to the ground, tears pouring forth. Lily lowered herself to the dust beside her and pulled her friend into a hug. Gently, she rocked, her grief spilling forth for all to see.

  Around them, the Wolves held silent vigil. They were a wild and fiercely joyful Kind. Yet, they understood loss and pain, and they honored it.

  Gradually, Paige’s sobs grew less ragged. When her tears finally slowed, Lily pulled away. “You are part of the Pack, Omega. I will always bring you – if I can.”

  “I know,” Paige sniffed. “I’m sorry. I−”

  “Shut up.” Lily gave her a playful punch in the shoulder. “Never apologize to a Wolf for nipping her. She probably had it coming. Now, let’s round up the Pack and save our Mates’ dumb asses.”

  “What?” That sudden announcement set Savannah’s head spinning. “Do you think we can?”

  Lily brushed the dirt from her riding leathers as she rose. “We’re gonna try.”

  “Are they even alive?” Paige scrubbed her face clean of tears and followed her friend.

  “If they aren’t, I plan to get their bodies back. I’m giving Casey a proper funeral.”

  Heavens, how could the Wolf even say that? The thought of burying Jordan… of going through the rest of her life without him… was too terrible for Savannah.

  They swung by the shack where Maddie rested, and the Hare joined their little group. Names were passed, hands shaken. Then, silence fell as they hiked along the battered path that led up to the Cauldron.

  A few Witches remained, struggling to make sense of this half-closed, untouchable gate. One was Ash Anderson, Lucas’ Mate. A feverish gleam burned in her brown eyes as she scrambled over to their little group. “Our Mates aren’t dead. I can feel them. They’re here, and they’re alive.”

  As a psychic, she’d know better than anyone. Yet, her revelation didn’t cheer Savannah as much as it should.

  If we can’t free our Mates, that’s almost worse. They’ll die slowly.

  Maddie, their one true Witch, stepped to the wa
ter’s edge. “Has there been any change?”

  “No.”

  “Any idea how to crack this door open? Or, hell, why it’s not fully closed?”

  “None.”

  So, here they were, right back at the problem. Clueless again. Savannah balled her fists, choking with fury at her helplessness.

  Lily, always unsinkable, stepped to Maddie’s side. “Time to brainstorm then. The portal’s in the middle of this pool, right?” When the Hare nodded, so did she. “Great. Let’s try the obvious answer first.”

  Without warning, the Wolf dashed into the water and threw herself, headfirst, through its center. She sailed past the gate’s location… and plunged into the water.

  Nothing happened. A moment later, she picked herself up, sputtering and soaked. “Okay, you can’t just walk in.”

  Yet, a slight frown creased her brow, and Savannah noticed that she walked around the former gate, not through it. “Are you all right, Lily?”

  “Yeah.” The Wolf bit her lip.

  “Nonsense. What’s wrong?”

  “It’s nothing. Just…” All the other Mates stared at her, and the biker blushed. “I just thought I kind of felt Casey when I jumped into the pond, laughing at me for trying to bull rush a spirit door.”

  That was all they needed to hear. All the women rushed forward, stumbling on the Cauldron’s slick stones.

  Savannah raised her hands before her, reaching into the air.

  A hint of warmth brushed against her skin. So slight, so faint, that she thought her mind played tricks on her.

  Until Ash squeaked with delight. “You’re right! I can feel Lucas! He’s here, and he’s fine!”

  But still trapped.

  None of this helped. This didn’t get them any closer to opening the portal.

  Unless…

  What if they were asking the wrong question?

  “Maddie, this door, it’s the Aegis, isn’t it? It’s the thing that stops them from coming home.”

  “I… well, yes,” the Hare admitted. “I hadn’t thought of it like that, but yes, the Aegis is the actual protective barrier.”

  “Then can’t it decide to let them through?” Savannah asked. “I mean, it’s not some mindless relic. It chose our Mates. Doesn’t that mean it’s intelligent? If we ask it−”