EUAN: Outback Shifters #3

by Chant, Zoe

  “You okay?” he asked her quietly as they entered the meeting room where Callan was waiting for them.

  Delilah paused, then nodded. “I guess. I mean, physically, I’m fine. But I’d really like to know just what exactly happened back there.”

  Her eyes traveled to the pinpoint of the wound Euan had given himself with the exacto knife.

  “That’s what I hope we’ll sort out right now,” he told her.

  “So. Euan – what’s this about Ruby?” Hector asked as soon as the door was closed, crossing his arms over his chest. Clearly, anything to do with his daughter was something he wanted to know about – now.

  “I might be wrong about this,” Euan said, deciding it would be better to cut right to the chase, “but I think Delilah and I just encountered two alicorns. And they weren’t friendly.”

  Hector blinked, frowning, and Callan did the same.

  “What makes you think that?” Hector asked.

  Euan didn’t blame him for not believing him right away. Alicorns had been thought completely extinct for centuries – right up until Hector and his mate Myrtle had found Ruby’s egg, which had hatched after they’d spent some time caring for it.

  “Let me take some time to explain,” Euan said. “Hector, what was it you called Ruby’s powers right after she’d hatched?”

  “Her mind-whammy powers?” Hector asked, still looking confused.

  “Sure, if that’s what you’re calling them. But you said she could… control you? Force you to do something without you realizing you were doing it?”

  Beside him, he saw Delilah’s mouth pop open in surprise.

  “Yeah – she sent me off to go get her some extra snacks after we told her she’d had enough,” Hector said. “Nothing too serious, and I came out of it quickly enough. Either she can’t do it anymore, or she took Myrtle and my lectures about how it was bad manners to heart and just chooses not to.”

  Euan knew that Ruby’s alicorn powers – which were incredibly strong – might not work anymore, after she’d used a huge amount of her energy to heal Hector of some deadly injuries before she’d been ready to. No one knew what powers she did and didn’t have anymore, or even if she’d be able to shift into human form once she got older. They would all just have to wait and see.

  “And,” Euan said, realizing Hector, Callan and Delilah were probably getting impatient waiting to hear his thoughts, but wanting to make sure he had all the facts before he laid them out, “you’re the only one among us – maybe the only person in centuries – who’s met an adult alicorn.”

  “That’s right. Tassos and Aleta,” Hector said. “They wanted to take Ruby back to live with them, wherever the last remaining alicorns have been hiding for centuries. But she convinced them to let her stay with us.”

  “What were they like? And what did they look like?” Euan asked.

  “Tall. Elegant. Weirdly gorgeous, but in a kind of spooky way. Long blond hair, almost white,” Hector said. He grimaced. “And they kind of had their heads up their own arses. You know – like they thought they were too good for us.”

  “And their powers?” Euan asked.

  “Even spookier than the rest of them. There was a Hargreaves agent after us, who planned on raising Ruby to be their tool – to use her mind-control powers to control governments and corporations, and make a ton of money in the meantime. Not to mention starting wars Hargreaves could provide mercenaries for.” Hector swallowed, his face clouding in anger. “But Tassos and Aleta… they completely erased her memories. About everything to do with Ruby, about alicorns… but also about herself. Who she was. Her identity. To be honest, it gave me the creeps.”

  Euan nodded. He could understand that, no matter how evil Hargreaves and their agents were.

  “Alicorns have been in hiding for centuries, since they said humans kept trying to use them and their powers for evil,” Callan said quietly. “But Euan, you said you think you just saw two of them?”

  Euan nodded. “I can tell you what happened as best I can.”

  He ran through the encounter he and Delilah had had with Lev and Alisa, including the very vague memories he had of the way his body had seemed not to be under his own control – the way they’d very nearly made him cut his own throat.

  He could see Delilah biting her lip as she listened, her eyes wide.

  “I knew there was something wrong – well, obviously,” she said, her voice shaky. “But even before you lifted the knife, you didn’t look like yourself. And your movements were all… jerky. Like you were fighting against them.”

  “You say you don’t remember anything until you managed to come back to yourself when they made you pick up the knife,” Hector said darkly. “That would fit in with what happened to me the only time Ruby used her powers. I was sitting down in front of the campfire and then… wham, next thing I knew I was over by the shed, thinking about nothing but getting Ruby some more mashed apples. And the way you describe their looks… you could be describing Tassos and Aleta.”

  “What did you say they told you again?” Callan asked. “About it being too late?”

  “Alisa said something about it being pointless – about how it didn’t matter what ‘that traitor’ had told us, things were too far gone now, and there was nothing anyone could do to stop them,” Euan said.

  “Well. That sounds nice and ominous,” Hector said.

  “There’s more,” Euan went on, a chill running down his spine. “She said that there were people even within the Agency who agreed with them. Who wanted what they wanted.”

  Hector and Callan both frowned.

  “What do you think she meant by that?” Callan asked. “That there’re people in the Agency who’re helping them? In whatever it is they’re actually doing?”

  “I don’t know,” Euan admitted. “That’s all she said.”

  “This was very hush-hush,” Hector said after a moment, “but on the mission where I found Ruby, I suspected there was a mole within the Agency, working for Hargreaves. I submitted my evidence, and Robb said it would be sent to internal investigations. But you know how these things go – it’s kept quiet. I never found out if anything was uncovered.”

  Euan mulled this over, but he wasn’t surprised. The Agency was secretive. He didn’t even know the identities of any other agents aside from the ones he worked with in this office. It was better that way, in case of capture and torture. He couldn’t give up secrets he didn’t know.

  “The other thing is…” Euan said, glancing at Delilah. “Hector. You said Tassos and Aleta erased someone’s memory. Alicorns have those kinds of powers. But… do you think it would be out of the question for them to give someone memories as well?”

  Delilah sucked in a breath, staring at him. “The man in the alley – the man they said was a traitor –”

  Euan nodded. “Delilah, he touched your arm, didn’t he? He asked you to find the Agency and tell them what had happened, but he didn’t actually tell you anything.”

  “T-that’s right,” Delilah stammered. “Right before he disappeared, he touched my wrist and it was like… a tickling feeling, like a low-charged electrical current, running from him to me. That’s what it felt like.” She looked at him, eyes wild. “Are you saying he – he gave me his memories through that touch?”

  “I think it’s very possible,” Euan said. “I think he was too weak to tell you what he wanted to say, and this was his way of trying to get the information we needed to stop Lev and Alisa to the Agency. You just happened to be there at the time, and he had no choice but to give you his memories.”

  Delilah sat back in her chair, looking stunned.

  “That… that would make sense,” she said after a moment. “I mean… those flashes of light from my hands? I could never do that before. Obviously. Why do you think he gave me that power as well? And why can’t I remember what he wanted me to tell you?”

  “You said he disappeared right after that,” Hector cut in, eyes narrowing. “And he wa
s very weak – he couldn’t stand.”

  Delilah nodded. “That’s right. He could barely speak.”

  “Perhaps he was too injured to do the transfer properly,” Callan suggested. “Maybe it didn’t work quite right – and maybe he accidentally transferred some of his alicorn powers over to you too.”

  “Oh. I see.” Delilah’s voice was soft as she stared down at her hands. “I… I guess that would make sense. But how do I find out what he wanted me to know? How do I remember?” She gasped suddenly, the color draining out of her face. “Wait – the dream I had. No, the dreams. Do you think – ?”

  “I think so, Delilah,” Euan said. “I think they might have been the memories he gave you, trying to surface.”

  “But I can’t remember them now,” Delilah said. “All I know is that they were terrifying. Not like any other dream I’ve ever had in my life.”

  “Wait – you mean if you can remember your dream, we might be able to figure this out?” Callan asked her, leaning forward. “Is the answer we need –”

  He broke off as the table in front of them suddenly began shuddering. Delilah gasped, looking around the room wildly as it started to shake.

  “Another earth tremor,” Hector said, raising his voice to be heard over the rattling and shaking. It subsided after a moment or two, but the tension was still thick in the air.

  “That was worse than the one yesterday,” Euan said.

  “And the one last night,” Callan said.

  “Last night?” Euan asked, frowning. He didn’t remember that.

  But then…

  “You didn’t feel it?” Callan asked. “It was pretty big, but not as big as that one.”

  “I… no,” Euan said. “I didn’t.”

  He guessed he probably would have been dead asleep.

  Or very much awake, and just… distracted.

  He glanced at Delilah and saw she must’ve had the same thought, the tips of her ears slowly turning pink.

  Maybe Callan and Hector sensed something in the air, because Euan saw them exchange a quick glance, before Hector cleared his throat.

  “Well – if your theory is true, Euan, then Delilah, we need to find a way to help you remember what it was the man in the alley was trying to tell you,” he said. “But despite having Ruby, I have to say I don’t know a lot about alicorn mind-reading powers, or whatever it is. Even when we were looking for information about Ruby to see if there was something we should know about raising her, there wasn’t much information around. Seems like alicorns have always been pretty secretive.”

  “But there has to be a way,” Delilah said, her voice quiet but determined. “If the answer to stopping those… those alicorns after what they did to Euan – and whatever else they’re planning to do – is in my head, then I’ll do whatever it takes to get it out.”

  “Could Ruby herself help?” Euan asked, looking at Hector. “You saw the way she reacted to Delilah – it was like she could sense she was another alicorn, and was showing her respect. Do you think she was responding to the man in the alley’s memories?”

  “It’s… possible,” Hector said slowly. “But I don’t really like to drag her into work things. Whatever this is, it sounds serious. If there’s another way, I’d like to try it first.”

  Euan swallowed. He looked at Delilah, at the strong, determined expression on her face. He knew she meant it when she said she’d do anything she could to help them.

  It seemed so unfair somehow that she’d been dragged into this – she’d simply been an innocent bystander, someone who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. And now she had to deal with all of this. Alicorn schemes, the Agency, knowing that she perhaps had a mysterious man’s memories implanted in her head…

  But if she hadn’t been, we never would have met her, a voice in his head said. We never would have discovered each other. We never would have known that we were mates.

  Euan gasped. The voice had been unmistakably his lion, sounding just as it had used to. But again, as soon as it had said its piece, it was gone again – just the same as before.

  Euan tried not to let his disappointment cloud his mind. Right now, there were more important things at stake than him regaining his lion.

  But the mated bond…

  “Delilah,” Euan said urgently. An idea had come to him. If the mated bond had sparked something within him, then perhaps it would work the same for her – perhaps it could help her to recover the memories the man in the alley had buried in her mind.

  This wasn’t how I wanted to tell her, Euan thought, pain searing through him. He’d wanted to pick his moment. He’d wanted it to be right – wanted her to realize just how perfect and special she was. Just how much it meant to him that she, out of all the people in the world, was the one he was meant for.

  But I have no choice.

  He closed his eyes.

  “Delilah, I have something I have to tell you.”

  Chapter 14

  Delilah held her breath, looking into Euan’s eyes.

  The last few hours had been… well, calling it a rollercoaster ride didn’t really seem to sum it up. Maybe if the rollercoaster caught fire, flew off its tracks and hurtled into space it might have come a little closer to adequately capturing how she felt.

  She knew at some point she was going to have to sit down with Euan and figure out how she felt about all of this – evil alicorns, tiny adorable flying horses, the fact that she’d had someone else’s memories transferred into her brain – but right now, she knew she simply had no choice but to hang on tight, and try to see things through.

  The consequences if I don’t are…

  Well, that was the problem: she didn’t know what they were. She wouldn’t know until she could somehow figure out how to access the memories the man in the alley had given her.

  And no, no matter what Euan told her, Delilah decided she’d just have to be ready to believe it.

  Euan took a deep breath.

  “Delilah, I wanted to find some other way to tell you this,” he said. “Somewhere… proper. With candlelight or a nice meal or something. I don’t know. I’m really no good at this kind of thing.” He grimaced. “But it seems like I have to tell you now, since there’s a chance it might help recover your memories.”

  Delilah blinked. “If that’s the case, you definitely should.”

  Nodding, Euan looked straight into her eyes. “Delilah, do you remember how I told you that shifters, aside from our other powers, also have a mate – someone who was meant just for us?”

  Delilah’s breath caught in her throat. Of course she remembered that – she’d thought it was Euan’s way of letting her down easy. Not that it would have changed any of her other actions later in the evening.

  But… does he mean that…

  “Delilah,” Euan said, taking her hand in his calloused fingers. “It’s you. You’re my mate. I wanted to tell you this morning, but…”

  Delilah swallowed heavily, her stomach churning – but, for the first time today, it wasn’t from fear. It was from pure happiness.

  “No, it’s cool – I think I get why you didn’t get time this morning,” she said. “Uh. There was… kind of a lot going on.”

  Does this explain why I could… sense that he was in danger back at the gallery? she thought, feeling dazed. Would I have been able to do that even if I hadn’t gained some of the man in the alley’s, uh, powers?

  Perhaps Euan was right, and it would’ve been nice to receive this news in a romantic, candle-lit setting. But right now, she just didn’t care. The only thing that mattered was that Euan was her mate.

  My mate. I’m the one he says was made just for him. We were made for each other.

  She paused.

  “Oh – does this mean that you realized it after we –”

  She cut herself off suddenly, feeling a blush rise in her cheeks when she remembered Hector and Callan were still in the room, watching silently. She glanced at them, but both of them were smi
ling broadly.

  “Suddenly I feel like an intruder,” Hector said. “Would you two like a little alone time or something?”

  An embarrassed laugh forced its way past Delilah’s lips. “No! No. I just… I just… wow. Okay. I just wasn’t expecting that. And to be honest, I kind of do want to talk about this more. Alone. With Euan.” She gave his fingers a squeeze, looking into his dark brown eyes. “But right now…”

  Euan nodded. “You’re right. Right now, we have to find out what exactly Lev and Alisa are trying to do. And we have to find a way to stop it.”

  Delilah drew in a shaky breath. “Okay. What do you want me to do?”

  “If your dream really is the key, then that proves what the man in the alley wanted us to know really is inside your memories,” Euan said. “We just have to find a way to have you consciously remember them.”

  “Do you remember anything at all about the dream?” Hector asked.

  Delilah looked down at her hands, clenching them into fists. “Not really. I just remember that it was terrifying.” She frowned, trying to concentrate. “I think I… was somewhere where I couldn’t breathe – or I thought I couldn’t breathe.”

  “Hmm.” Euan’s eyebrows drew together. “Because something was covering your airways?”

  “No, nothing like that.” Delilah shook her head. She tried to recall the details to herself, but every time she tried, it was almost as if her mind shied away from it, as if it couldn’t bear to look at whatever it was head-on.

  “Delilah, I think we’re probably going to need some help to find out whatever it was the man wanted you to know,” Euan said. “And maybe the mated bond between us can help you.”

  Delilah looked up at him. She wasn’t quite sure how that would work, but she was willing to believe him – and to try anything if it meant she could help stop whatever Lev and Alisa had planned. “Okay. Just tell me what I have to do.”