by Quinn Loftis
“What’s the furry goober researching?” Peri asked.
“Rachel mentioned something to Gavril when he was here earlier.”
Peri frowned. “They never spoke.”
Alina tapped her forehead.
The high fae rolled her eyes. “Sorry, dumb blonde moment. Don’t tell Jen.”
“Rachel mentioned to Gavril a feeling she had when she was in their minds. She said that their spirits seemed to be lost, trapped in limbo somehow, unable to find their way back to this world, no matter how hard their owners might be fighting to bring them back. Gavril told Wadim to check our records and see if he could find a record of any other healers ever encountering this.”
Peri’s head tilted slightly. “Lost,” she said, almost to herself. “Neither of them is willing to leave this life. That’s why they’re lost.” She let out a laugh that was filled with so much relief Alina wanted to grab onto it and feel it too. “Jacque was fighting to bring her son into this life while her own slipped away. Fane was fighting for Jacque and his son. He pulled on the pack bond for strength. He used his connection to Vasile, his connection as an Alpha. Though I don’t know if he was even conscious that he was doing it, he was just so desperate to keep them alive. With all of the power coursing through them from me, Sally, then Rachel, the pack bond, and their own wills…it’s like they forced their souls not to leave this realm, pinned them here, even though they should have long since departed.”
“But they aren’t really in this realm,” Alina pointed out.
“No…but they are where we can get to them. Had their souls already gone on, they would have been beyond our reach and my magic would not be working. I can’t believe Rachel figured that out before me.”
“It’s not like you’re a little stressed or tired or anything,” Alina said dryly. She looked back at her son and felt the little hope Peri had just given diminish. He looked so lifeless. “So you think they can be saved?” Her eyes met the high fae’s once again.
Peri’s eyes narrowed and latched onto her like a hawk after its prey. “I will die before I let them escape this realm. They may not be my children, or even my species, but they are a part of who I am, of who I’ve become. I will hold on until we figure out how to bring them back. You have my word, Alpha.” Peri bowed her head to Alina, a rare form of respect given by a more powerful being to one not her equal.
Nissa was pretty sure that being a high fae had, up until this point, never been so messy. She stood next to Jeff Stone, the Alpha of the Coldspring pack, staring at the four people they’d rescued from the most recent raid against the vampires. Two were under the age of ten, and the other two were either teenagers or in their early twenties. All of them looked as though they’d been dragged through the mud then dipped in sewage and then trampled by the manure covered feet of a thousand pissed off pixies. In other words, they looked really, really, bad. Their eyes were sunk in from weight loss and their cheeks protruded sharply from their faces. Nissa wasn’t exactly the nurturing type, but it ticked her off to see children abused. She was glad they’d thoroughly decimated the coven that had held the children captive.
“So what now?” Jeff asked her.
“Now I see if they have family that they can return to. I’ll have to alter their memories. The things that have happened to them shouldn’t have happened and I don’t want it to haunt them for the rest of their lives. And they don’t need to know about the supernatural world, at least not right now anyway.
“Two of them are dormants,” he pointed out.
She looked at him with a raised brow.
“They are true mates to someone. They belong with us.”
Nissa understood how desperate the males were to find their mates. There had been a shortage of females for such a very long time. “Do they look like they’re ready to know something like that?” She motioned to them.
Jeff looked at them again and after several minutes let out an exhausted sigh. “Fine. Do what you have to, but we will be keeping tabs on them. When the time is right, we will come for them— we have to.”
The high fae walked over to the children slowly, not wanting to spook them. She smiled warmly at them and explained that she would be taking them home. She stepped up to the first child and knelt down. “Can I touch your head?” she asked him. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
He nodded.
Nissa placed her hands on his head and closed her eyes. She sifted through his memories until she found the information she needed. Then, without a word, she flashed with the boy. Peri had explained how best to return the children to their homes, so now Nissa did the same thing. After a few minutes, she returned, repeating the process two more times. Finally, she faced the last one, an older girl. When Nissa looked into her memories, she saw what had happened to the girl when she was taken. Her family had been slaughtered right in front of her.
“How old are you?” she asked the girl.
“Nineteen. I was taken when I was twelve,” she answered in monotone. There was no emotion in her voice or in her haunted eyes.
“Do you have any family, other than your parents, that you would like to return to?”
The girl laughed darkly. “Like I could return to that life after the past seven years? I wouldn’t even know how to live, not in that world, not anymore.”
“I can take the memories. I can give you new memories. You don’t have to remember what you’ve suffered.” Nissa knew that taking that many memories from someone her age could be dangerous to the human, but this girl was not just human.
The girl took a step back from the high fae. Her eyes widened slightly as she shook her head. “I don’t want my head messed with. And I want to know about those monsters. I can’t go back to not knowing now. How can I protect myself if I’m ignorant?”
Nissa considered this. She had to admit that she understood where the girl was coming from. She was making a wise decision, though not an unpainful one. “I can’t let you go back into the human world with your memories intact. The world isn’t ready to know about us, or them,” she said indicating a dead vampire lying in the corner of the room. “If you keep the memories, you’ll have to stay with your own kind.”
“What own kind?” The girl narrowed her eyes, a look of incredulity crossing her face.
Nissa raised her eyebrows and inclined her head toward Jeff and his warriors.
“You mean like them,” the girl squeaked, her steely resolve breaking. “A wolf?”
Nissa nodded. “Yes, you are part Canis lupus. That is why you were taken. I can take you to a pack that has a very powerful Alpha. They have experience dealing with dormants—that’s what you are called. I know that this is a lot to take in, but we really don’t have any other options, and you have to start somewhere.”
“Why aren’t you freaked out?” Jeff spoke up. His eyes were staring intently at the girl but she didn’t back down. She was not dominant—not exactly—but she had backbone. That was good because it meant she would fight to survive. The packs needed as many dominant wolves as they could get.
Her lips tightened as she met his gaze and held it for several breaths before finally dropping it. “I’ve spent the last seven years being snacked on like a box of graham crackers and you think learning that there are other monsters out there would freak me out?”
“I was speaking more about the fact that you are part monster,” Jeff said with a crook of his lips.
The girl shrugged. “I don’t care. I could be a damn troll for all I care, as long as I don’t have to be a slave to those bloodsuckers.” Her jaw was clenched and her fists balled up at her sides. Nissa wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d launched herself at the first person who made her feel threatened.
“Fair enough,” Nissa said. “Let’s go then. Vasile and Alina will want to meet you.”
“She could stay here,” Jeff spoke up.
Nissa could see the hope in his eyes, hope that she would be a mate to one of his wolves. Maybe she was, bu
t she was not ready for something like that. She shook her head at him. “I’ve been ordered to bring any dormants that need sanctuary to the Romania Alphas.”
The Alpha’s shoulders slumped as he gave a curt nod. It was clear that he didn’t like that order one bit. But he wouldn’t challenge Vasile, not if he wanted to live, anyway.
Nissa took the girl’s hand and smiled at her. “Sorry if this makes you a little sick. Close your eyes and it won’t be as bad.”
The girl obeyed without question. Nissa bowed her head slightly to Jeff and then flashed, taking the girl to her new, hopefully vampire-free, life.
Decebel paced back and forth in the library as he held Thia in his arms. The girl had discovered that she could blow raspberries, and she was currently propelling spit all over him as she did it over and over, pausing to giggle in between each one. He was waiting on Jennifer to get back from helping Bethany. He was irritated because she wouldn’t let him go with her.
‘Drake will crap a cow if you come anywhere near his mate,’ she had told him pleadingly. Decebel had to give her credit for such a pleasant mental picture. So he’d let her take her bossy little butt down to a room that had a brand-new pair of true mates—unbonded, one of them feral, and the other clueless. He’d officially lost his damn mind. How the hell he let her talk him into stuff, he didn’t know, but it was sure to shorten his very long life span and give him ulcers and high blood pressure.
“Try to go a little easier on your mate, Thia girl,” he said as he bounced her gently in his arms. “He’s going to be clueless on how to protect you while also letting you be who you need to be.” He let out a sigh. “But really, you don’t need to worry about it for at least a century. Whoever your true mate will be, he’s going to need at least a hundred years to be mature enough to handle the daughter of my mate.”
“How many times are you going to tell her that she can’t mate until she’s, like, a hundred and something years old?” Jen huffed as she strolled into the room.
Decebel couldn’t help but greedily take her in, his eyes running over her from head to toe. She snapped her fingers at him and pointed up. “Eyes up here, fur ball.”
“I just want to make sure it’s clear so that there is no confusion later on.”
She laughed. “Dude, you’re like a freaking GIF, repeating yourself over and over and over. I don’t think she’s going to have the opportunity to be confused. You’re going to give her a complex.”
“How did it go with Bethany?” he asked her deciding it was better to change the subject, lest she begin lecturing him on how their daughter has the right to bond with her true mate when she meets him and blah, blah, blah. He usually tuned her out when she started talking nonsense.
“Well, she’s a sweetheart. Very ignorant on a lot of things, but she seems to be taking it all in stride.”
“And Drake?’
“Yeah, that wolf is bat-shit crazy.”
“Jennifer,” he growled. “Language.”
“What?” she shrugged. “I can’t sugarcoat something as serious as a feral wolf. Without Bethany right beside him, Drake will kill a unicorn, chomp butterflies to death, and pretty much attack anything with a pulse…and probably some things without pulses if he finds them to be a threat. I took her to shower, after using my Alpha power on him, and by the time we returned his paws were bloody from his attempt to dig out through the concrete floor, which now has more scratches than a Texas State Lottery card.”
Decebel felt his wolf stir. It hurt him, as Drake’s Alpha, to see one of his own in such a state. He didn’t know how to help him. He’d thought that finding his mate would quell the wolf’s darkness, but it was beginning to look like it was too late for Drake. What kind of life could Bethany have if she had to be practically locked up with her mate because his wolf couldn’t handle her being out of his sight or around other males? Could Decebel allow such a thing to happen? Would it be a better alternative to take Drake out of the picture and leave Bethany as an unbonded female with no chance of a true mate? Perhaps, then she could move on with her life, maybe even fall in love with someone else. That certainly wouldn’t be the same as if she was with her true mate, but maybe she could still be happy.
Jen narrowed her eyes at him. “I hear what you’re thinking, B, and you can’t. It’s not fair to either of them. Something so important needs to be decided by them, not by us.”
“Bethany doesn’t understand the stakes. How can she possibly make a rational decision about this?” he pointed out. Decebel wasn’t trying to be argumentative; he was simply playing devil’s advocate because he needed to see what Jennifer’s opinion was. He needed the wisdom of a female viewpoint, one that saw more than just a feral wolf.
“At least give her a chance to learn. Maybe he just needs time with her. Maybe her presence will begin to fight the darkness in him and he’ll get better. They deserve a chance.” She reached for Thia as he processed her words.
“Fine,” he said through clenched teeth. He was frustrated over the decision. Neither he nor his wolf liked it when choices weren’t simply black or white. “I’ll give them some time. But we are going to have to be very careful with Drake. And Bethany is going to need some guidance, other than what her mate can tell her.”
“No worries, I got this,” she said as she grinned at Thia, causing the girl to giggle.
“How are you going to do that while looking for one of your best friends and worrying about the other?” His head tilted slightly as he folded his arms in front of him.
Jen started for the door as she answered. “How is it that you keep forgetting how awesome I am? If you look up awesome in the dictionary, my face is right there. Don’t doubt my mad skills, Dec. I can worry about Jacque, search for Sally, make time for Thia, and help Bethany step into the present day. No problem.”
“What about me?” he asked as he started to follow her.
She chuckled. “Take a picture, no wait, maybe a video. Then just look at them when you miss me. But please try not to attempt to feel up the screen when you’re watching the video.”
He growled at her and smacked her on the rear. “You’re twisted.”
“And oh how you like it. Now come on. Gavril is going to play with Thia since Rachel is sort of tied up in keeping wolf-man and Red alive. Let’s take a run and head to the Romanian pack mansion. We can drop in and see history boy while we’re there.”
“Does Wadim know we’re coming to see him?” Decebel asked her.
“Depends on your definition of know,” she answered with humor lacing her voice.
“Jennifer,” he warned. “How many definitions can there be?”
“You’d be surprised.”
Decebel ran a hand through his hair and then pinched the bridge of his nose. His mate could take him on a verbal roller coaster ride if he continued to ask her questions she didn’t want to answer. Some days he loved it. It was kind of a hunt of sorts, which his wolf loved, of course, But other days it was as frustrating as her disregard for the need of clothing in all situations outside of their bedroom. Okay, so maybe the clothing thing was actually a lot more frustrating.
“You go on ahead. I need to speak with Costin,” Decebel said and he felt his wolf tense inside of him.
Jen stopped and turned fully toward her mate. Her eyes, which held so much emotion, were wide and staring at him. “Is he okay? Has he gotten worse?”
“He’s,” Decebel began and then stopped, gritting his teeth against the darkness he was feeling in the pack bonds, specifically emanating from Costin. “He’s the one we need to worry about.”
Jen sucked in a breath. “Even more than Drake?”
“Way more than Drake,” he confirmed.
Jen walked over to Decebel and wrapped her free arm around him. She squeezed and held him. Decebel loved these moments because with his mate they were few and far between.
“Be gentle, he’s hurting,” she pleaded.
“A feral wolf doesn’t need gentleness, bab
y, he needs control. I am the Alpha and the only one who will be able to control him if he loses it completely.”
“It’s totally inappropriate, but I feel like there should be some music with the whole dun, dun, duuuuuuuun sound and then some deep voice that says ‘will our hero succumb to the dark side or will he fight for all of mankind.’”
“He’s not fighting for all mankind, just himself and his mate,” Decebel pointed out.
Jen huffed. “That’s not the point. It’s a funny, haha, referencing all those superhero cartoons and the voi—” Her words broke off as she noticed Decebel wasn’t really paying attention. “Oh, forget it. Don’t get blood all over his suite, Sally would be as angry as a tom cat that wakes up and realizes he’s only half the tom he used to be. Oh my gravy, I am on fire.” She held up her hand. “But totally inappropriate. See you in a few.” She reached up on her toes, gave him a quick kiss and then scurried out of the room.
Decebel walked toward the door as slowly as possible. Possibly, if he walked slowly enough, someone would find Sally before he made it to Costin’s room. Then everything would be fine and the coming conversation would be entirely unnecessary. He knew why he was walking slow. He was dreading having to see his friend in such a state over something he, his Alpha, couldn’t fix. Not to mention, he was likely going to have to issue Alpha commands to an old friend. He hated having to do that.
When his brain finally got his feet to move, he let his wolf out just enough for his eyes to change and placed his emotions toward his friend aside. Now he was acting on the instinct of the animal but with the words of the man. The animal was on his way to deal with a pack member that needed discipline. The man was going to deal with his friend. Two different beings, two different motivations, working in tandem. It was very hard to explain, but Decebel understood it and his wolf understood it and that’s all that mattered.
When he reached the door to Costin and Sally’s suite, he lifted his head and scented the air. The smell of pain, anger, confusion, and something else that he couldn’t place were all seeping through the cracks in the door frame. When he pulled the door open the smells hit him full on. Decebel ignored the odor and focused on his friend who was sitting in the floor doing a puzzle with Titus.
