When I entered my house, I stopped quickly, and Ryker ran into my back. My house was spotless. I didn’t remember the last time my floors sparkled like that.
“Reggie sent his crew over this morning.”
That still didn’t explain how my house was so spotless. “It should’ve taken days if not weeks. The walls and floors had troll blood all over them.” I inhaled again, taking in the scent of lavender. The smell of decay and rotting flesh was gone.
“Reggie’s team uses magic. I bet it took like ten minutes to clean your house.”
“I didn’t know raccoons had magic.”
“Yep, and they make a fortune off everyone who destroys their homes. I bet he’s going to charge ten grand for the work they did in ten minutes to clean your house.”
Fuck. There goes my whole collection of Prada shoes. I need to solve this whole ending-the-world case so I can make some money. “That sucks.”
“Don’t worry—we can send the bill to the council once we figure out what is going on. Remember, if we crack the case and stop whoever is taking shifters, the council will owe us and have to pay for damages. You might even get another pair of Prada shoes.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Ryker let out a laugh. “Bullshit. You work to buy Prada, and I don’t mind. You look as sexy as hell in those shoes.” He swatted my ass. “Now go change. We have a human to track down. I haven’t been to Cassadaga in years. We can stop by the pack up there and see if Alexander has heard anything going on.”
The pack near Cassadaga lived off nature. They didn’t use the telephone and grew their own food. The news that I might meet my mother brought both excitement and worry. I didn’t know what would happen if she was evil and I had to turn her in. I grabbed a pair of skinny jeans and a white T-shirt. The red Prada shoes in my closet called my name, but with the fighting and traipsing through the woods to meet the other pack, I grabbed a pair of Nikes.
Ryker stood near my bookshelf, reading the titles in the case. When he pulled Lexi Blake’s book off the shelf, I could feel my face turn bright red.
I took the book out of his hand and placed it back on the shelf. “Let’s go.”
“I’m more interested in that book. I didn’t know you were into BDSM.”
Ignoring his comment, I asked, “My car or yours?” His truck would make more sense if we planned to meet with his old pack.
“Neither. We will use hell’s portal.”
Ryker headed out my back patio. I took one last look around before I closed the door. The damn raccoon had even fixed my fridge. I would need to find who was after everyone so I didn’t have to pay the bill. Instead of heading back to Ryker’s house, he veered toward the creek that led to the forest, which was all pack land that Ryker owned.
The smell of the woods made my wolf come to the surface. She wanted to run. Ryker moved through the forest with grace. Not even a twig snapped under his feet, unlike me—I sounded like a damn elephant trampling through the woods.
Ryker stopped in front of a pile of stones at the side of the creek and reached down to move the top stone. He placed his hand on the top white stone, and it glowed purple, then he placed his hand within inches of touching the stone. An oval portal appeared next to the rocks and shimmered a deep purple, and the edges burned with fire.
“Ready?”
I poked my finger through the purple light. “Nope. How are you so sure we will end up in Cassadaga? I didn’t see you put any coordinates in.” I stepped back and crossed my arms.
“It’s magic, Paldon, I think of the location, and it takes us there.”
Not good enough. “How many times have you used the portal? Where have you gone?”
Ryker let out a sigh. “I promise you won’t get hurt. I’ve taken the portal more times than I can count. As for where I’ve been—hell, heaven, and even nirvana last month.”
Testing the portal one more time, I poked my toe through the shimmering light, but it was different from when I poked my finger. Something grabbed my foot and yanked me with so much force my body lunged through the portal. I faintly heard Ryker scream my name before my body hit the rocks on the other side with so much force it knocked the wind out of me.
Ryker came flying through the portal after me but tucked and gracefully rolled to the side. My magic swirled around us to fight whoever had pulled me through. A little green man three feet tall stood where the portal had been seconds ago, his arms crossed and his eyebrows drawn together. His bare foot tapped on the gravestone. Fuck. We’re in a cemetery.
“What the hell, Cornell?” Ryker yelled.
“Don’t yell at me, young man. You know better than to keep a portal open that long and sticking body parts in. You open the portal and come through and close it!” It was hard not to laugh when a three-foot leprechaun was yelling at Ryker.
I brushed the dirt from my pants. “Sorry. I’ve never used one of these before, and I was nervous.”
The little green man threw his arms up, causing his shirt to come up and reveal a mini pot of gold. Now I need to figure out how to capture a pandacorn and a leprechaun. I wondered if Ryker would let me keep them at his house. My spare bedroom had too many exit points, and they could probably escape.
“No, Paldon,” Ryker whispered.
He can’t read my mind. Let me try. Yes, I will be your mate. I waited a second before asking, “No what?”
“We are not capturing the leprechaun. They bite.”
The leprechaun in question continued to tap his shoe.
“Sorry I broke the rules. Maybe we could have you over to Ryker’s for dinner to repay you for the inconvenience.”
“Paldon…”
Ignoring Ryker, I asked, “Is there a type of food you like?”
“I want steak. I will be there in two days.” He snapped his little fingers and disappeared.
“You don’t think we have enough going on? You had to invite a leprechaun into our house?” Ryker threw his hands up and walked through the cemetery.
My feet wouldn’t move at first. Every time he said “our house,” my guard about moving forward with Ryker slipped. Finally, I started moving, and I couldn’t hold back a smile as I walked down the hill. I stopped to take a look at the Devil’s Chair. Urban legend stated that if you were brave enough to sit in the chair, you would be punished for impudence or rewarded for courage. My Facebook page needed a new photo, so I took the chance at being punished and sat down in the chair. It seemed more like a throne.
Ryker shook his head as I snapped a selfie. “Come on, Paldon!” he yelled.
The cemetery sidewalk dead-ended at a dirt road. Cassadaga was another couple miles from the cemetery. “See, if we had taken the time to drive thirty minutes, we wouldn’t need to walk two miles into town.” I was glad I had grabbed a pair of running shoes instead of my normal high heels.
Ryker ignored me and pulled out his phone. I couldn’t see what he was doing, but a car magically appeared, and he walked over to the driver’s side and got in.
I rushed to the passenger side. “How did you do that?”
“It’s all part of hell’s transportation system. I figured if my future mate is Lucifer’s daughter, he won’t charge me as much.”
“You’re telling me hell has a transportation app? I wish being Lucifer’s daughter came with an instruction manual, such as ‘Here are your siblings’ and ‘Hey, you no longer need a car. Take this cool transport system guarded by a leprechaun.’”
Ryker put the car in drive. “Leprechauns don’t guard all portals. Fairies guard the one on Mystic Ash land.”
“Missy guards the portal?” See if I give her my hand-me-downs anymore. How did everyone keep this from me? Maybe because for the past ten years, I had worked to keep my distance from anyone supernatural. But being around Ryker for the last ten hours had settled something in me. I hadn’t had that type of inner peace since before Joseph kicked me out of the North American pack.
When the
road came to a fork, Ryker took a right to head into downtown Cassadaga. “No, her mother and father guard the portal. One day, they will retire, and Missy will take up the duty.”
I loved the old houses near Cassadaga. They reminded me of the Colonial homes. Tourists crowded the main street—Cassadaga being the psychic capital of the world brought a lot of tourists. It was Tuesday, and people filled the streets, walking from shop to shop, but the true psychics lived off the main road.
Ryker turned the car down Chauncey Street, and half a mile down the road on the right side was a fairy park. During the day, commoners would drop off treasures and add to the fairy garden. What the tourists didn’t know was that actual fairies lived in the park, and if you gave them a good gift and made a wish, it would come true.
The car came to a stop right before the fairy garden. A woman in her early sixties was sitting on the porch, rocking in a white chair. My stomach turned. Could this be my mother?
10
As often happened on spring afternoons in Florida, the rain came out of nowhere, but my eyes were transfixed on the house. The woman got up from the chair and headed inside. A sign in the front yard said she did readings.
“Ryker, are you sure this is her? I thought she was human.”
He looked at his phone again. “Yes, this is the location Paul gave me. As long as Marilyn told you the right name, we are in the correct place.” He reached over and squeezed my thigh. “I can go talk to her.”
I shook my head and pushed the car door open. Sitting in the car wouldn’t get me the answers I needed. The old white house’s paint was falling off, but her garden was beautiful and bloomed with the colors of the rainbow. The door swooshed open when I raised my hand to knock.
“Hello. My name is Donna. Are you here for a reading?”
“Yes.” I didn’t know why I said that.
Ryker coughed behind me. The old wooden floor creaked under my feet with each step I took. I glanced around the room. I didn’t know what I expected—maybe to see pictures of a woman holding a baby or some kind of sign saying she was or was not my mom—but only paintings of fairy gardens filled the walls. She led us into a back room. Ryker squeezed my hand as we walked. She pulled a rainbow-colored curtain aside, revealing a small room with a wooden table. White candles lined the shelves on one side. Three chairs sat around the table. I took one, and Ryker took another.
“Would you like some tea?”
Both Ryker and I shook our heads.
“What made you want to get a reading?”
I shifted in the seat as I looked at the lady. In the back of my mind, I felt guilty for leading her on. “I’ve never had it done before, and this is my first time in Cassadaga. We just left the fairy garden and noticed your sign. So, Ryker asked if I wanted to have my cards read before we head home.”
Her head tilted to the side, and I wondered if she was about to call me out on my lie, but instead, she reached for a piece of paper and a stack of cards. “Are we reading your cards today also?”
Ryker held his hands up and shook his head.
While she shuffled the deck of cards, I looked around the room—still no sign of anything. “Have you always lived here? The town seems nice.”
“Yes.”
Ryker rested his elbows on the table and leaned forward. “Did your kids like growing up here?”
Donna stopped shuffling the cards and gave Ryker her full attention. “I never had kids, but should we get down to why you are really here, or are we going to keep acting like you came for a reading?”
“Why do you think I’m not here to get my future read?”
“Because your aura doesn’t lie, and you are both supernatural.”
Most humans didn’t know about our kind. Only a few government officials knew we existed. I leaned back, letting my magic come forward. Ever since training the other night, I’d felt a little more in control as long as nobody tried to scare me from behind. “You’re human.”
Donna smirked. “You’re not.”
Ryker leaned back and crossed his arms. I got distracted for a second when his biceps flexed. “Did you ever have a child with Lucifer and give her up?”
She had been about to reach for her cup of tea when Ryker asked the question, but her hand stopped. “I’m sorry—you mean Lucifer as in the devil?”
“Yes, but you might not have known he was the devil. Did you give up your child when she was a baby, or did someone steal her?” Ryker was interrogating the poor woman like she was already guilty.
“I don’t know what you are talking about. I want you to leave.”
I laid my hand on hers. “Please. I need your help. Did you ever date this man?” Wrath had texted me a picture of her with Lucifer, and I held up the photo. “Have you seen this man before?”
“That’s George. He’s the reason I know about the supernatural world. Someone attacked me one night in New Orleans when I was walking through the graveyard. It was demons who attacked me, and he saved me. He moved me here and said the people in this town would protect me. Nobody ever attacked me again, and I planned to leave one day, then it turned into years. But I still don’t know what George has to do with this.”
“His name isn’t George. His real name is Lucifer, as in the devil. Did you ever sleep with him?”
Donna shifted in her seat. “Yes, but I never had a child with the man. Is he really the devil? He was so nice.”
Ryker pushed his chair back. “Yes, he’s the devil, and he’s only nice when he wants something. Thank you for your time.”
“Can I still have my cards read?”
Ryker rolled his eyes before he sat back down.
We spent the next hour with Donna, and she read my cards. Ryker didn’t say a word, but I could feel his eyes on me the whole time. When we left, I handed Donna my card and told her to call me if she ever needed anything.
When we exited the house, the rain had cleared, and Ryker grabbed my hand and led me down the path to the fairy garden. At the back of the trail was a wooden bench, and next to the bench were the prettiest butterfly wings. Under the wings was a miniature fairy house with bright-red flowers planted in front. It was peaceful—no sounds of the city, just nature.
Ryker pulled me to the bench with him. “How are you, Paldon?” He squeezed my hand.
I watched as two birds swooped down and perched on the birdbath on the other side of the bench. “I don’t know. Why can’t Lucifer just tell us who my mom is? You know he knows.”
Ryker leaned back and wrapped an arm around me and pulled me closer. The kiss he gave to my forehead tingled. “Yes, he knows, but this is your journey to figure out who you are and where you belong.”
“A sign with instructions would be nice. I could cause the end of the world. This is a lot to put on my shoulders.”
“We will figure this out before it comes to that. I promise. Then we can spend the rest of our lives together.”
I nudged him with my shoulder. “How are you so sure I’m going to cave after this?”
“You will.”
Ryker jumped to his feet and pulled me from the bench, flinging me forward and straight into his hard chest, and wrapped his strong arms around me. Then he pressed his lips to mine, and my hands wrapped around his biceps. He ran his hands through my hair, pulling me in closer. When his tongue swiped across my lips, I immediately opened them.
He teased me by slowly brushing his lips against mine then did it again. I reached up, ran my hands through Ryker’s hair, and kept him in place. I didn’t want him to go slowly. My lips yearned for a kiss from the strong alpha. Though I had pushed him away for years, with his lips pressed against mine, I didn’t want to wait another second to be with Ryker. But I still planned to make him work for me.
He kissed me over and over. My body was on fire and not from my magic. He ignited my need, and I wanted to be closer and not stop. When he grabbed my ass and pulled me closer, I could feel his large erection pushing against his jeans. At the sound of
a catcall whistle, Ryker pulled back and looked down at the fairy house. Three fairies were sitting on the front lawn of their home, eating what looked like popcorn.
“Don’t stop on our account,” the middle fairy said before popping another piece of popcorn in her mouth. “It’s not every day we see Ryker in these parts.”
Ryker kneeled next to the fairy garden and pulled some shiny silver from his pocket. “Hey, girls. I brought you something.”
A fairy dressed in bright pink jumped off her lawn chair, ran to Ryker’s hand, grabbed the piece of silver, and hugged it to her chest.
The third fairy watched Ryker for a second. “What can we do for you?” She knew Ryker wanted something.
“Do you know the human that lives in the house next to the forest? Her name is Donna.”
The elder fairy crossed her arms. “Yes.” She looked up at me and narrowed her eyes.
Ryker grabbed my hand and pulled me to my knees. At a closer look, I could see into the mini home. Silver and gold decorated the walls.
“Do you trust her?” Ryker asked.
She got up from her chair and walked toward him, the little fairy powers circulating around her, a mixture of rainbow-colored glitter following in her footsteps. “I trust her more than you. Now tell me why you are interested in Donna. She stays out of the supernatural world. Yes, she pretends to be psychic for money, but she would never hurt a fly. Why are you nosing around here?”
Ryker pulled out another piece of silver, larger than the last one. The fairy went to reach for the piece before she quickly put her hands back in her pockets.
“Someone is kidnapping supernaturals in the hopes of fulfilling a prophecy to open the underworld. One of our clues led us back to Donna, but I was sure after talking with her that she wasn’t the one. I just wanted to make sure. Here.” Ryker handed the fairy the shiny piece of silver and reached in his pocket for one more to hand to the third fairy. “You ladies be safe. Someone is collecting supernaturals, and we don’t know who. If you hear anything, let me know.”
We said our goodbyes to the little fairies and headed back down the trail to the car. When we were halfway back, Ryker quickly put his hand out and stopped me.
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