Shadows and Shade Box Set

by Amanda Cashure

  “And there’s no power in this stream, so that water doesn’t come from the spring,” Roarke adds.

  “That doesn’t make sense,” Teegan says, each word slow and confused. She’s not the smartest weapon in this arsenal. “We’ll help you,” she finally says, the smile on her lips saying she doesn’t believe him, and the way she’s looking at Roarke says she’d enjoy spending time with him to prove she’s right – and other stuff.

  It’s the other stuff that burns through my nose.

  Several small conversations spark up. Killian walks over to Pax. Roarke moves towards Jada, and Teegan’s gaze lands on me – hard.

  Come-near-me-and-I-might-kill-you kind of hard.

  A shiver down my arms, the slightest sign that she might be using a power on me. Which power, or why, or what she’s hoping to achieve is beyond me. I don’t fail to notice that none of my guys have picked up on the issue here.

  One other male, such as that mage Leon, comes near me, and Roarke loses his shit. Seven females come wandering into far too close proximity to my guys, and they expect that we’re all going to play nice.

  Do they have brains?

  I feel the overwhelming need to put something in their boots, but push the idea aside – they are currently wearing their boots.

  Later. Definitely… later.

  I feel like I’m sitting here cutting onions and have to wipe at the stray bit of moisture in the corner of my eye.

  “Rose, can your people acquire some supplies? Meat from the forest, staples from the village. Not enough to draw suspicion, but we’ve little-to-nothing in stores here,” Pax calls across, then he turns his back to them, continuing his private conversation with Killian on the periphery of the group.

  Hearing him shout to Rose shouldn’t make me jealous, but damn, it does. The sensation gnaws at my insides.

  Just let me near them, and I’ll prove what I’m made of, I think, then quickly smother the idea because neither of those things are going to end well.

  A hand lands on my shoulder, and I jump to my feet, turning to find Seth smiling at me.

  “We might need to get some more wood,” he says, pointing at the one lonely piece left over by the fire.

  “Does that involve getting far away from here?” I plead.

  “Sure does,” he says with a wink.

  I climb to my feet and up onto the log, which makes me pleasantly taller than he is. From this vantage point I consider for half a second that just maybe I could show them what I’m made of – if given the chance.

  “Why do you look so happy?” I ask, hopping down and following him as he walks clean through the Sabers.

  Most of them are still standing in the frame of the logs, comparing ideas about supplies or directions for the Spring – lively chatter among friends and comrades now that the serious business of the get-together is over. They part for Seth, and I move in closer to him, almost attaching myself like a real shadow.

  “She isn’t a Saber,” Teegan says, and their attention shifts sharply to me. “What’s the point of her now?”

  I try to straighten my back and square my shoulders – to move with Seth’s kind of confidence. As much as I would love the opportunity to just rub one of their faces in a goat’s ass.

  “Just let me near her, and I’ll prove what she’s made of,” Rose says, an almost identical match to my earlier thoughts, her hand darting out to grab my arm and yank me back from Seth.

  Seth gives me a sharp smile and a nod.

  Bralls, he just set me up.

  I grit my teeth, drawing in measured breaths as my body hints at submission – then rejects the idea. It shouldn’t reject the idea. I can feel Rose’s power tensing around me.

  But instead of bowing and begging, I suck in my abdomen and lift my chin high to face the woman.

  Her eyes are a coppery brown, and the pure blond of her shorter than short hair is mesmerizingly beautiful.

  She’s taller than me. More muscular than me, too. And now that I’m this close I can see the long-healed pattern of nicks and scars all over her body, thin lines barely perceptible against her smooth black skin.

  Three things make themselves obvious as I consider my next move and try to get my brain to work faster than my mouth. One – if Pax rips her apart, he’s going to lose his army before he’s managed to muster them – and if I can’t fix this, he will rip them apart in ten minutes. Two – I have weapons, but I am pretty sure drawing them against this woman is only going to hurt me. And three – Rose is the meanest looking she-bull among them, which makes her the perfect target.

  There’s a hunger in the air. A deep desire to restore order. Sabers are born, not made, and Kitten is diminishing their self-worth simply by existing, by them sensing – knowing – that she isn’t like them.

  Thane is chomping at the bit, but he is one of those secret weapons we want to keep to ourselves. It would cost us this war if that wolf kills one of his own warriors. Or all of them. Blood on his muzzle over the weakest link in this realm’s chain, and the pieces will topple into dust at Lithael’s feet.

  And Seth walks Kitten right through the middle of them. What in the bloody Aeons is Seth thinking?

  Rose could pull Shade’s blood out through her pores right now. Manipulate it and separate it from the rest of her body. Pax has a ten-minute window. Killian does not, and every desire in him is split in two – control the situation or tear Rose to pieces.

  Rose.

  He could pull a few of her threads and incapacitate her, but anything short of knocking her out would only make matters worse, and even then the other Sabers would know. The damage to their trust would be just as bad as if Pax himself were to attack.

  Lightning flicks between Lara’s StormSeed fingers. Flames burn under the skin of the FireSeed. Both Teegan’s comrades. Both unsure whether they want to join in the fun or run from it.

  I ready myself to tell the world to stop. With this much power in close proximity I might get just long enough to throw Kitten over my shoulder and run.

  Remove the problem.

  Rose pulls Kitten around to face her, and instantly, Kitten lunges at Rose, a reaction Rose wasn’t anticipating. Kitten jumps, and her legs wrap around the Elite Saber’s hips. Then her arms around her neck.

  Rose’s eyes go wide with recognition of something deep – something in Kitten’s blood. It’s a moment of pure fear that I’ve never seen on the woman before.

  Then Kitten presses her lips to Rose’s. Hard and hot with passion.

  Pax’s eyes glow, but the guy can’t move. I can’t move. Heat flashes over Kitten’s lips and up over her cheeks. Rose’s grip relaxes in shock, but Kitten turns the tables, wrapping her arms around Rose’s neck. Too certain of herself. Too close.

  Each movement happens in slow motion.

  There’s no denying that her desire is for dominance, that the moment of intensity between them is Kitten charging like a bull, and Rose taken by surprise – but there’s also no denying the hint of pleasure when my power is so thoroughly and instinctively locked on to every single fucking one of her nerve endings.

  Instinctively, my power wants this. Wants to claim it. Own it. Maybe if I felt Rose reach for her magic in any way that would threaten Kitten, I would react differently. But Rose is damn near incapacitated.

  For a heartbeat, Rose kisses her back. Lips parting for the barest breath. Kitten’s eyes are closed, so she doesn’t see the brown of Rose’s irises turn blood red. Not passion, not even quite desire, but enjoyment for sure. Just for that slim split of a second.

  I struggle to keep my body from trembling. Then I struggle to keep myself from snatching my woman up, using my speed to get her too far from reprisal, and…

  Everything. I want to do everything to her. With her.

  Kitten’s legs shift, her feet digging in to Rose’s hips, then she pushes off, backflipping smoothly through the air.

  Rose trips backwards over the log. She hits the ground hard, a look of pure cr
azy excitement written all over her face. Her blood-red eyes contrast the whites, then contrast again against her dark skin.

  Killian snatches Kitten out of the air, his arm snaking around her waist and pressing her into his chest. Though he lets her stand on her own two feet – his other hand grips the hilt of his sword.

  Kitten’s breathing stutters as she subtly runs a finger over her lips, licking them, then runs her finger over them again.

  If she does that one more time my bloody pants aren’t going to be able to contain me. Not that that will be through any fault of the tailor’s.

  Kitten wraps her hand over Killian’s, stopping him from drawing his weapon.

  Pax steps forward, and her other hand darts out to press against his chest, stopping him from going any further. All of the other Sabers are looking down at Rose.

  “I can handle myself, boys,” Kitten says – sweetly.

  Both of my fists clench. I can’t smell shit like Killian, but those words reek of Seduction. All of this reeks of Seduction. I turn my gaze to Teegan and meet her wide-eyed attempt at looking surprised.

  She shakes her head sharply, grabbing the arms of her triune and pulling them back. The world is holding its breath. They don’t realize Thane has returned, but the fear of Pax’s temper must be enough. And the leash doesn’t stop his power from seeping through his skin and filling the air around us, stirring their souls into tornados of warring feelings.

  From the ground, Rose starts to laugh.

  Kitten breaks away from Killian and marches towards Seth. Everyone is frozen, and I hadn’t even noticed that Chaos was in hysterics.

  “Pax is about to kill you,” she snaps under her breath.

  “Me first,” Killian growls.

  “No, me first,” Pax growls louder.

  Seth’s on his feet, Kitten’s hand in his, and they’re dashing off towards the cottage in the same heartbeat.

  Rose stands up slowly. She has a kind of laugh that is both bright and cheerful, but also dark and scary.

  She locks her eyes on Teegan, her deep voice announcing, “She’s made of pure crazy.”

  Oh, Rose. Don’t go giving Kitten any ideas. Next, she’ll be declaring she has a CrazySeed.

  Pax steadies himself, straightening to his full height. I can sense his fangs descending.

  “This is very simple,” he says. Each word is injected with so much power that hearing them hurts. “You choose to follow me, my pentad, and all of my decisions, or you join Lithael. There is – No. Middle. Ground.”

  Every single one of them falls to their knees. Heads bowed and eyes lowered in complete submission.

  This is their choice.

  They choose Pax.

  They choose us.

  They choose Kitten.

  The world finally takes a deep breath.

  Five Paces

  I move as quickly as I can in Seth’s shadow – my heart racing at a million beats an hour. Seth sobers quickly, from cackling on the ground to serious. More than serious. By the firm set of his shoulders, he looks… confused.

  Seth, of all people, is never confused. Even when he doesn’t know the answer, he still has a complete air of confidence.

  He grabs a short axe from next to the cottage before clambering over the black granite boulders and up toward the trees. My chest struggles to get enough air in as I work twice as hard as he does to get over the rocks.

  “Seth,” I gasp.

  He leans down, gripping my hand a little too tightly and yanking me sharply up the larger boulder. He drops my hand, avoids looking down at his brothers and the other Sabers, and turns to keep moving at breakneck speed into the trees.

  I follow – of course. Pursing, then relaxing, my lips several times before the sensation of kissing Rose has erased itself.

  It was a tactical move, I tell myself. The first thing that came to mind.

  And it worked.

  What I’m trying not to admit is that it was fun.

  As soon as we’re in the trees, Seth puts his foot on a fallen tree and starts swinging the axe. His hands are white-knuckled on the axe handle. He’s fidgeting as he swings, like keeping focused on this task is hard. Splinters of wood shoot off in all directions. Hiding behind a tree would be a good idea, but I’d like to keep my eye on the cottage. On Pax with his eyes glowing below.

  I move around the edge of my bubble and use a half-buried boulder to step up then shimmy onto the bottom branch of a tree with a good view.

  Seth’s face is hard. The laughter he was full of moments ago, when I managed to escape a trained Elite Saber by kissing her and managed the most amazing backflip in mortal history, is gone.

  “Talk to me?” I ask him.

  I’m pissed off too right now – but I’m pissed with Pax, not Seth. I’m pissed about being made into his tool. Accepting me as part of his pentad was strategic so he could get his warriors into the arena with Logan. Nothing more.

  Seth stops for a moment, looking down at his brothers still over by the cottage. With one hand he scratches through his hair while the other keeps its death grip on the axe handle.

  “You’re right, Pax is going to kill me,” he says.

  All seven women drop suddenly to their knees, heads lowered. One of the redheads has even collapsed to her hands.

  Complete submission.

  “But maybe that’s why,” he mutters.

  With a firm swing he plants the axe into the wood. Five bounding strides later, he’s standing on the boulder below me and looking me in the eyes.

  “Why what?” I ask.

  And he ignores me, instead asking softly, “Show me your arm?”

  “My arm?” Oh, I have a vague memory of Rose grabbing my arm… before all that other stuff. “My arm’s fine. She didn’t hurt me.”

  “Show me before he gets here,” Seth says, throwing a glance over his shoulder.

  The women have walked off, and so has Roarke, but Pax and Killian are moving in this direction. Just walking, not rushing. Not storming. Not threatening.

  “They don’t look like they’re in a rush,” I say.

  “I am,” Seth says, gripping my arm at the elbow and yanking it forwards.

  “Crap,” I gasp, feeling myself topple – then stop, Seth’s other arm around my waist.

  “How badly did I hurt you?” he whispers in my ear, still holding me.

  I get my balance on the branch, but he holds me a minute longer before letting me straighten, so I can pull my sleeve up.

  “Not even a bruise. I don’t feel hurt at all. I actually feel pretty awesome.”

  I lie – there are bruises, neat fingertip circles on my bicep.

  He growls at himself. “She could have killed you. Sometimes I have no idea why I find things funny.”

  “They could all kill me, Seth, and it was funny.”

  “No, it wasn’t,” he grumbles, lightly touching each one of the bruises.

  I wrap my fingers around his and stop him. “It was funny,” I assure him.

  I can practically feel his heart racing under my palm. He lifts his gaze from our hands to my eyes.

  “You were amazing, but what I did was stupid. You don’t understand, Vexy. Rose could have killed you.”

  “Rose was being careful,” Killian says, leaping over the last boulder and storming into the little space Seth and I have claimed. A space just inside the forest's edge.

  Pax is two steps behind him and struggling to move like he isn’t thinking about murder.

  He might be thinking about it – but Killian is doing it. The DarknessSeed covers the distance to Seth in a rage that he isn’t even trying to contain.

  “Oh, shit. Brother!” Seth exclaims, moving like lightning just shot through him.

  He drops my arm and jumps straight up into my tree, then from limb to limb until he’s too high to see. I try to watch his ascent, but he climbs toward the bright morning light sun and the glare makes me give up.

  Killian doesn’t chase after him –
he just smashes his fist into the damn trunk of the tree. Which is the same tree I’m sitting in. Was sitting in, as I’m knocked backwards. I land with my legs in the air against the boulder and groan. Lots of groaning.

  Killian punches the tree again, and pine cones rain down.

  I scramble to my feet before getting knocked out by falling bits of tree, and barely make it back up onto the rock before Pax grips my hips, taking me completely off guard and almost knocking me over again.

  He steadies me, those eyes of his glowing and his hair in hues of coffee and ash. With firm fingers he turns my face left, then right, then left again.

  “Is she okay?” he asks, directing the question at Killian.

  “Rose was careful,” Killian repeats. “But Seth couldn’t have known that she would be.” He points up a tree to my left, where I’m presuming Seth must now be. “Seth set her up.”

  “Bralls no,” I say, swatting Pax’s hand away. “You set me up first.”

  I try to shove his chest, but the guy doesn’t budge, so I try to step back and nearly fall off the damn rock. I give up and start growling instead, feeling my anger bubbling inside me.

  I stab a finger at his chest.

  Which might be the worst possible way to get answers out of Pax. He’s wearing a cream linen shirt, and somewhere under there is a sigil that says right now he can’t snap my finger off – minor consolation.

  “This pentad nonsense had nothing to do with me. It was just a power play. All this crap about your mother’s prophecy, and you knew all along that you’d already played my card. You walked me into that group of Sabers. You told them my ass was changing their world, and you were stupid for expecting them not to react –” Damn, teeth. The guy has grown long, wolf-like teeth.

  I stop poking him in the chest, my hand hovering mid-air. Killian reaches across and lowers it.

  “We all chose, and we all fought,” he says.

  “Not for me. For them. For your plan and your realm and –”

  “Yes. For. You,” Pax says, his tone all predator, all Thane.

  “What if I were a guy, hey? What if I walked into your lives with dangly bits between my legs? You wouldn’t have cared about my status as a soot-servant then because it wouldn’t have been strategic enough. I’m just a pawn in your game, Pax.”