by JL Madore
I raise a hand and wave away the embarrassment. Nothing Hawk said was untrue, but it doesn’t mean I want to dwell on it. “Despite what he thinks, I intend to learn and become the best freaking phoenix your world has ever seen.”
Kotah jumps up to kiss my cheek. “And we’ll help you. Anything you need.”
“Damn skippy,” Brant says, handing me a plate and pointing to the food. “We don’t need him. If he wants to cut ties, he’s welcome to appeal to the elders when we get to the Bastion. The four of us will rock this union and make the fae world proud.”
Even the thought of Hawk leaving our bond cleaves me with a piercing loss. I don’t know why I care. I’m furious with him. As much as I admire his accomplishments and see how he’s an asset to our bonding, I don’t like him and I doubt we’ll ever be close.
I still don’t want him to leave.
My mound of Thai noodles crashes into the stir fry when I plop a scoop of cheesy macaroni and bacon. I throw on a few ribs to round out my food groups and grab a fork. Shuffling to the sectional sofa along the lounge wall, I set my plate down and take a deep breath. “Since when do I eat like this?”
Brant chuckles. “Since you’re fueling a wildling body.”
“And do wildlings get fat?”
“Nope.”
Well, that’s a plus. “Okay, so, what do we do now? Where do we go? I need training and education and likely a lot more that I have no idea I need to know.”
Brant turns sideways and slides his leg onto the cushion, to face me. He takes my hand in his and smiles. “We’re headed to the Bastion now and will be there sometime before the crack of dawn.”
I stiffen and a wave of nausea hits hard. “Why there?”
Brant’s nostrils flare and he shakes his head. “It has nothing to do with contesting our bond.”
“No, don’t think that.” Kotah kneels on the floor beside me, places a hand on my thigh, and my anxiety drains away. He smiles and my cells tingle with a rush of warmth and affection. “Don’t ever think that.”
I swallow. Despite their reassurance now, it guts me they discussed it in the first place. Was it a plan? Did it simply get thrown out as an option? I don’t want to know. I’m not strong enough yet to face the rejection. “Okay, then why go there?”
Brant sighs. “As much as it galls me to admit it, Hawk’s instinct to go there wasn’t all wrong. The Bastion is the central hub for all fae races. He’s got more clout behind him than the rest of us combined. We need to find out what triggered your resurrection and why we’re meant to open the portal gate? Is it peaceful on the other side or such a war-torn loss that we need to help?”
I grab a napkin to wipe rib juice off my fingers. “I’m not clear on the whole gate thing. If I’m the magical key, how do I open it? Is it a door? Do I just walk up and turn the handle?”
Brant shrugs. “No idea. That’s why we need to go to the Bastion. Hawk has clearance to access satellite feeds and security reports. It’s our best shot to figure out why we were brought together.”
“And,” Kotah says. “Once Hawk accesses the satellite feeds, he can track Sonny and his remaining drow forces.”
“He’s still going to pursue Sonny?”
Brant looks surprised. “Of course. Not only did that drow and his men hurt you, but they are fae rogues killing humans. That’s a major offense in our world. Fae live peacefully with humans or we don’t live at all. It’s our greatest tenet. The Fae Council has to be notified.”
Kotah presses a hand on my thigh and releases another round of feel-good mojo.
The Bastion. I hate the idea of being near the men who can weigh in on our bond. I also want Sonny and his remaining men to pay for what they’ve done. I set my plate down and swallow. “Promise me, if you have doubts about being my guardians, you’ll come to me first. I hate sounding paranoid, but everyone gets taken from me. I have to know you won’t change your mind and leave if things go sideways.”
Brant’s response is immediate. He scoops me off the couch and sits me in his lap. “Calli, only death could tear me from your side—and maybe not even that.”
Kotah presses my hand over his chest. His heart is strong, hammering under my palm. “I am yours for as long as I live or as long as you’ll have me.”
I draw an unsteady breath.
How can this possibly be my life?
CHAPTER TEN
Hawk
With my laptop open and the secure connection on my cellphone hotspot verified, I finish with my head of operations. “I’m telling you, Hunter, it’s bigger than a few rogues making money illegally. With the number of guns we found in that barn and the ammo in the bunker, there’s an underground force gaining strength.
“Underground force? Mr. Barron, those drow are playing a human corruption game. How can that hold any threat to the fae world? It’s troubling, yes, but likely nothing more than a dark race giving in to a system of greed.”
“What’s really troubling is that we weren’t on top of things and my head of operations isn’t taking the threat seriously. Hunter, if the drow set up this kind of exchange every six months, we need to know how long it’s been going on, who’s on the receiving end of the guns, and where all the money is coming from.”
“Yes, sir. We’ll track it down. I guarantee it.”
“Don’t placate me, Coyote. Just do it. Blind spots are unacceptable, especially with the arrival of a phoenix. I want everything double-checked. There’s a storm brewing. I won’t be caught unaware.”
I end the call with Hunter and click back to the call in waiting with Jayne. “I’m back.”
“I sent the documents. You should have them now.”
I open the incoming documents from Jayne.
“You need to take care of this personally, darling,” she says, “before your absence and lack of follow-up is perceived as you not giving the Fae Council due consideration.”
“If I remember correctly, I set up the Fae Council and helped to create their hierarchy of power. My dedication is well established in the circles of those who matter. Whether I look at land contracts from the top of my office tower or my truck, is no one’s business but mine.”
“Are you getting enough sleep, darling? You’re being unduly terse with me tonight.”
I sigh, not really. Flipping from the current land survey to the same map taken from historical record and back again, I frown. “There’s a discrepancy on the bottom quadrant of the map in the flow of the river. Why?”
The rustle of paper on the other end of the line indicates that Jayne is referring to the original documents. “It seems the path of the river moved over a century. Natural erosion or flooding likely caused the banks to swell and shift.”
“Don’t take anything for granted. Have a science team review it and check out the site.”
“That’s a bit reactive, don’t you think? It’s likely—”
“Not your call, Miss Trenton. If I’m not mistaken, my likeness hangs in the grand entrance, not yours. You work for me. We are not equals.”
“You are in a mood,” she says. “Very well, I’ll arrange a team of surveyors to go out tomorrow. Also, I have several contracts and agreements which require signing. May I at least assume you’ll be returning by the week’s end?”
“You may not. We ran into trouble with a rogue group of drow. It’s taking me to the Bastion. Once that’s sorted, I’ll reassess things.”
“What does that mean?”
“Exactly what I said.”
“What has gotten into you this past week? Does it have anything to do with the rumors of a phoenix resurrection? Is there a concealment issue I should be aware of?”
“If your attention was required, I would let you know.”
“Why are you being so aloof? I know you too well to believe a personal matter could derail you for an entire week.”
I straighten, glaring at the road stretching out before us. It rubs me raw to think people are speculating about the phoenix’
s arrival. Even worse, I don’t want Jayne anywhere near the current Calli bonding mess.
“You worry about the Fae land discrepancy and run things at the office. Courier the documents you need to be signed to Gareth at the Bastion. I’ll get them once we arrive.”
Without awaiting an answer, I hang up. “Why is it so unbelievable that I might have a personal matter to attend to?”
Lukas grunts. “Other than the fact that you don’t permit personal matters in your life?”
“Yes, other than that.”
“I’d say that if something came up, you’d handle it with a phone call or a quick verbal response. Flying across the country and spending the next week out of the office is highly out of character.”
“I flew to Miami two months ago and stayed a week.”
“To oversee the serial murder of a pixie colony. That wasn’t personal. You don’t do personal. Well, didn’t before being bound as a Guardian of the Phoenix.”
I throw him a scathing look. “You know about that?”
He slides an amused gaze over at me. “I may act the part of your bodyguard and driver but we both know how much more I am than that.”
“Well, it’s a moot technicality regardless. I’m exploring my options on how to sever the bond. Can you honestly imagine me as a bonded male?”
“Playing well with others has never been your strength.”
I chuff and open my next email.
Lukas slows the truck, frowning and I follow his troubled gaze. A person is standing in the middle of the road up ahead, waving us down.
“What’s this, now?” Three cars are scattered in a tight cluster across the lanes, blocking quick passage. One man stands alone in front of the blockade waving his arms.
“Stay here, sir. I’ll check it out.”
Calli
The driver’s compartment of the tour bus is to the left of the curved stairs that lead outside. From the top step, I lean over to stare out the massive window to see why we stopped. “It looks like a car accident,” I holler back to the others. “A guy is in the middle of the road. Lukas is checking it out.”
The engine of the bus rumbles beneath my feet as I watch Lukas approach the stranger. He seems apprehensive, searching the barely sprouted farm fields and scattered houses on both sides of the road.
Brant comes up to join the peanut gallery. Before long, he frowns and calls to the back. “Jaxx, do you feel up to taking the wheel for a sec?”
“Yeah, I’m good. Why?”
Brant shrugs. “After years as an enforcer, my Spidey-senses are pretty good. Something about this feels hinky. Doc, you’re with me. Let’s get those cars moved to the shoulder and get moving again.”
A moment later, Jaxx slides into the driver’s seat and Kotah swings the handle of the door to seal us in. “Calli? Would you mind stepping back and looking out the window from that seat? I don’t like you exposed in front of so much glass.”
“Good call,” Jaxx says, a thread of tension tight in his voice. With his bare foot on the break, he puts the bus in reverse and grips the steering wheel. “Sitting down is a good idea in case we need to make a quick exit.”
The apprehension of the others tightens in my belly. I’m not sure if it’s paranoia or instinct. “Why are we all suddenly on high alert?”
Lukas is twenty feet from the accident now, with Brant and Doc jogging to catch up with him. The guy in the center of the road raises his hand and—
Two sharp cracks split the air.
Lukas twists sideways and stumbles behind the bumper of the closest car. He clutches his arm and my heart stops.
Gunshots.
“Fuck,” Jaxx says, ramming the gearshift into first. He lets off the brakes and Kotah swings the door open and jumps out of the way.
Hawk runs up the stairs as we jolt backward.
“Wait!” I say, pointing at the scene well out in front of us. “No. We can’t leave them!”
I lunge for the steps, but Hawk catches me by the waist and lifts me over his shoulder in a fireman’s hold.
“Get us out of here, Jaguar.” Hawk’s fury rumbles from his chest and vibrates in mine.
Three more shots crack off.
The thunk of bullets hitting metal rings out against the side of the bus. A window shatters in an explosion of raining glass shards. I protest against Hawk’s hold, wriggling and flailing as panic takes root in my gut. “We can’t leave. Brant’s out there. Lukas is shot.”
Hawk doesn’t stop until we’re in the bedroom. He drops me unceremoniously on the bed and I’m still skidding across the mattress when I’m shielded by a large, snarling wolf.
“You’ve got guard duty, Wolf,” Hawk says, turning from an open safe in the bedside cabinet. “Spitfire, do you know how to handle a gun?”
My mind stumbles. “Point and squeeze?”
Hawk nods. “Point and squeeze works. I’m disengaging the safety, so that’s all you’ll need to do. But be careful. Kotah is your last line of defense and we don’t want the kid bleeding out from friendly fire, all right?”
I swallow and take the gun in my trembling hands. My heart thunders in my chest so hard it feels like my chest might explode. “Who’s out there? What do they want?”
The roar of an angry bear outside has me pushing up on my knees and turning for the window behind the bed.
“NO!” Hawk shouts. In the next second, I’m flat on my back with a tightly wound man pressing me into the mattress. “Keep your head down and stay alive. There’s no future for any of us if you wind up dead.”
I swallow hard. For the first time since I met the unflappable corporate tyrant, I hear a vein of uncertainty in his voice. No, it’s not uncertainty—it’s fear.
The look he pegs me with is filled with both heated panic and icy disdain. This strange connection we share peels back the emotion and exposes why. He desperately needs me safe, but he wishes he didn’t care.
Why I care after he flayed me, is as much a mystery, but something primal inside me says it’s not the time to take my stand. Counter to my natural SOP, I push down my instinct to fight and succumb—for the moment—to the needs of the man who only hours ago reduced me to shreds.
That emotional resonance must flow both ways because his ego deflates. He releases my wrists and straightens beside the bed. “Keep your head down. I’ll help the others.”
I nod and sink my fingers deep into the warm coat of my wolf. Hawk never answered my question about what the gunmen want, but he doesn’t have to.
It’s written in the fury on his face.
Me. If Brant and the others die out there, it’s because they are protecting me.
Hawk’s gone in another heartbeat and I hug Kotah. “I hate that this is happening. I don’t even understand—”
An ear-shattering explosion cracks behind me.
Glass rains down on me in thick chunks. I lunge forward as something grabs my robe at the nape of my neck. I’m yanked backward, up and over the window frame, and fall twenty feet to the asphalt.
My hip screams in protest as I crash to the ground.
The red glow of brake lights flare and the bus screeches to a stop. Kotah vaults through the opening, his powerful legs reaching for me as his paws take purchase on the ground and his muscled shoulders absorb the drop. He hits the ground running, fangs bared.
More mouths take hold of me. Sharp teeth cut through the fluffy padding of my robe and clamp onto my shoulder and arm. I scream, twisting to untie the belt, trying to see—oh gawd—I’m being dragged into a farm field by a pack of wild-eyed hyenas.
Two of the slobbering beasts drop back to take on Kotah.
Their taunting yips and grunts hold none of the primal intelligence of my guys: a wolf’s fierce growl, a jaguar’s possessive roar, the keening shriek of a hawk’s rage, and in the distance the raging snarl of my bear.
Hawk is airborne, his massive wings pumping hard to clear the field and close the distance between us. With the power of multiple hye
nas running, my upper body is suspended in the air as my legs bump and crash over uneven land. I jostle and jolt, clamping my jaw tight to keep from biting my tongue.
It takes a moment for my hamster to climb back in its wheel. I’m still holding the gun Hawk gave me.
Yee-fucking-ha.
I twist and shoot, not caring about my aim. Everyone I care about is behind me. There’s no threat of friendly fire. I fight the bump and drag and fire again. This time, one of the beasts yelps and the hold on my left shoulder drops away.
Men rush forward from the farmhouse ahead. They’re dressed in all black and have guns raised. It’s an ambush.
Another shot rings out and Kotah yelps behind me. His footing falters and I know by his sideways stagger, he’s hit. It doesn’t stop him. His paws still rip up the earth as he fights to get to me.
Bile burns the back of my tongue as the fur on my wolf’s shoulder darkens. A rush of nausea hits as I watch his gait get progressively more uneven. The sickening sensation morphs to a hot rage boiling my blood in my veins.
These people want to hurt us—want to take my guardians from me. I tighten my grip on the gun and twist.
Tat-tat-tat-tat… I unload the rest of the ammunition in a spray of bullets as fiery rage explodes inside me. My harem-scarem firing either injures or alarms my kidnappers.
I flop to a jerking halt and crack the back of my head on the clumpy dirt of the field. Dragging in a steadying breath, I connect with the raw power vibrating in my cells and accept who I’m meant to be. My guardians deserve more than forever putting their lives on the line to protect me.
You are responsible for saving yourself. Always.
Riley is right. I must protect myself.
As I feel my insides grow molten-hot, I drop the gun and force myself to stand. My balance is unsteady, but I curl my fingers into fists and get my head in the game.
Come on, Calli girl. You can do this. You own this shit.
Kotah
I’ve almost caught up to Calli when she shucks her robe and explodes into a fiery storm. Even shot, bleeding, and sick with worry, I can’t help but suck in a breath of amazement. She truly is incredible. As her body explodes into a fiery blaze, she Banshee screams and turns on our attackers.
