Of the Woods

by J A S Bennet

  “I think I can create a storm with my power over nature. At least, I can get one started so the atmosphere can take over.” She shrugged like it would be no big deal. The power she was feeling must have been stronger than they were used to. “And as for the fog, we make it. Well, kind of. There is still plenty of storm damage we can burn to cover the area with smoke.”

  “And then we lie in wait. Instead of arriving after the damage has been done.” Deaglan loved the idea. It could actually work. They could control the situation from the inside for once.

  “We’ve got a lot of work to do to get ready. I’ll gather the guardians.” Cian was out the door and Ava watched him go, shameless.

  Ava spent most of the day in her dojo spinning around with her sword. Cian was plotting the plan and assigning positions while Deaglan worked with his bondmate on her ability to bring about a storm.

  Brecon wasn’t the trainer Cian was, but he still had things to show her about approach and technique, even if his speed didn’t match hers. She wanted to hurt someone, but it wasn’t him, so she took it easy on him. Instead of going for a kill strike, she’d tap him on the ass. His cheeks were starting to hurt, but what choice did he have?

  Tadhg sat with Jenny in the library going over historical battles on the grounds. They were trying to find any flaw in their plan. The goal was to have the upperhand, and to not end up regretting calling in the Darkness.

  Grog was actually making himself useful by making a scale replica of the woods using books in the library. It made it easy for Jenny and Tadhg to lay out different scenarios. They weren’t sure what he would do when he completed the assignment, but the challenge of convincing him to build it in the first place was all they could handle.

  Soon, dinner was served and they could hardly eat. Immediately after their plates were cleared, the three were dressed for battle. This time, it would be an offensive attack. This time, they had more power, they had a plan, and they had each other. And hopefully, this time, they wouldn’t lose anybody.

  Deaglan had done a good job preparing for this fight. The guardians were divided up and spaced out all throughout the grounds in small groups, some were stationed along the top of the wall surrounding the castle, and even a few rookies were stationed on the roof as a last resort should any enemies breach the wall.

  Sheridan was focused and ready. She had spent some time testing her skills and realized calling on a storm would be well within her abilities. Everything seemed easier for her since she bonded. The strength she gained was definitely noticeable and she knew Ava and Jenny would be stronger now as well. But she was still nervous about how this battle would go. It was her idea and she would blame herself if things went wrong. Things really needed to go right.

  Her falcon friend called out to her and landed on her shoulder. She put her hand up to pet his breast. Upon contact, he sent her an image. The controlled fires were being set with the fallen green brush, causing a lot of smoke. This was the signal she had been waiting for.

  “It’s time.” Closing her eyes, she drew in a full breath and let it out slowly, holding her hands out beside her. Her nymph spirit began calling on the clouds to form over the sea.

  Jenny and Ava drew into her on either side and held her hands. They were stronger together and didn’t want to take any chances. There was too much at stake. Deaglan watched on in fascination at how quickly the three had learned to rely on each other and to be there for one another. It was another affirmation that Shawn was right about finding these women and bringing them here.

  The clouds filled with water and grew heavy and gray. Then Sheridan gave them a mental tug and they shifted toward where the women were standing. All of them could feel the Darkness drawing nearer, their plan was working.

  Sheridan raised her hands, taking Jenny and Ava with her, then she opened her mouth and let loose a scream. Slamming their hands back to the ground in a quick jerking motion, a bolt of lightning flew from the storm and landed exactly where she hoped it would, in the poisoned pond, empty of all life. Maybe the electrical charge would help ionize the water and clean out the damaging chemicals. If not, there was no more harm to be done.

  Now that the storm was well and truly started, they looked behind them and saw the smoke piles climbing toward the sky. Sheridan let go of the other two after a quick reassuring squeeze to remind her that they were all in this together and, so far, it was going according to plan.

  Suddenly she felt a tug on her heart, because Murphy’s Law of course. Something wasn’t right with the fire. She fell to her knees when the trees screamed and the animals ran past them. One of the controlled fires was no longer under control. She stood slowly and forced one foot in front of the other, headed into the fire, not after the animals. She had taken several steps before the other girls realized they couldn’t keep up. Staying together was important, but Sheridan was the only one who could fly.

  “I’ll bring them. Go.” Deaglan could feel it, too. The woods needed her. Without another thought she was off, knowing all three of them would be the force supporting her efforts, always standing right behind her.

  When she could see the flames, she landed and took slow steps closer to the need she felt. The rain had begun to fall, but no matter how much she tried to pull more rain, bigger drops down from the clouds she created, they caused nothing but a sizzle on the flames.

  Deaglan arrived carrying Jenny in his arms and Ava on his back. The women got down and coughed at the smoke filling their lungs. Sheridan pulled in from the sea again, but this time just fresh air. She wanted to give her friends a breath, but she hadn’t considered the consequences of her action.

  The blaze rose up and screamed in frustration, the heat searing her lungs and warming her skin. She cut the breeze off. The blue and orange glow reached out to slap toward her and her fear cut her heart rate to stop.

  She couldn’t see what needed her, but something did. Her eyes were filling with smoke and the burn in her heart was growing worse.

  Jenny’s vision grew narrow and she reached for the sea beyond the cliff outside her bedroom. It responded to her like a call and response. Her knees started to shake and Ava grabbed on to her to keep her from falling. The strength of her touch gave Jenny the power to call again. She needed the sea to help. Sheridan saw what was happening and grabbed Jenny’s other hand. Just like that, it became almost too easy for Jenny to haul massive amounts of sea water out of its cliff barrier, along the ground, over their heads, and splashing to the earth to put out the flame.

  “I didn’t know I could do that,” Jenny said.

  “I’m glad you could.” Sheridan saw an injured red fox and began to tend to it, while Ava caught sight of the gleam of a metal approaching through the trees. Pulling her own weapon from its scabbard on her back, she stepped protectively in front of Sheridan and the fox.

  Deaglan was at her side immediately, and Jenny was on the other side, pulling her two daggers up into her ready stance.

  What Ava thought might be a sword turned out to be an axe and she wasn’t sure at that point which would have been worse. She watched in anger as the being wielding it, wound it back to strike a tree. Without much thought, she ran at it as fast as she could and used her sword to cut the axe handle in two. The metal head dropped down behind the being before it even realized she was there.

  “Hello,” she said cheerily, before she reached out and punched him in the face, knocking him out cold. She couldn’t help but call out, “Timber!”

  Deaglan caught him, and lowered him to the ground. “He’s gotta be another brainwashed guardian.”

  Ava shrugged. “He’s gonna have to get in line behind this fox.”

  The din of Jenny’s dagger meeting another metal object alerted them to the presence of a woman she had caught trying to sneak up on Sheridan while she worked. This woman wasn’t holding an axe, she wielded a scythe like the fucking grim reaper and Ava shivered at that thought. She pulled the same move on that weapon of nature and cut the
handle off close to the blade. Then Ava put her sword back in its scabbard to grab the woman’s hair above both of her ears. Ava ignored her cry of, “Ow!” as she head-butted the stranger as hard as she could.

  Jenny caught the knocked-out woman this time, and dragged her next to the man.

  Sheridan watched as the fox took off and her heart felt full again. She surveyed the area to see the work Ava, Jenny, and Deaglan were doing to prevent further damage to the woods she called home. “How’s it going?”

  “Easy pickings.” Ava brushed her hands off as Cian came rushing to their location with a guardian swung over his back.

  Ava gasped at the sight of Cian’s rippling muscles effortlessly carrying a full-grown man as he ran toward them, Sheridan gasped in fear of her battle plan causing another casualty, and Jenny gasped when she realized it was Tadhg. Deaglan’s heart stopped beating.

  “Put me down, Cian. It’s just a sprain.” The sound of Tadhg’s voice resulted in the chorus of three sighs of relief.

  “Let her heal you, then I will, you big lug.” Cian stepped up in front of Sheridan and smiled. “Would you mind? Mac is back at the pub, this is closer.”

  It took hardly any effort for her to heal his mild sprain. Then she reached over and healed the split in Ava’s skin where she went noggin to noggin with the female rookie and the bruised knuckles on her fist. Ava didn’t even bother to wipe away the blood from her head. “If you’re going to insist on taking my battle scars away before they can even form, I’m going to leave my face bloody as evidence I did my part.”

  “That’s sexy,” Cian mumbled, but Ava heard it plain as day. She’d be damned before she admitted that did things to her desire for him.

  “Go fuck yourself and if you’re struggling with the translation, I mean you should go feck yourself.”

  “Maybe later, thinking of your sexy bloody face.” Cian raised his eyebrows at her then turned to Deaglan. “Boss, this is the most serious injury being reported. Seems the Darkness only sent our own back to us, weak and mild-tempered.”

  “So it sounds like Sheridan and Mac have some more work to do, but we didn’t defeat the Darkness?”

  “Not yet, but all rookies are now accounted for.” Tadhg’s report sounded promising. “However, there are still some defector’s on that side from our ranks.”

  Deaglan shook his head and looked around at the group in front of him. His two best friends, close as brothers, his bondmate, and her two best friends. This was not a night for focusing on the negative. “We will deal with that when the time comes. As for tonight, we have a ceremony to plan.”

  30

  Beginnings

  Everything in Sheridan’s life had changed in such a short amount of time. She had family again. She had a purpose. She had a mate. The one thing that had remained the same was her love of the woods and the creatures within. Today all that remained the same and all that had changed would come together to celebrate the joining of them.

  “I get to wear heels? Right? I understand the usefulness of those ugly-ass boots, but this is an important event! Heels, right?” Ava looked like she might cry if Sheridan replied in the negative. She had started to show emotions and today was one of those rare times when you could read them on her face.

  Sheridan reached into her bag and pulled out a box. Not just any box. A tan box with white writing. Ava almost fell down. She screamed instead.

  “Holy. Shit! Louboutin?! Seriously? How?” Ava was so excited her hands were shaking.

  “You clearly have underestimated me.” Sheridan beamed as she watched Ava snatch the box, put the nude-colored heels on, and strut across the floor.

  She came back across the room and gave Sheridan the biggest hug she could.

  “I figured when you kicked ass in them, the blood would blend right in with the red soles.” Sheridan was so happy to do this for her. This woman was a bad-ass friend, cousin, and as close to a sister as she’d ever had.

  “Jen, you get something a little different.” Sheridan got out a second box. This one was smaller. Jenny’s eyes lit up just by touching the box.

  She ripped the box open. Inside was a silver chain with a small clear bottle with a stopper. Tears came to Jenny’s eyes as she put the necklace around her neck. The bottle laid just above her heart.

  “Now you can have the sea with you all the time.” Sheridan had gone to the cliffs and filled the bottle herself. She had filled it with the sea and her love.

  Jenny hugged her as Ava had, with a force of love that filled Sheridan’s heart. When she pulled away, Jenny still had her hand wrapped around the bottle.

  “So, let’s get this show started. No more tears and shit! You have a sexy man waiting for you in the woods!” Ava knew how to get things going.

  “Will you help me get ready?” Sheridan asked softly. She didn’t want to do this alone. She knew Deaglan would be waiting for her, but she was still nervous. She didn’t like being the center of attention and she needed her girls there with her.

  “I can’t wait to see the dress!” Jenny was jumping up and down, literally.

  Sheridan went into her closet and came out holding an off-white flowy dress with delicate lace overlay. The edges were covered in a vine pattern. It was simple and sweet. That was, until she turned it around. There was no back until it hit her waist.

  “Wow!” Jenny exclaimed with tears in her eyes. “It’s perfect. Just perfect.”

  “You’re gonna have those sexy-ass wings out, aren’t you?” Ava winked.

  “Not until tonight.” Sheridan winked back.

  The three turned to the commotion at the door. Guardians had a knack for sneaking up on people, that fact told them this was someone else. The door flew open. Jenny and Sheridan took a step back as Ava took a step toward the potential threat. There stood Grog. Jenny and Sheridan broke out in laughs, Ava did not.

  “What the fuck, Grog? You can’t just barge in on women like that, especially us! I could have killed you!” Ava shouted angrily.

  “Oh hush! I have a queen to serve and you will not get in my way!” Grog said back with equal anger.

  “Uh-oh, he may have just signed his death warrant.” Jenny didn’t move an inch but was terribly concerned for Grog’s safety.

  Sheridan skirted around Ava, placing a hand on her shoulder as she did. She could have sworn she heard Ava growl before she removed the calming presence of her hand.

  “What have you got there, Grog?” She could see he was pulling a sheet behind him. He turned and untied his bundle. Hundreds of flowers and loads of greenery were hidden inside.

  “Oh, my goodness, they are all so beautiful!” Jenny ran up closer to take a look.

  “Don’t fret, my queen, they were not picked by me. They were an offering from the woods. They are to be with you during the ceremony. You have given so much to it and it wanted to make your day beautiful. A crown of flowers.” He reached into the pile and pulled out a rope of yellow roses intertwined with shamrocks. He held it out for Sheridan to take.

  A single tear fell from her eye as she took the crown of roses from his hand. He put his hand to his heart, bowed, and turned for the door.

  “When are you bringing me flowers?” Ava inquired to his retreating back.

  He didn’t stop walking or turn to face her as he answered. “When you find someone stupid enough to mate with you,” he mumbled under his breath while ducking the bottle she threw at his head. Sheridan and Jenny both burst out laughing.

  Ava stood behind Sheridan as she sat on a lounge on her patio looking over the woods. Sheridan closed her eyes and enjoyed the feel of Ava braiding her hair. The braid she created was not the style she personally wore. It was loose and almost natural looking. Jenny entered with a handful of the flowers and shamrocks that Grog had left behind.

  Sheridan let them pamper her and didn’t ask to look at the work they were doing to her. She just sat in the sun, felt the wind on her face, and smelled the mixture of salt and woods in the air. Today
she would formally be tied to Deaglan. They were already mated, as the tattoos would attest. This was just to celebrate their love for one another.

  The women behind her stopped working and were silent. Sheridan was almost scared to ask why. Rarely were these two quiet without her begging them to be.

  Slowly she stood and turned to look at them. They just stared at her. She stared back. “Oh no, what’s wrong?” she asked, with an almost shaking voice.

  “Oh Sheridan, you are the most beautiful wood nymph I have ever seen!” Jenny was teary.

  “Deaglan is going to shit!” Ava added with her usual charm.

  Sheridan took a deep breath. “I look okay?”

  “I’d so do you right now!” Ava again with that charm.

  They all laughed. “Deaglan doesn’t look like the type to share so I think you are out of luck,” Jenny quipped.

  “Guess I am on the hunt tonight then! Some lucky bastard might get lucky tonight!” Ava winked.

  “Let’s get you to your man!” Jenny pointed toward the door.

  “Uh, hon, shoes?” Ava was looking at Sheridan’s bare feet.

  The dress Sheridan wore floated around her bare feet in the wind. Her red toenails were shining. “I want my feet on the earth, while my heart is floating. No shoes for me.” She led the women down the steps and to the entrance of the library.

  “Y’all wait for me outside, if that’s okay? There is something I need to do.” Sheridan was gazing through the doors.

  “Sure. I will let everyone know we are almost ready.” Jenny headed out. Ava took a second to follow. She really wanted to go with Sheridan but she knew this was Sheridan’s day, so she relented and headed out as well.

  Sheridan entered the secret passage and slowly descended the stone steps. Going down into most caves meant that the temperature would cool. The steps under her feet warmed with each floor she descended. When she reached the bottom, they felt as if they were warmed by the sun.