But before he could finish, there was a huge clap of thunder, the wind began to blow, and rain began to beat down on them. Then just as suddenly as it had started, the rain stopped, the sky cleared, and the stars came back out.
All that was left was a mist that clung to the ground, but as it began to fade, it revealed four figures standing in the clearing. One of them stepped forward, a beautiful young woman, who when she got close enough, raised her hand in the air and began to speak.
“This will end now; there’s been too much death already,” she said, staring at Demetri until he shifted back to his human form. “I’m the witch you seek, and I will accompany you.”
Demetri waved his hand in the air, and the wolves began to melt off into the darkness; he gave Dalton and Melody a triumphant grin then said, “I’m glad someone has some good sense.”
“But I’m going with her to see that you don’t harm her,” Steven said, stepping up next to Charlie, who looked up at him and smiled.
“I want you to take me to my father; it’s time he and I met,” Charlie said.
Demetri laughed, “You think you’re in charge; let me explain how this is going to work, I’m—” but he didn’t finish his sentence because with the flick of her wrist, Charlie sent him flying across the clearing.
When he got back on his feet, he stared at her. “I’ll take you to your father,” he said.
***Dalton***
Dalton watched horrified as Charlie stepped up to Demetri and placed her hand on his arm; she reached out and took Steven’s hand. “Just imagine Deacon in the last place you saw him.”
Then the air began to shimmer, and they were gone. He didn’t move until he felt Melody’s silky head disappear out from under his hand, then he turned to find her standing next to him. She was covered in bruises but looked better than the last time she’d been in her human form.
He pulled her to him and hugged her, then pushed her away and looked at her again. “Where does it hurt? Are your ribs broken?” he asked, running his hands gently over her rib cage. “I can heal them.”
Melody threw her arms around him and hugged him, then asked, “Are you alright?” and started to check him over.
He pulled her against him and said, “I’m okay, a few bumps and bruises but I’m okay.”
When she began to tremble in his arms, he looked down at her, and all her emotions washed over him. The fear that she’d never see him again, the pain of missing out on all that they could have shared, the joy when she’d seen him standing in the clearing, and especially the love.
“I should have told you sooner that I love you,” she said, her voice quivering, tears running down her cheeks. “I thought I was never going to get to tell you that.”
Dalton smiled down at her, “Better late than never,” he said, then looked deeply into her eyes. “I know you can tell what I’m thinking, but I’m going to say it anyway. I love you, Melody; I love your stubbornness and your need to always win. I love your determination and how tough you are, but most of all, I love your eyes.”
Melody looked down, but he pulled her chin up. “No, don’t look away. I hope that someday we have a little girl and that she has her mother’s eyes. I hope that she puts a spell on me just like her mother did and that just like us, it will last forever. I love you, Melody, and that’s never going to change.”
“I love you too, Dalton,” Melody said, then reached up and put her lips on his, shivering when she felt the connection between them. “I don’t care if it’s my eyes you love as long you love them forever.”
Daniel: Fairplay Shifters
Book 6
Chapter 1
***Daniel***
Daniel filled his cup from the huge coffee pot in the bunkhouse dining room and walked through the swinging doors into the kitchen to see what Margot was making for breakfast. It wouldn’t be long before the sun would be up, and he’d have to head to the barn to begin the day’s chores; a good breakfast was just what he needed.
“What’s for breakfast?” he asked, sitting down at the little table by the window.
Margot turned from the stove. “I’ve got turnovers and breakfast casserole in the oven,” she said, then turned and looked at him. “Have you slept at all?”
“No, I tried, but every time I close my eyes, I see Charlie and Steven disappearing with Demetri. I can’t help but feel responsible; if we’d been more aware, we would have known that Demetri had spies watching us,” Daniel said, voicing for the first time what had been bothering him all night.
“You can’t blame yourself; no one thought that he’d have someone on the inside watching you,” Margot said, then came over and sat down at the table with him. “I know this is hard for you, but you can’t take all the blame on yourself; this has been going on for a long time, Daniel, and mistakes were made by lots of people.”
Daniel shook his head, “I just can’t get the picture of Charlie and Steven disappearing out of my head.”
“But it sounds like she went willingly,” Margot said. “I think Charlie can take care of herself, and your brother is perfectly capable of protecting them both; besides, I can’t imagine Annabelle and Justin let them go to meet Deacon unprotected.”
“I know you’re right, but since no one is talking to me, I have no way of knowing,” Daniel said, a scowl on his face.
As usual, he’d been excluded from the meeting Annabelle and Justin had called as soon as they got back to the ranch. It had become a pattern over the last year—a pattern that always left him out of what was happening, left him taking care of the ranch and his parents.
What galled him the most was that this time he’d been right in the middle of everything; in fact, if it hadn’t been for him, they’d have never found Melody. But that didn’t seem to count for anything; he was and would always be just the caretaker, and he was tired of the role.
He had dreams of another life, a life spent traveling the world and exploring the places and people he’d only read about in books. As much as he loved the ranch, he was sure that his destiny lay somewhere else, and when all the troubles they’d been facing were finally settled, he was going to look for that destiny.
No more caretaking for him; he was going to strike out on his own before it was too late, before he got stuck here forever. He didn’t have a plan yet, had only made the decision after the long night waiting and the realization that he’d never be anything more than the one left behind.
***Cassie***
Cassie was curled up in the window seat of her room, a book in her hands, but she wasn’t reading. She was daydreaming about leaving the castle and exploring all the places she’d read about in the books that lately had been her only solace in a lonely life. Looking at the stars through her window, she wondered what it would be like to see those same stars from someplace halfway across the world.
Taking a deep breath, she pushed that thought from her mind and picked up her book and tried to read. But before long, her thoughts had strayed again, and she was thinking about the world outside her window, a world she’d seen precious little of in her twenty-one years.
This always happened when she was feeling good, when she was at her strongest. But she knew it wouldn’t be long before her illness reared its ugly head again and she was back in bed, trying to recover enough strength to make it to the bathroom alone.
It was times like these, when she felt perfectly normal that she found it most difficult to stay in the castle, to not take advantage of her good health and explore at least the village. She and her father had fought about it, time and time again, and each time she’d let him convince her that leaving the castle was a bad idea, but lately, she’d become too restless to listen.
Cassie’s heart began to pound in her chest when she thought about what she planned to do, but she was desperate; needed to get out of the castle and off the grounds for at least an hour or two. She’d come up with the plan when her father had announced that he was going to America for a month to do some bu
siness and leaving her home alone.
Now she wondered if she’d be brave enough to go through with it, to sneak away from the castle and explore the village. Go to all the shops she’d only heard about, have lunch in the local bar like the cook did every week, and most important of all, meet people.
She wanted to meet as many people as she could, talk to them, listen to their problems, and hear their good news. Living in the castle, she’d never been hungry or cold; if she’d ever asked for anything, she’d gotten it: new clothes, toys, books. But what she’d never had was championship: kids her own age to play with, adults to teach her about the world.
Her father had done his best to be all that to her, but he was only one person. It made her sad to go against his wishes, but she needed to get out of the castle, needed to see what the real world was like. And if it went well, if she made her tour of the village with no ill effects, next time she’d strike out farther. She could go a lot of places in a month.
***Daniel***
Daniel found a place to sit at the back of the room, sure that the discussion to come would have little to do with him. But he needed to know that Charlie and Steven were safe before he went out to do his chores, so he settled down to wait with everyone else. He did not doubt that no matter what the family had chosen to do about the situation, he’d be staying home to manage the ranch.
When Annabelle and Justin walked into the room, followed by Melody and Dalton, the room grew silent, and everyone sat up a little more in their chairs. “Thanks for waiting so long,” Justin said, “I know you probably have a lot of questions about what happened up there tonight.”
There was murmuring in the room and heads nodded, but the room quieted again when Annabelle stepped forward. “First, Charlie and Steven are safe in Brussels. My family owns a little house there, and that’s where she transported them,” she said, then paused to let that sink in.
“Before we left Simon’s Cove, the coven laid a series of protection spells on them both. Nothing, not even Deacon and his demons, will be able to touch them, and if he tries, alarms will be activated to alert us what he’s up to,” Justin said, taking Annabelle’s hand in his.
There was more murmuring in the room. “Charlie knew that this was the only way to end this once and for all. We were lucky this time; no one died, but that hasn’t always been the case,” Annabelle said.
“But we’re not going to let them walk in there alone; we’ve come up with a plan that should give us the edge in case things don’t well. Charlie and Steven are perfectly capable of taking care of themselves, and they have the talisman now, but I think we’ll all feel better if they’re not alone,” Justin said.
The crowd murmured their agreement, so Annabelle continued, “Basically, we’re going to send in two spies: one inside the house and one outside. In the last few hours, we’ve arranged for a distant cousin in Germany to fill a vacancy inside the castle; she has some interesting talents that might come in handy.”
Daniel was beginning to get bored listening to plans that had nothing to do with him when his brother looked straight at him and said, “There’s an opening in the stables at the castle. Apparently Deacon likes his horses and doesn’t mind paying handsomely for them.”
Daniel thought that he should say something when Justin continued to stare at him, but all he could manage was a nod. “We need someone who knows horses to go to Germany and take that job,” Justin finally said, then added, “We’ve all agreed that Daniel is the one who should go. Neither Deacon or Demetri has seen him, he’s got the knowledge, and it’s time he got away from the ranch.”
***Cassie***
Cassie was again in the window seat trying to read a book; she’d retreated there after a brief tour of the deserted castle that morning and not come back out. Cook had grumbled and sighed over having to bring her lunch upstairs, but when Cassie pretended weakness, she fussed over her like a mother hen.
Now she felt a little bit guilty about it, but the castle was so dark and depressing when the rooms were all closed up, the lights off and furniture covered with dust cloths. Her father had let her keep the morning room open, but she hadn’t felt like watching all the final preparations, or the departure of most of the staff.
As the sun began to set, the castle got quiet: not a comfortable kind of quiet either. It was the kind of quiet that comes after everyone has left a party, a sad kind of quiet, and Cassie hated it. She’d felt this same feeling the other times her father had left, and sometimes it had taken days before she’d venture out of her room, but that wasn’t going to happen this time.
This time she was going out, out of her room, out of the castle, and maybe even out of the village. Jumping up, she went to the closet and pulled down the backpack she’d hidden behind some boxes and reached inside. Without pulling anything out, she did a quick inventory, then satisfied everything was there, put the backpack on the shelf again.
By this time tomorrow, she’d be on her grand adventure, she thought going back to the window seat. She’d just picked up her book when there was a loud knock on the front door; sure that it would be answered, she picked up her book again. But before she could read a full sentence, the knock was repeated, this time with far more force.
Alarmed, she jumped to her feet and headed for the door, stopping only to put the flashlight she’d need in her pocket. Throwing open her door, she headed for the stairs, cursing her father for keeping the lights off in the hallways. Before she could get to the stairs, she heard her father come out of his study, cursing under his breath.
He flipped on the light in the entry hall, so she stepped back into the shadows and watched over the railing as her father opened the door. When he saw the man on the other side, he stepped back and let him in, and Cassie saw that it was Demetri.
She’d never liked Demetri but knew that her father had been doing business with him for a long time. She expected her father to greet him warmly as he’d done in the past, but instead, he growled, “What are you doing here? We were supposed to meet in New York.”
“I’ve run into a little problem,” Demetri said, then winced when her father glared at him.
“I don’t like problems or the people who cause them,” her father said, in a voice she’d never heard him use before.
Chapter 2
***Daniel***
Daniel couldn’t believe that he was sitting on a plane headed for Germany; well, not directly to Germany, but that was his final destination. After Justin had dropped the bomb about him going, and he’d gleefully agreed, things had gone quickly.
All control of the ranch was handed over to Jake and Joslin, who’d spent very little time at the ranch since getting married and were more than happy to take over. Then Annabelle and Justin had pulled him back to the computer room where they found Melody furiously typing away.
When the door was closed, she said, “I’ve managed to get your passport rushed, and new identification that shows your home as Pleasant City, California. If anyone does an internet search for you, they’ll find all kinds of interesting information about you and your parents.”
Daniel sat down heavily in a chair, only now realizing what he was taking on. “Okay, maybe you’d better fill me in,” he said, taking a deep breath.
“You're going to pose as a California rancher looking to expand to horse breeding; you’re touring Europe looking for the best horses. You don’t mind hard work, but have been raised with the best of everything,” Annabelle said, handing him a stack of papers. “Melody put these together for you; study them, memorize them, then get rid of them.”
“When you get there, Vanessa will find you; she’s going to be your eyes and ears inside the house. Only contact us if you think we need to pull Charlie and Steven out of there, which we can do if we have to, otherwise just watch,” Justin said, handing him a suitcase. “We’ve packed everything you should need; you’ve got a new bank account and a few credit cards. There’s plenty of money for anything you might need when you
get there.”
Annabelle crossed the room and stood in front of him. “I know that you’re a shifter, and that alone makes you stronger, but I’d like to give you a few things that might come in handy,” she said, then gestured for Dalton to come closer. “Dalton’s going to help. Close your eyes and try to relax.”
He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and tried to relax. When he felt the tips of Annabelle’s fingers brush softly across his forehead, calm washed over him and then a surge of power so strong it took his breath away for a second. He took a deep breath and started to open his eyes, but Annabelle put her fingers over his eyes to keep them shut.
Dalton was repeating a spell over and over, his voice musical in the silence of the room, and he felt another wave of power wash over him. This time when he opened his eyes, Annabelle was smiling at him, a look of satisfaction on her face.
“Well done, Dalton. I wouldn’t have thought of that,” she said.
Daniel looked up at her, wondering what they’d done to him. “The first spell was a protection spell, to which I added a strengthening spell. Dalton’s given you the ability to understand and speak German; that might come in handy.”
Now sitting on the plane, the power of those two spells still with him, he couldn’t wait to get to Germany. But first he had to make a quick stop in New York to change planes, and he wasn’t about to spend the eight-hour layover sitting in the airport; he’d find a cab and take a quick tour of the city.
As excited as he was, the drone of the engines and his exhaustion soon began to make him sleepy. Knowing that he could use the rest, he tilted his seat back, glad that Annabelle had booked him in first class, then closed his eyes and fell asleep.
Fairplay Shifters Boxset Page 61
