Fate's Fools Box Set

by Bell, Ophelia

  “So, what . . . did he compel you to suck him off or something? You know that counts as rape.”

  “No. And I’d have probably done that willingly if he’d asked. I’ve heard satyr cum is like a fucking drug and that night I was in no state for self-control. What he did was . . .” I paused as I struggled to put the pieces together. “. . . compel me to protect Deva because he couldn’t stay and do it himself.”

  “Was she in danger at all that night? Fuck. I got so wrapped up in her . . .” He trailed off and gave me a sheepish smile.

  “I don’t know. I don’t think she ever really was, not once Sophia told us the hounds would obey her commands. But I still kept an eye on her. I sat under that fucking deck playing music while the three of you were up there. And eventually when it got quiet I went up and spent the night on the deck below the widow’s walk.”

  “Llyr compelled you to do that?”

  I shrugged, knowing it was more complicated. “He made me give into the urge that was already there. I think some of that is still kinda sticking with me maybe.” Or maybe that was just an excuse for the unbearable itch to tell Bodhi to turn around and head back.

  He remained silent for a beat, then said, “Be straight with me dude. Is she in danger? Because as much as it fucking hurts to be left behind while she chooses another guy, I’d rather have a clear conscience.”

  “Honestly, even if she is, I think you and I would just get in the way. She has Rohan. As goofy and dumb as he comes across, he’s a fucking badass when he turns on the power. He won’t leave her side. And Llyr was apparently assigned by her dad to protect her. I have no doubt that he would die in the process if it came to it. And Ozzie . . . Something weird is up the Maestro’s ass about Deva that I can’t put my finger on, but he’s not about to let anything hurt her either. You and I are babies compared to the three of them, so we really don’t have that much to offer. How old are you?”

  “Twenty-six,” Bodhi said.

  I snorted softly. “I’m twenty-eight. Young for any of the higher races. Those three have centuries on us. Centuries of both knowledge and power.”

  Bodhi’s brow furrowed. “Huh. Like, how many centuries are we talking exactly?”

  “Ro is five hundred and twenty-two. Ozzie’s about two hundred and fifty, give or take a decade. He survived ‘Nam with his cousins and who knows how many other wars over the years. Llyr . . . I don’t have an exact number for him, but legend has it that his entire squad of satyr soldiers, called the Thiasoi, were captured just as the Ultiori were rising in power, and that was over two thousand years ago. I have no idea how old he was at the time, but he spent all that time except the last year as a prisoner of war.”

  Bodhi’s eyes had widened and his jaw dropped open. “Okay, yeah. She’s better off with them, I think.”

  I chuckled. “And then there’s Willem and Sandor who are both at least fifteen hundred years old. And Sophia North is, like, immortal, I think.”

  “Dude, you can stop now,” Bodhi said in a high-pitched voice. “My head is about to explode. You sure you’re only twenty-eight?”

  “Yep. And no, we don’t age in dog years or anything weird like that. Twenty-eight normal human years old.”

  He drove for several more minutes, his thumb tapping the steering wheel idly as he worked up the nerve to ask something else.

  “What about Deva?” he asked. “Is she, like, hundreds of years old too?”

  “Uh, I think it’s probably best if you let her answer that one.”

  6

  Deva

  I couldn’t shake the sense of cold dread that had hit the moment I realized how much danger Keagan and Bodhi were really in. Nor the underlying guilt that somehow my being with Rohan was the reason Keagan left. There was no denying it, though. He’d gotten himself bitten by Jewel to try to save Ro. They’d been together for two years before I came into the picture. They had history. All I had were millions of memories of events I never lived through, yet I cherished every single second of the few that were my own.

  Maddie Dylan shook her head at us from her spot by the kitchen sink. “They were here, sure. Cleaned us out of food, then Bodhi packed up his truck and they left a couple hours ago. Is my boy in danger? Those creatures that bit us . . .”

  A soft, warbling whine vibrated through the air behind me. “The hounds that bit you aren’t a threat anymore, Maddie. Their behavior was unusual, but I have them under control. It isn’t them we need to worry about. There are others. Others who want to kill, not just bite. And I can’t control them. Please tell us where they could have gone.”

  Ro, Ozzie, and Llyr all stood on the opposite side of the kitchen, and Maddie eyed them with a worried look. From somewhere else in the big house the sounds of the piano filtered in, accompanied by singing. One of Maddie’s sisters was here with her jazz musician husband. It seemed the Dylans had taken our original warnings to heart and were surrounding Maddie with music to protect her from the side effects of her soul bite. There was so much love filling this house from a variety of soul-mate bonds that I hadn’t been able to see Maddie’s damaged soul through the hazy cloud of happiness from all her family members. If only Bodhi and Keagan had stayed here, they’d have been safe.

  “Well, pretty much anywhere there’s water and a steady breeze, but that doesn’t narrow it down much,” Maddie said. “They packed the windsurfing rigs. They could be up the coast, down the coast, inland at one of the lakes. There’s no telling. Where Bodhi goes is as unpredictable as the wind. I’ll try calling him and tell him to come home, but knowing Bodhi, he’s on the water and won’t pick up even if he’s someplace where he can get a signal.”

  I felt a warm touch on the back of my arm and glanced back to see Llyr looking at me with raised brows. “Your bloodline link—can’t you sense him?”

  I blinked back hot, frustrated tears and shook my head. “I can’t see them anymore,” I said. I lifted a hand to my chest where Rohan’s dragon mark peeked out from the edge of my tank top. All I could sense was my link to him, and if I tried hard enough I could sense my mental link to the hounds.

  Llyr’s jaw clenched and he gave me a curt nod.

  “There are alternatives.” Ozzie took a step toward us, but paused with a frown when I recoiled. The strange, uncomfortable sensation in my midsection had come back when we’d arrived, and it seemed only distance from him eased it. Seeming to sense my unwillingness to be near him, he shifted directions and leaned in the doorway a few feet farther away instead. “We split up. We call Willem and Sandor to help, and we each go a different direction until we find them.” He dropped his gaze to Jewel, who sat at my feet with the other three hounds, none of whom had left my side all morning. “Can’t see the damn link to the hound well enough for it to help, but they’ve got to be good for something besides following you around. See if you can get through to them too.”

  I regarded the four luminescent beasts and sighed. I still had no clue exactly how to work with them. I sent them a mental plea nonetheless. If they had any power to help, I hoped my wish would be enough for them to understand.

  “We’ll find them somehow,” I assured Maddie and stepped in close to give her a hug. “Are you doing all right?”

  She pulled back and exhaled slowly, nodding. “I’m making do. Mama and my sisters are going nonstop with the music. I’m a little weary of all the cutesy snuggling that’s going on around me though. Happy for them all. Grateful that my sisters already found soul mates so I don’t have to worry about them. I don’t, do I?”

  “I . . .” I gave her a helpless look and glanced back at Ozzie for support. He shook his head.

  “The hounds aren’t trained to care about people who are already bound to a soul mate. Your sisters should be safe. It’s you we’re worried about. Stay inside and with one of them at all times. If you sense anything off, call us.”

  Maddie nodded solemnly, then hesitated. “I would see you out, but you didn’t exactly come through the front. Don’
t think I’ll ever get used to how you people travel.” She shook her head but gave us an amused smile. “Either way, you are all free to make yourselves at home here. If there’s anything else I can do, let me know.”

  She gave us a little wave and then left the kitchen.

  “What now?” I asked. I eyed the hounds but there had been no change in their behavior since we’d arrived, or since my little silent missive. It was a struggle to contain the frustration at how ineffective I was, even with the addition of a dragon soul. I’d lost my link to the bloodline just when I finally had a clue about the true danger they’d been in all along.

  I moved to lean against the sink where Maddie had been and covered my face in my hands. “It’s all my fault. I didn’t know mating Rohan would do this! How could this happen?”

  Ro moved to wrap me in his arms but I smacked my hands against his chest. He flinched and stepped back and I immediately regretted my reaction. The pain and frustration in his eyes were a perfect reflection of my feelings so I knew he understood. It was his nature as a Gold dragon to empathize with the people around him, and our bond probably magnified that impression.

  “I’m sorry, Ro,” I said. “But don’t you feel like we rushed it? If we hadn’t, I could find them. I’d know exactly where to look. And what about the others? The victims you two saw . . .” I looked between Ozzie and Llyr in the kitchen’s arched entryway. “I’ve felt every other lost soul since I forged my connection with the bloodline. I didn’t feel these new ones die. How am I going to protect them if I can’t sense them?”

  “Deva, it isn’t your job to protect them,” Ozzie said.

  “Then whose is it? I don’t see anyone else stepping up and even showing any interest. Llyr, you told everyone at home why I left before you followed me, didn’t you?”

  “Yes.” He nodded his dark head solemnly. “They know. But it’s complicated. More complicated now that they’re certain Fate is behind the attacks.”

  Now that they’re certain . . . “You’ve talked my family again since?” I shot, my eyes widening. “What lies are you telling them about me now?”

  He flinched almost imperceptibly and dipped his head. “In all honesty I said as little as possible about you. I told Neph you were safe. That’s all he needed to know. I merely filled them in on the developments with the hounds. They’re discussing options and mobilizing the various members of the dragon Court. Others will be charmed to see the hounds like we can, and will be on guard. But no one is willing to intervene yet. Not until we understand why Fate is carrying out these attacks. If it’s a calculated plan, no one wants to interfere with Fate.”

  I deflated after his completely reasonable reaction to my barb. He was trying to help, I could see that, but it didn’t help ease the lingering sting of his betrayal. “Thank you,” I said. “So it’s just us then, for now.”

  Ozzie moved to lean against the kitchen island just across from me and crossed his arms. I flinched at the distorted buzz that began at the base of my skull, which only faded once I retreated to the doorway beside Llyr, where Ozzie had been a moment ago. I had no idea why his proximity provoked such unbearable discomfort within me, but it was one more thing than I could deal with today.

  Ozzie frowned deeply in concern, but he didn’t bring it up. “You and Ro should stick together. Either start driving north now, or wait until dusk and fly along the coast. That may be the better option since you’ll be able to get a visual on them from above. I’ll have Willem and Sandor fly inland. As long as they are airborne Willem shouldn’t be in danger from any other hounds. Now that you’ve healed his soul bleed, he has the power to return to his human shape without issue. And Llyr and I will go south.” He pressed his lips together as if trying to decide whether to say something else. “Deva . . .”

  “What is it” I asked, heart pounding at the heavy way he spoke my name, like he was about to spill some secret.

  “Just use your instincts. Your turul senses are stronger than you think. Listen to the wind.”

  With that he turned and nodded at Llyr. “Let’s get moving big guy,” Ozzie said. The big satyr stiffened and shot Ozzie a dark look.

  “I have something I need to discuss with Deva before we go. Alone,” Llyr said, directing intense glances at both Ro and Oz.

  Ozzie’s head jerked up, his eyes narrowing and his aura flaring silver with suspicion.

  “Nothing you need to be concerned about,” Llyr said, his words dripping with a barely veiled threat that made me wonder what the hell had happened between them the night before.

  Ozzie gave me one last look and left, climbing the back steps to the upper floor and the widow’s walk where we’d drifted in earlier.

  “Ro stays,” I said, giving Llyr a challenging glare.

  “I would rather discuss this with you alone. You are free to talk about it with him after. He is your mate, after all.”

  I didn’t miss the bitterness in his tone and was about to object again when Rohan closed the distance between us. He squeezed my hand and raised it to his lips. “It’s all right babe. I trust him. I’ll be up top with the Maestro. We’ll find our guys soon, I know it.”

  When he was gone, I crossed my arms and stared at Llyr. “He might trust you, but I don’t.”

  “And you shouldn’t, not really. I am not above debasing myself to find out the truth—the reason you believe I betrayed you. But that isn’t why I need to talk to you now. It’s about your link to the bloodline.”

  I stood up straighter, ready to hear him out if he actually had something useful to say.

  “Please tell me it wasn’t because of Rohan,” I said.

  Llyr shook his head as he stepped closer, pausing to look at some point in the distance beyond my shoulder. His aqua gaze was a tumult of strange power and his profile threw me back to the day of the ritual when we’d first had sex and he’d helped me link to the bloodline. It had taken immense power to forge that first link, but it hadn’t died, despite me losing all the magic I had stored. Even at complete empty I’d still been able to sense those millions of souls and find comfort in their presence.

  But no more, and I longed to understand why.

  Llyr’s throat rippled as he swallowed, and he finally looked down at me, his gaze calming instantly and his face relaxing with a kind of peace as he took me in.

  “You and I have been bound by our blood for an eternity, Deva. Even though our link began barely more than a year ago, you know me better than any on earth save my own brothers. I will never find a bond like that with another. Even were I to blood meld a nymph, the kind of bond I share with you cannot be recreated . . . nor should it.”

  I nodded slowly. “You mean what Meri did to us in her lab.” I’d only been a tiny embryo when Meri had taken me from my mother’s womb and immersed me in a sterile tank flooded with satyr blood to sustain me. Llyr and his fellow soldiers had been my source of energy for those first five months of my life, and in that time, I had formed an irrevocable bond with all of them, but Llyr was the only one who was granted permission to take advantage of that link. He’d been assigned as my bodyguard and teacher, and we had taken our bond further than my Dionarch father had intended. I’d wanted more from him at the time. So much more. But within moments of first coupling, Llyr had broken my heart by accusing me of not being a virgin when we’d started. I still wasn’t ready to forgive him.

  “Meri may have meddled with Fate countless times, but I don’t regret the bond she gave us. Even if you never stop hating me, I will stand by you. It isn’t just my duty to protect you, Deva. It’s my calling. Your desires are all that drive me. Your safety is everything, and I promise with all my heart I would never lie to you or take advantage of your trust, if you saw fit to grant it to me once more. Please tell me you hear me. Follow Ozzie’s advice and use your turul instincts to know I am not lying to you now. Every single thing I do is in the interest of preserving your safety and happiness.”

  I stared at him wide-eyed as he made hi
s speech, only realizing after the fact that he was entirely sincere. I had never known him to lie, which was what made his words so confusing. What I knew to be true and what he said did not mesh, and I still couldn’t reconcile the conflict. But he wasn’t lying now, and that’s what mattered in the moment.

  “What does this have to do with the bloodline?” I asked.

  “I can no longer sense my link to you. It happened sometime during the night last night, while Ozzie and I were tracking the hound. I know this isn’t what you want to hear, but I believe it is your bond to Rohan that interfered with it. Did you happen to share blood with him?”

  “Blood?” I shook my head, partly in denial over the suggestion, unwilling to accept confirmation of my worst fear—that my mating Rohan had indeed compromised my ability to protect the bloodline. “No, we only made love. He shared his soul with me. Without that, I’d have never fully unlocked my dragon powers. And it healed him in the process.”

  “His soul,” Llyr said. He winced and gripped the edge of the counter until his knuckles turned white. “Yes, that explains it.”

  “Explains what?” I snapped. “It makes no sense to me! Why would I lose my link to the bloodline just because I mated him? I’m the only one who can link to them! That’s why I was chosen for the ritual to begin with. And Rohan’s part of the bloodline!”

  He turned his swirling gaze to me and my balance wavered. When he lifted his hand to my cheek I closed my eyes, shocked by the depth of the ache that simple contact drew out of me. He’d hurt me, yet I couldn’t deny that part of me still wanted him. Wanted to believe him and follow through on those promises we’d made to each other that day. That want was why it still hurt so much to be near him.

  “Llyr, don’t.” I shook my head but couldn’t move away or I knew I’d fall, and I feared that if I fell it would be straight into his arms.

  “Yes, he is bloodline and that may be part of it. Oh, to be the one to have taken over your heart so completely. I think your link to the bloodline still exists, but the brilliance of the bond you share with one soul has blotted out all those other lights. The stars don’t cease to exist just because the sun brightens the sky, but we need different tools to find them. I think I can be the tool you need if you let me.”