by A. Mashburn
Chapter Nine
Gretchen awoke to the steady thump of the Jeep running over divots on the road and the crunch of gravel beneath the tires. “Hey sleepyhead, we’re not in Kansas anymore,” Mo teased as they continued down a winding dirt road.
“What time is it?” Gretchen stretched and yawned. The lights on the front of the Jeep illuminated the narrow path they were now on.
“About eleven-thirty,” Nicoli answered for her. They slowly approached a log cabin with Boston Ivy climbing along the sides. As they came to a stop a woman appeared in the doorway. She wore a long-sleeved dress that swayed around her ankles and an apron tied around the waist. Gretchen’s eyes traveled up her slight frame to her slender neck and found that the woman was quite pleasant. She had a rounded cherubic face that gave her a youthful look and the smile that glowed with happiness as Nicoli got out of the vehicle made her downright gorgeous.
Gretchen’s insides clenched as her fists curled into balls under the blanket. She could feel her nails digging into the flesh of her palm as she stared daggers at the woman. Mo squeezed her shoulder for comfort. “Alice is actually really great, Gretch. You’ll like her if you give her a chance.”
Alice ran up and wrapped her arms around Nicoli’s neck, and he swung her around. Genesis went wild inside Gretchen’s mind and a low menacing growl rose from her throat.
Mo giggled, “Possessive much? Don’t kill her though, Doll, he won’t thank you for that. I know it’s hard to control Genesis, but you have to—pay attention to the details, that might help. Look how he holds her and the look on his face. There’s happiness, yes. But the small nuances of their behavior shows that this is more of a familial love, don’t you think?”
Gretchen sighed and tried to pay attention to the small details Mo spoke of. However, with his arms around the woman as he talked to her in hushed tones, made Genesis prowl in her mind. Gretchen noticed the look of shock that reflected on the woman’s face. Even with that gleeful smile she sent their way, all Gretchen could think about was ripping her throat out and feeding her to the wolves she heard in the distance. Gretchen glanced at Nicoli, and he smiled at her as he waved his hand, beckoning them out of the car.
Another growl rumbled in Gretchen’s throat and Mo snagged her by the arm. “Gretchen, look at me. You must get yourself under control—do you hear me?”
Gretchen closed her eyes and reminded herself of the reassurances he gave her earlier, they were just friends he had said. She told herself that she had no right to be jealous of this man’s past. She forced herself to picture the sincerity in his eyes and felt herself calm a degree.
There was a rap on the window, and she unlocked the door so Nicoli could open it. He leaned over and into her line of vision. “You good?” He stroked her cheek with the pads of his fingers.
With just that simple touch she released a breath she didn't even know she was holding and felt her shoulders relax a little more. “Yeah, I just needed a moment.”
“Dumbass,” Mo muttered from the back, then exited the vehicle and walked up to Alice and gave her a hug, too.
Nicoli peered at her with a knowing smirk, “Doesn’t feel good when I touch someone else, ‘eh?”
Gretchen’s eyes widened. “How did you—I mean—I, uh—” she sputtered as she tried to explain why she felt that way.
It couldn’t have been because he was touching someone else, could it? She directed her thought to Genesis who returned her question with a growl.
Yes, Gretchen, apparently neither of us like it. How do you think he felt when—
Gretchen cut off Genesis’ voice as she gaped at Nicoli. He was still in front of her with a tilt to his lips and his eyebrow raised while he allowed Gretchen to sort her thoughts.
“That’s how you felt when—”
He silenced her with a soft kiss. “Do you have any idea how hard it was for me not to rip our good friend’s throat out?”
Gretchen smiled wryly against his soft lips, “Sorry about that,” she muttered against him as she deepened the kiss.
He stroked her cheeks with his warm hand and laced his fingers through her hair. “There is nothing between Alice and me—I promise. I only have eyes for one person, that’s it. You need to try to keep a level head, okay?” He pecked her lips again and smiled as she nodded in response.
“I will try, but Genesis and I seem to be a teeny bit territorial,” she admitted with a hint of playfulness as he pulled her out of the Jeep intertwining his fingers with hers.
“Oh, come on, you two,” Alice said with a twinkle of mischief in her eyes. “We have bedrooms inside and I’ve made stew in preparation of your arrival.”
As if on cue Gretchen's stomach let out a loud growl and Alice’s tinkling laughter sounded through the night. “Nicoli, bring the princess inside now and feed the poor girl.”
The twosome grinned ear to ear and as Nicoli grasped Gretchen’s hand, he whispered, “You’ll like her, I promise. Just give her a chance.”
Inside the cabin, Gretchen was instantly at peace. The raw, dried spices and flora in the room released a bouquet of smells that tantalized her keen senses and helped to release the remaining tension in her muscles. The scent of Jasmine in the air settled her mind. For the first time in the last couple of days her brain wasn’t running like a hamster on its exercise wheel. She slumped into the seat Alice motioned her to, Nicoli and Mo followed suit. A comfortable silence filled the room as Alice placed the stew and some fresh bread in front of them.
“Oh my Goddess, Alice,” Mo groaned as she placed the bread in her mouth, followed by a spoonful of the hearty stew. “This is divine,” she exclaimed happily.
“You’ve really outdone yourself.” Nicoli’s groan echoed Mo’s.
Gretchen grinned at them as she lifted her spoon to her mouth. The moment the concoction hit her tongue, her taste buds jumped with joy. “Is there something called a mouthgasm? Because I’m pretty sure I just had one,” Gretchen teased as she looked at Alice, who smiled gleefully at the compliments from the trio.
“I’m so glad you guys like it,” she laughed and sat in her seat. Gretchen noticed after a few moments that there was a frown on the woman's face.
“Is everything okay, Alice?” she inquired.
Startled from her musings, she looked into Gretchen's eyes. “Oh yes, it’s just that—” she looked to Nicoli, who was oblivious to her silent inquiry as he chowed down on his meal in ignorant bliss. Sighing deeply, Alice looked back to Gretchen. “You look so much like your mother.”
An immense feeling of sadness washed over Gretchen, but she recognized the feeling was foreign to her. She felt many things over the last few days, most of the feelings clashing with one another because everything she had been told and seen conflicted with her rational mind. Yet, the feeling of sadness that consumed her was so sudden she felt like she might cry at any moment and wasn’t even sure why. Tears welled up in her eyes as she focused on the feeling and trailed it back to Alice.
Seeing the change in Gretchen’s demeanor, Alice’s eyes widened, “Gretchen? This is going to be a strange question, dear. But you look like you are about to cry, what are you feeling right now?”
It was Gretchen’s turn to look slack-jawed, “I felt an overpowering sadness, right here.” She laid her hand over her heart and placed the other to her head, saying, “But, this—in my head, I know it was not my own. If I focus on the emotion, it seems as though it might be coming from, well, you.”
All three looked at Gretchen like a deer caught in headlights. “What?” Gretchen asked as a feeling of unease crept into her bones.
“She’s an empath, like her mother,” Alice breathed out and turned to Nicoli. “You said she was bound, Nicoli. Oh dear, this must be exhausting—I would have put up a ward if I had known your powers were surfacing.” She smacked Nicoli in the arm none too lightly. “Shame on you, Nicoli.”
“I didn’t know,” he defended himself. He still looked shocked with his eyes bulging an
d the tick in his jaw working overtime.
“I don’t understand. What does me being empathetic have to do with anything?”
“No, no, being empathetic is one thing; being an empath is quite another. Being an empath means that you can not only feel other people’s emotions as your own, but for a wolf, you can trace it back to the original source. For you to do this while being bound, even if it is slipping, would mean that when you are fully unbound you will be quite powerful—mayhap more so than your parents’. You may even be able to manipulate the emotions of others, but that remains to be seen.” Alice smiled excitedly at Gretchen.
“So, you knew my mother?” Gretchen asked clinging to that piece of information.
“Oh yes, and your father, too,” Alice exclaimed. “I trained at the castle for years as an apprentice for your mother’s advisor. I was to be yours, which is what brought me here to Nicoli. I knew there would be a time that you would need me, and I wanted to be close by.”
“Why were you chosen to be my advisor?” Gretchen asked intently as her brow furrowed, wishing she could remember.
A look of profound sadness crossed Alice’s features. “I’m sorry, Alice —” Gretchen started to say, but Alice just held up her hand to stop her.
“You need not apologize to me Princess. I must remind myself that although you do not remember, it is not permanent; you will remember again.” She smiled, then a light twinkled in her eyes. “Maybe I can help you understand a bit, until that time comes where you can fill in the details on your own—are you up for a story?”
Gretchen cocked her head to the side and looked at Mo and Nicoli, who were grinning like idiots. She giggled a little, “Of course, it seems like story time has been a theme for me as of late.”
“Wonderful.” Alice clapped her hands together and beckoned them to sit by the fire in the main living area.
The living room was beautiful; the sparsely decorated walls being the obverse side of the exterior of the genuine log cabin. The hearth in the middle of the room was made of cobblestone and the chairs surrounding it were also made of wood with large pillows and blankets on each. Alice brought in steaming mugs of what smelled to be cider. When Gretchen took a drink, it was an explosion of flavor and as the heat settled into her bones she relaxed.
“What is this?” She asked Alice.
“Wassail, it’s an apple cider with citrus, cinnamon and cloves.” Everyone settled into their seats enjoying the soothing cider and Alice began.
“Let me begin with my childhood.” She waved her hands in a subtle gesture and the flames began to dance and take shape into playful little people. “My parents were Shamans in Scotland. A Shaman connects with the spirit world to bring healing, messages and restore the balance in this world. We lived in harmony with the earth, gathering herbs, wood, stones, feathers, and skins as needed, but never taking more than that. We believe in balance and harmony and my childhood was quite blissful.
“We are each given a spirit animal; most of the Shamans in the tribe were given an owl of some sort, so our tribe emblem was, of course, just that, an owl. It depicted a snow owl with branches woven into the wings, acorns at its breast and the moon cycle above its head.” She sighed sadly as the images in the flames of a peaceful society working together morphed into a flaming outline of an owl depicted just as she described. “Quite beautiful.” A single tear slipped from her eye, and Gretchen handed her a tissue from the box next to her.
“Oh, thank you, dear,” she sniffled. “As I said, we were a peaceful community as you would call it today. So, when a group of rogues attacked us, we were unprepared.” The flames then twisted and changed—creating a war zone. They morphed into large wolves that attacked the people in the village. The flames moved in a deadly dance as they consumed the weaker ones. “My parents placed a protection spell on me and sent me into the woods, telling me to head north and not to stop until I saw the banners that depicted a white and black wolf.”
The flames curled and twisted as they separated, depicting two figures that hugged a smaller figure. As the larger flames joined hands, they lifted their free arms and hovered as tiny embers fell on the little flame. Three flame wolves came up behind as one of the larger flame people pointed over the little flames head, signaling for her to leave; while the vicious wolf nipped at the two bigger flames, the little flame ran.
“No—” Gretchen breathed out, as she watched the wolves devour the two larger flames.
“Aye, Princess, my parents died protecting me that day. I ran to the north, towards where my parents said the banners would be—to where they said my destiny awaited. I thought I had gotten away and stopped by the stream…” she trailed off as the flame’s depicted just that. The little flame knelt near what appeared to be a stream. Again, a wolf came up behind her, but the tiny flame didn’t move and didn't notice the intruder. The little flames shoulders were hunched over, its head in its hands as it trembled and cried.
Everyone's eyes were glued to the flames as they watched the wolf creep up behind the little flame. Their hearts thumped wildly in their chest as Alice continued the story, showing the wolf leap at the little flame and tear into its neck.
“See?” Alice pulled the neckline of her dress to the side and revealed the bite mark and Gretchen grasped her hand, squeezing tightly.
“How did you survive?” Gretchen asked as tears now flowed freely down her face and Nicoli moved to her side and wrapped his arms around her in comfort.
Alice simply pointed to the flames. They twisted and turned as the image began to show the wolf walking away with an evil grin on his face, assuming he had done his job. The little flame clutched at her neck and began crawling across the stream, collapsing shortly after as a tiny wolf bounded through the trees. The little wolf was a bright white flame, with beautiful wings laid against its back and orange tips to its ears, twin tails and paws. It was bounding happily through the flowers as it pounced on insects along the way.
It stopped suddenly, putting its nose to the ground, and lifted its head in what appeared to be a howl as it found the little flame's body. The little wolf nudged the little flame and when the little flame didn’t respond, began to lap at her neck and laid her body across the little flame's tummy. The little flame rested an arm on the little wolf's back. The little flame wolf began to glow as another large, dark, flame appeared. This dark flame was in the shape of a winged wolf as he ran up behind them. He nipped at the little wolf to get her to move, but the little wolf bared its teeth at the much larger wolf and continued to glow.
The little flame began to wiggle beneath the weight of the little wolf, then and only then, when the little wolf realized the little flame was okay, it licked her face and got up staring at the larger wolf. The larger wolf began to morph into a young man who picked up the little flame in his arms and walked away with the little wolf hot on his heels.
“You see, Gretchen? You saved me,” Alice sobbed, her cherubic face blotchy and red. “You saved me and when your parents saw the bond we shared, they took me in. When the time came for an advisor to be chosen, you refused anyone else but me. I owe you the very breath I breathe and would happily follow you anywhere you go to ensure your safety. This is why I am here—why I was chosen. Just like Nicoli was chosen to be your guardian. You may not remember it now, but you saved us both.”
The flames died down to embers as they all sat back. Gretchen grappled with this new information, twirling Alice’s story in her mind like a puzzle piece until she could fit it into everything she’d learned the past couple of days. It seemed impossible, yet something deep inside her insisted it was true. Alice showed them to their rooms and Nicoli kissed the top of her head, “Get some rest, little wolf; we will be leaving in the morning.”
She didn’t want him to leave and didn’t want to be alone, so she wrapped her arms around his waist. “Please stay with me.”
“I can’t, Aingeal. If I stay, we won’t get much sleep and you need your rest.” She scoffed into hi
s chest as he grinned in her hair. “I dunnae want to leave you alone either.”
“Then, just hold me until I fall asleep. I promise not to take advantage of you,” she teased.
He snickered at her promise, “You think you can hold to that promise, Love?”
“Mhm, I’m already sleepy.”
He kissed her again and allowed her to lead him to the bed. She curled into his side and yawned as she drew circles on his bare skin. He began to hum, a deep soothing melody tumbling through his chest, the vibrations carrying her into a peaceful slumber.
Nicoli woke up the next morning to the smell of vanilla and lavender in his nose, and a curvy body next to his. He rolled to his side as he reached around her waist. He nuzzled Gretchen’s neck and nipped her shoulder, “Wake up, sleepyhead.”
“I don’t wanna,” she grumbled as she rolled over so that she was facing him and tucked her head under his chin as she heard the steady thump, thump, thump of his heart. He kissed the top of her head and felt her smile into his chest.
“I like this,” she murmured.
“Me too, Aingeal, me too, but we have to get up and get to the mountain soon.”
She whined in protest when he tried to scoot away from her and wrapped a leg around his waist. Her eyes widened and her heart began to race when she felt the hard length she was pressing on and Nicoli let out a low growl. She looked up into his eyes when his arm curled around her. He leaned down to kiss Gretchen and when their lips met, he hoisted her up to where she was straddling him, feeling him press against her most sensitive spot. Instantly she felt warmth pool between her thighs.
“I thought we had to go?” she said against his lips. Another low rumble emitted from his chest as he moved her hips, rocking her against him. As she felt the sweet friction, she moaned and leaned back while biting her lip. His hand traveled from her hip, under her shirt to her waist. Sparks began trailing across her skin as he cupped her breasts, causing her body to tremble atop his.
