by India Amare
We ate on the porch under string lights. Tonight's meal was more subdued than breakfast. Food was passed more leisurely and wine poured generously. There was more laughing.
I helped clean up dinner with the rest of the girls. Aethel stacked a dishwasher while Leena hand washed others and Gigi dried. Bridge put leftovers away. Cass was on garbage duty.
“Can you put these back in the wine cellar?” Bethany handed me two unopened bottles of wine. “Did you notice there were two doors last night? This is the other entrance.” She led me to the pantry, pushing the bottom corner with her foot and releasing the wall of dry goods, swinging it open to reveal a locked door. She slid a piece of wood aside and revealed the key. “Make sure you put this one back, too.”
I descended a very similar set of stairs and found the room exactly how I left it. Soft yellow lighting and a confused Dray sipping wine at the table.
“We have to stop meeting like this.”
Chapter 12
“This wasn’t always a wine cellar was it?” I returned the bottles of wine to their racks.
“It was originally designed as an escape route should the family need it. Behind the wine racks is a door to a tunnel that leads down the mountain. We’ve never come close to needing such a contingency so when the Underground Railroad needed a stop near here, we offered this up. After that it started becoming food storage and eventually a wine cellar.” He took a sip and gave me a look that said he was quite displeased I was down here once again.
I threw my hands up. “How was I supposed to know you came down through the library? Bethany asked…” I stopped what I was saying as I realized it was Bethany who sent me down last night, too.
“Bethany asked?”
“She sent me down last night and just now she was the one who asked me to return the wine. You don’t think she’s pushing us together do you? That wouldn’t make sense.”
“Aunt Bethany rarely makes sense to me.”
My goal was to leave as quickly as possible. I had no intention of dragging things out unnecessarily between us. But I couldn’t help but to stop and gaze at the armor and Dreadnought. “Have you ever held it?” It looked like it would be quite heavy.
“I train with it regularly.”
My fingers itched to touch it too. Electricity tingled my skin. “May I?”
“Of course.”
I held my breath as I reached out. It seemed like the wise thing to do these days whenever trying something new. But when my skin made contact, it didn’t zap me. I did, however, feel warm energy flowing through it. Through me. I ran my fingers over the dragon’s egg to the hilt, then back up to the strange blade.
“How often do you train?” I glanced back to find Dray watching me closely.
“It calls to you too?”
I turned back to the great sword. “Maybe. It’s more like it’s humming for me.”
He came closer, stood beside me, glancing between me and Dreadnought. “I train daily, but only with Dreadnought on occasion. Maybe once a month.”
“What kind of training?” Did he go for twenty mile runs before bench pressing cement blocks?
“Fighting. Hand to hand in several different styles, weapons, and then of course conditioning.”
That explained the solid wall of muscle. “For this inevitable war?”
His eyes darkened. “It will come to a head in my lifetime. Of that I have no doubt. The power grab of the House of Axl is unsustainable to the community we’ve built here.”
I was a psychology major so I had questions about that. “You really think the other houses would all live harmoniously if it weren’t for House of Axl?” Sure, humans and samhain were different, but we weren’t that different.
“Maybe not. All I know is what I see in other parts of the world. Some of our communities are very happy, others have squabbles between the houses, others don’t interact all that much at all. And I do know that when we’re divided the way we are now, it makes us vulnerable to outside attack. If any other faction decided they wanted to take over, it would be much easier now than if we were united.”
I smiled. “You’re a textbook oldest child. You think in absolutes and big pictures. You’re a caregiver and a leader.”
His eyes glinted. “How do you manage to make that sound like a bad thing?”
“I’m not saying it is one thing or the other.” I really wasn’t. I was simply talking out loud while I processed the information. In the very back of my mind I heard the faintest whispers again. I tried to listen but I couldn’t make out what they said.
“What’s wrong?” Dray frowned.
“The whispers are back but they’re so faint.” It was as if someone stood on the opposite side of the room and whispered into their cupped hands. Sure I could hear the raspy sound, but everything else was muffled.
“You’re still blocking them out.” Dray rested his hands on my shoulders. “Take a breath and focus.”
It was hard to focus when he was looking at me for the first time in what felt like ages. I wanted to gaze into those blue irises and figure this complicated man out, but instead I took a breath and closed my eyes, trying to find the source of the sound. The darkness seemed eternal. The deeper I delved the darker it grew.
“It’s not working.”
He grunted. “You’re scared.”
“I am not.” I hated that I took the bait so easily.
“You may not understand that you’re scared, but you are. Your protective instincts are doing their job. Too well, unfortunately.” He released me and paced the small space while the whispers kept up their unrelenting chorus in my mind. I could easily picture the sound getting on my nerves if I couldn’t do something about it.
I tried stretching, deep breathing, a few of the tai chi moves. Nothing helped. “Maybe I should just try to sleep.”
Dray shot me a look. “You think you can sleep like this?”
I shrugged. “Maybe if I change locations the whispers will stop.” But I didn’t believe myself any more than Dray did.
He kept pacing, his fingers stroking his chin, a look of pain on his face. “I have an idea.”
“I get the impression you’re not excited about this idea?”
He shook himself, erasing the pain. “It’ll work.” Then he moved in front of me, his gaze locking with mine again. “With me, you are safe, Rhysa. I promise. No matter what happens, I’m here.” Then he took my face in his large hands and bowed his forehead to mine. “Let them in. I’m here.” His voice echoed in my mind.
The intensity of his gaze and having his voice in my head overwhelmed me and I had to take a deep, deep breath to steady myself. When he was close like this I couldn’t think straight. My body took over. My lust wanted.
But I did as he suggested, closing my eyes and letting the Plane in, knowing Dray was there to keep me safe.
Instead of pure darkness I now saw glimmering light on the edges where the whispers seemed to be. The closer I got, the brighter the light and the louder the whispers became.
Dray’s fingers massaged my hairline and his thumb skated my cheek. Keep going. So with another deep breath I pushed myself even closer.
All at once the darkness disappeared. The whispers grew louder as if someone were whispering right into my ear. Electricity sizzled through me with what felt like a link connecting, tying me to the Plane once and for all, and downloading a specific message into my brain.
I gasped, opening my eyes and clutching at Dray’s hands.
“You’re okay. You’re okay. I’ve got you.” He held me tighter, our bodies colliding.
I sucked in air over and over trying to get my center back. Instead of feeling like I’d returned to normal I now felt tethered to something huge. I knew I could pull on that rope and be right back in the Plane.
“That’s it,” Dray murmured, his lips now dropping kisses on my cheek, his thumb strumming my skin. That’s it.
Every time his voice echoed it drew me closer to him. Almost lik
e a hand’s caress. And because it was soothing, I let him keep kissing me. Lower and lower until he scraped his sharp canine along the skin of my throat.
“Why?” he growled. “I can’t stop.”
Too close for too long. He’d lost control again. His warm breath tickled my skin, but he chased it with another press of his lips. I felt him grow hard as pressed his body against me. It sent a thrill through mine.
Yes, suck, fuck, take. Become one completely. It was everything we were meant to be and this act was the ultimate testament to that perfection.
But it wasn’t what Dray truly wanted.
“I think that’s enough.”
He groaned, kept kissing me, kept teasing me with his fangs. “No. I want you, Rhysa. I need you.”
I rubbed against his erection, felt my nipples ache to be touched and teased. My blood pumped harder to feed him.
“I’ll believe you when you say it sober.”
He reached for his pants. “I need you.” Need you, Rhysa.
I loved hearing his pleas, loved the ache his cock and teeth created inside me, but he’d resent me in the afterglow and I couldn’t afford to have him pull any further away from me than he already had.
So I placed my hands on his chest and gently pushed him back. “Enough.” And while I hated to walk away from something I knew would give me complete pleasure, at least I did so with a little bit of a power high. I controlled this man’s lust. And maybe he’d believe me now when I said I could take care of myself.
It certainly took all my self-control to stop this—something he couldn’t do.
He walked a circle around the room grunting and groaning a lot of curse words, coming to a stop in front of me. His eyes blazed with lust and fury. He took my face in his hands again. “One day. One day,” he said with a growl. Then he released me, stepping back, hands on hips, head hung low. “What did the whispers say?”
Oh. That. Telling him wouldn’t help our situation a whole lot. “It’s private,” I lied.
He snapped his head up and glared at me. “Don’t serve me bullshit.”
For a minute or two I held him off in a glaring contest, waiting for him to cool down enough to handle my news. I wandered back to Dreadnought. “We’re connected. Our destinies are connected.”
“Tell me something I don’t already know,” he growled.
I reached for the great sword. “Something is coming. Not the war. Something else. Something bigger. I don’t know what, just that it has an enormous energy.” My skin tingled as my fingers came closer to the dragon’s egg. Like lightning sparking from the sword to my fingers. It felt like I could wield it somehow. I turned back to Dray, who was frowning deeply now. “We won’t be able to handle whatever this is without each other. There’s something I have that you need, and something you have that I will need. Without each other, we lose. We all lose.”
Chapter 13
When I woke up Sunday morning the house was empty. On the kitchen counter sat the remnants of the breakfast I missed. I picked out some bacon and a muffin and followed the sounds of shouts and clanks outside. In the field between the house and the barn the Wren siblings and some extended family were sparring. Some with martial arts, others with fists, a few with wooden clubs.
“Training day,” Bethany explained, bringing me a steaming cup of coffee. “We knew you could use some sleep but one day you’ll need to learn to defend yourself too.”
“I can take care of myself.”
She smiled kindly. “I’m sure you can, but I’m talking about more than escaping an attacker.”
“Battle.” I sipped my coffee and relished the feel of the warm liquid.
“It’s always looming over us. Dray was just shot.”
And now I had the Universe telling me something even bigger than war between the Houses was coming. “Maybe I should start today.”
Bo got the advantage on Kris and suddenly the younger brother was rolling away from a kick and then back on his feet.
“I think you should start with the basics.” Bethany turned and picked something up off the table beside her. “I want you to have these. I have a feeling they’ll work quite well for you. Hold them. Learn how they feel. It’s an excellent place to start.”
I unrolled the leather wrap to reveal two gorgeous daggers with long silver blades. Down the center of the blade was an intricate design and inscription in a language I didn’t know. The silver cross guard had a matching design. The handle was black. They fit perfectly in my hands and the energy I was now used to feeling flowed seamlessly between the weapons and my palms.
“They’re perfect.” I moved. Not clumsily, but not with some sort of instant weapons knowledge either. Something in between.
“Good,” Bethany managed to say before Gigi came bounding up to us.
“Yay! You’re up! How did you sleep?”
I realized I had the first good night of sleep since Awakening. “I slept really well. Lots of dreams.” But even as the words left my mouth, I realized they were wrong. Those weren’t all dreams. Some of it was me interacting with the Plane in my sleep.
“That’s good!” Gigi exclaimed. “It means you’re making progress. Things will level out for you soon.”
In time for something new to knock me on my ass, most likely. “What time are we leaving?” I went ahead and packed my bags so we could leave whenever.
“Not until after lunch at the earliest. We’ve got another hour of training.”
“You should get back to it.” Bethany shooed her away. “Watch. Learn,” she said to me.
She followed Gigi back to the training ground while I settled into a deckchair with my cobbled together breakfast. I took time with each group to figure out what they were doing, what seemed to be the advantages, and whether it appealed to me.
Until I got to Dray.
The man was shirtless and sparring with Bo now. They seemed in many ways to be equally matched. Bo was quick but Dray was powerful. Bo smiled most of the time while Dray remained so focused his expression never changed. Sometimes they moved with practiced choreography, other times they surprised each other and chaos ensued.
With the coffee and food gone, I picked the blades back up and weighed them in my hands. How would I use them in a fight? I’d never been in a real fight. It seemed I had quite a lot to learn very quickly.
Shouts from below grew louder. The fight between Bo and Dray had grown and everyone else abandoned their training to form a wide circle around the brothers. Dray swept his legs, knocking Bo onto his back, but the advantage only lasted a moment as Bo spun away and landed a kick on Dray’s abdomen. The sparring continued in a swift flurry of flying hands and feet until finally Dray had Bo on the ground, face down, completely immobilized.
But Dray didn’t throw his arms in the air in victory or cheer. He simply released Bo and stepped back. “That’s enough for today. Go clean up.” Then he turned and began walking up the hill to his treehouse.
Gigi skipped by. “We’re all hitting the showers and we’ll meet back for lunch at noon. So you’re free to nap or chill or wander around.” She patted my shoulder as she ran inside. “First dibs! I am not taking a cold shower again, Bridge!”
I returned my new daggers to their leather wrap and set them inside before wandering into the barn garage. The family all had different tastes when it came to cars. No two were alike. In one slot was a tricked-out Jeep, in another a large pickup truck, there were Land Rovers, Mercedes, Subarus, and Gigi’s Audi. Off in another section were tractors and farm equipment. Beyond the parking slots was a maintenance area with a car lift and all the tools and tires imaginable. One bay was empty while the other had a classic car in pieces. Behind that was a door with a window. I had to go up on my tiptoes to see through it.
An empty room. I tried the handle and the door opened. “Hello?” My voice echoed off of every wall. I found the switch and turned on the lights. It was an actual barn, but it was completely cleaned out and empty.
“We’re clearing the energy,” Kris explained from behind me.
I jumped and turned toward his voice. “Oh wow! You scared me! I thought everyone was gone.”
His lips pulled up on one side in a wry smile. “My apartment is up there.” He pointed to the room above us.
“Oh. I’m sorry. I’ll go now.” My cheeks turned bright red.
“You can look around. Just not upstairs.” The other side of his mouth turned up into a full smile. He nudged his chin to the room behind me. “We used to have cows, a couple of horses, some goats, and chickens, but the energy here got cluttered and we decided to clear the space and let the energy recover. It’ll probably be at least another year, maybe five at the most before we start over.”
Yes. I looked around the space and felt exactly that. The energy field was indeed so muddled even I could feel it.
“Have you seen the garden?” He waved at the door on the other side of the room.
“No.”
“Let me show you, then.” Kris was a mix of Dray and Bo. He was as friendly and kind as Bo, but as aloof as Dray. He politely led me through the empty barn and out the door to a terraced garden. “We’re in the swing of summer already. The tomatoes, lettuce, and herbs are growing like crazy. When we’re really at it, we can fully sustain the family between the livestock and the gardens.”
“You sound like you’re very invested in that part of things.” I wandered between two terraces, peering at the growing vegetables.
“I like knowing we can take care of ourselves, so I’m antsy to get back to normal.”
“Do you like living in the barn?” It seems he could easily claim a room in the house or build his own place like his siblings and cousins.
He shrugged. “It’s between my favorite places.”
“Cars and food?”
He smiled again. “Something like that. Besides, I like having my own space. Everyone on the mountain is all up in each other's business all the time. Bunch of gossips.”
“Even Dray?”
He laughed hard. “God no. He lives in the fortress at the top. No one bothers him up there.”
