by Kimber White
“If you don’t take a mate,” I said. “You’re going to lose yourself. That’s what Payne and Milo said. Is it true? How much time do you have?”
He let out a growl. “It’s my problem, not yours.”
How could he even say that? I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think.
“Is it me?” I said. “Have I made you worse?”
“No!” he said, his eyes wide and desperate. “No,” he said, softer. “Zendra, if anything you’re what’s keeping me going. And I meant what I said. This isn’t a problem you need to take on.”
“If I...if I let you mark me, will it stop? Will it cure you? Tell me the truth.”
His face became a mask. Only the flicker of his eyes betrayed his emotions. They held the answer. Fear zinged through me. But, lust did too. From the core of me, a single word burst forth
Yes!
“I don’t know,” he said. “That’s the truth. Zendra, you’re not...if you were human. Or a shifter. Or even of this realm. But what we are, there’s no precedent for it. I don’t know how it works. And it doesn’t matter. If the day ever comes that you decide to let me mark you, by God, it’ll be your decision. Not something you do out of fear or pressure, or anything else.”
I took a step back. So he was giving me a choice. My need for him pulsed through me. And yet, I was still scared. Edward was right. Neither of us knew how this worked. Regardless of what our instincts told us, I couldn’t give myself to him until I’d done what I came here for. And if I had to go back? If the only way to save my family was to leave Edward forever? My heart tore at the thought of it.
“Come on,” he said. “We have to let Payne in on what you told me. They need to know what you really are. If we have any hope of retrieving the final piece of the medallion, we’re going to need Wolfguard to do it.”
My throat felt thick. Even after all of it, he was still willing to jump into the chasm with me. Would he still if he knew everything?
“I’ve told you a thousand times, and I hope I’ve proven it,” he said. “Zendra, you can trust me. You can trust these men.”
I took his hand. He placed a kiss on the top of my head. We walked back into Payne’s office together.
Payne and Milo were still there, as was another woman. She was pretty, short, with dark hair. She stood beside Milo and he took a protective stance. I knew instantly who she was. Nadia. His mate. The wind mage.
“Zendra is ready to tell you what she knows,” Edward said.
Was I? I knew Edward was right about one critical fact. If I were ever going to retrieve the final piece of my key, I’d need a lot of help to do it. I just hoped Wolfguard was as powerful as Edward said they were. And I hoped they’d still be on my side.
Edward did most of the talking. Milo, Nadia, and Payne sat wide-eyed as he got through it. When Edward finished, Nadia spoke first. “Fae,” she whispered, her expression filled with wonder, not fear. “Oh, my.”
“You can shift, but not shift?” Milo asked. “I don’t understand.”
“I don’t become a wolf, like you do,” I said. “I just...well...I look and act like one. I’m not physically strong like a wolf shifter is.”
“She’s strong enough,” Edward said.
“This Olen,” Payne asked. “Are there others like him? Looking for you?”
“There will be,” I said. “And there are others looking to escape our home realm. Like Edward explained, it’s collapsing. It’s possible other Fae are already here. I thought I sensed some when I first came through. But...I don’t know. I haven’t since.”
“How long before your realm is gone?” Nadia asked.
“I don’t...I don’t know how to answer that in Earth years exactly. Twenty years? A hundred? It’s hard to say. But it’s coming.”
“So we’re looking at the possibility of being overrun by evil Fae,” Milo said. “Allies of the Ring. Because you know that’s where this will end up. If the Ring recruits an army of Fae on their side, we’ll be outmatched.”
“Not if we close the portal for good,” Edward said. “Zendra can’t go to Kilauea to retrieve the last piece of the medallion. It’s too dangerous. Olen and those like him can track her too easily. We have to do it for her. We have to keep her safe. Then, when the key is whole, she can get her family to safety. And she can destroy the key.”
“But there are others,” Payne said. “Other keys. Surely the medallion you stole isn’t the only one.”
“I didn’t steal it,” I said. “It was a gift.”
“From whom?” Nadia asked.
“From my father, the last person who promised to protect me,” I said. Edward bristled. I hadn’t told him that part.
“If they can track you here,” Milo said. “What’s to stop other Fae from doing the same thing even if you do destroy the key and the portal? I’m sorry. I’m trying to understand the whole picture. But, it seems like as long as you’re here in this realm, others will try to follow. And you’re telling me that some of those others may bring the threat of great harm to the magic users who already live here. If the Ring has anything to say about it, I mean.”
“It’s not for us to decide that,” Nadia said, her voice rising. “Zendra came here for help. Because she had no choice. She’s in as much danger from the Ring as any of us. We can’t turn our back on her. It’s not who we are.”
“No,” Payne said. “It’s not. But, we need time. Do we have it?”
Edward took my hand in his. “Some,” I answered. “I don’t know if and when someone else might come after me.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Edward said, rising. With each breath he took, I could feel his strength returning. “Whoever comes, we’ll be ready. And no one is going to touch you again, Zendra. Not without going through Wolfguard and me.”
I smiled. My heart soared as I looked up at him. At the same time, that’s exactly what I was afraid of.
Chapter Eighteen
Edward
“I still don’t think you should be the one to go,” Zendra said.
We’d arrived at a rented safehouse on the Big Island in Hawaii. Kīlauea loomed in the distance. This was command central for the time being.
“I’m fine,” I told her for the thousandth time. I was. I’d never felt stronger. We’d spent the last week in strategy sessions, planning the trip to retrieve the last piece of Zendra’s medallion. Payne and I would take point. Zendra was coming as far as this safehouse. We had two fire mages who freelanced with us and two of our top bounty hunters, Roy Lassiter, a tiger shifter from Texas, and Marcus, a wolf shifter from the Philadelphia field office. They had orders to stay glued to Zendra’s side. The rest of us would hike up to Kilauea and get the medallion once and for all. Zendra had mapped out the coordinates. Our fire mages felt certain they’d be able to pick up the magic trail once we got close. I hoped they were right. For now, they were all either in town or scouting the trails. It left Zendra and me a rare opportunity to be alone. I craved her still, though it had been easier to keep hold of my wolf if I kept my distance.
“Something could go wrong,” she said.
“That’s why you’re here,” I said. “You’ll be able to sense if Olen or anyone like him has followed us here. What about now?”
I went to her and rubbed her arms. She had the sexiest pout on her face and it took great effort on my part not to kiss it right off.
“Nothing,” she said. “Not since that night on the road back at the cabin. For all I know, he’s dead.”
I hoped it could be that easy. Instinct and experience told me it wasn’t. But, as soon as the sun set, hopefully, this would all be behind us. Zendra would have her key. She could get her family through, then seal up the portal forever. After that, we’d have four more displaced refugee Fae to protect. One thing at a time.
“There haven’t been any rumblings from any of our C.I.s about activity from the Ring,” I assured her.
“C.I.s?”
“Confidential informants,” I answe
red.
Zendra nodded. “Just how far is Wolfguard’s reach?”
“Very far,” I said. “Sometimes we have to dance with the devil a little to keep ahead of the Ring. This mission is no exception. But, we’re almost at the end of it.”
She looked pensive. Zenra went to the front window. The house was at the end of a tree-lined street in a quiet neighborhood in the valley. It was so normal. So simple. I wondered what it would be like to live in a place like this.
“Then what?” she asked, pressing her forehead to the glass. I came beside her. I nuzzled her neck, drinking in her intoxicating scent. A rumble of desire went through me and I pulled away. There might be time for that later. Now, I had to keep my head in the game.
“What would you like to have happen?” I asked.
She turned to me. “I don’t know if I could go back to the Oracle.”
“Were you happy there?” I asked.
She blinked hard, almost as if the question had never occurred to her. “Well,” she said. “I knew what was expected of me there. And it was a living. I liked Luna Point. The people there mostly left me alone.”
“You don’t belong alone,” I said. “And soon, if everything works out the way we hope, you’ll have your family back.”
The thought of it scared me. I had no idea who they were. How would they feel about Zendra being involved with someone like me?
“Edward,” she said. “The bigger question is, what will happen to you when this is all over?”
I kissed her. “Shh. Don’t worry about me.”
“I do though,” she said, pulling away. Her eyes went wide and filled with tears.
“I’m not your responsibility,” I said.
She took a step back. “Aren’t you? Last week, when we...you wanted me to say it. You made me tell you. I’m yours. They weren’t just words. I felt them.”
“Are you ready for that?” I asked. “Are you ready to be bound to me forever and everything that entails? Because I’ve said it a hundred times. I won’t force it on you. And I don’t want it if you’re doing it out of some sense of obligation or guilt.”
Her eyes searched my face. I felt her heat coming off of her.
“I just can’t bear the thought of you suffering,” she said, her voice breaking. “It hurts me when you hurt. But, at the same time, I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
“You’re worried about what your family might say?”
“I’m worried about everything,” she said. “I don’t know what it’s been like for them where they are. They could be hurt. Sick. Driven mad. You have to understand. Two years have gone by since I came through. For them, it may have been hundreds, even thousands of years. Or, it could have been two seconds. I just don’t know. They might hate you. But they also might hate me.”
“How could they?” I said. “Zendra, what you did. You risked your life and everything else getting that medallion and sending them somewhere safer. I’ve told you, I know a little bit about what it’s like to be sent somewhere far away for your own safety. It’s no different than what my Uncle Andre did for me when I was eighteen years old. I’d never been to America. I didn’t speak the language. I was angry. And scared. But, I knew what it cost him to try and give me a better life. It was hard, yes. I love him for it. And I’m grateful. Your family will be too. I think more than anything, they’ll just be overjoyed to see you.”
Her smile wasn’t convincing, but she let me hold her. I had just enough time to kiss her gently on the cheek before the front door opened and Payne stepped through.
“It’s time,” he said, his voice gruff. “Actually, it’s now or never. Are you ready to go?”
“Ready,” I said. I gave Zendra a quick embrace. She was shaking.
“This won’t take long,” I said. “I promise.”
Payne tossed me a headset. I handed the earpiece to Zendra and helped her fit it in her right ear.
“It’ll be like you’re with me the whole time,” I said.
Marcus came out of the back bedroom. We’d set up a communications center there. We were connected with headsets, but no visuals.
Marcus and Roy wouldn’t leave Zendra’s side. Payne had a car waiting for us in front. It was a quick, five-minute drive to the entrance to the trail. From there, we’d shift and make the target in another five minutes or less. The mages had already started up, ready to alert us if there was any new magic along the way.
“You sure you’ll be able to sense the thing when we get close?” Payne asked.
I pulled my piece of the medallion out from under my shirt. “They attract each other like magnets,” I assured him. “And Nadia’s spell has held through everything. This thing’s not leaving my neck no matter what.”
“Then let’s get this done,” Payne said.
I shot a look at Marcus and Roy. I was entrusting them with Zendra’s life. They understood how heavy a burden that was. She’d proven time and again she could defend herself. Still, I would leave nothing to chance today.
Zendra squeezed my hand, then let me go. Adrenaline coursed through me. It was good to be moving. I couldn’t think too far past what would happen when Zendra had the complete medallion. My strongest sense was that everything might change.
We drove in silence. Payne parked the car under a massive oak tree, rendering it almost invisible in the shadows.
“Let’s get this over with,” he said. He tapped his ear. “We clear up there?”
The radio squawked. “Clear all the way up the mountain.” I recognized Gentry’s voice. He was from a coven nearby.
“Anything else I should know?” Payne asked. He slipped his shirt over his head, readying himself to shift. I did the same. In another second, we’d take out the earpieces. They’d do us no good in our wolves. I placed mine in the small pack I had strapped to my leg.
“The thing is here,” Gentry said. “It was easy to track. It’s right where the girl said it would be. Head straight up. We’ll meet you there.”
“Got it,” Payne said. I slipped out my earpiece and let my wolf come out. It felt so good.
“You sure you’re good?” Payne asked, waiting beside me. I snapped my jaw and gave him a gruff bark. I was tired of waiting. And I was tired of having to answer that question.
I bounded into the woods. Payne was right behind me. I didn’t need the fire mages. I didn’t even need Zendra. The medallion around my neck began to glow just like it had back at the Oracle when I found Zendra’s piece of it.
My heart raced. I flew over the ground. I saw the map Zendra drew in my mind.
Payne let out a warning bark. I climbed up the rocky cliff face. It was dangerous here on foot, but not for me. I imagined Zendra in her eagle, flying up here two years ago. She’d been all alone. I shuddered thinking about what could have happened.
I reached the edge of the cliff. Our two fire mages, Gentry and Giselle, were waiting. The wind picked up and both of them had fire dancing behind their eyes. The medallion’s magic was setting them on edge. My medallion lifted off my chest.
I shifted and rose on two legs. Payne climbed up beside me.
“What’s the plan now?” Giselle asked.
I wasn’t in the mood to explain. I went to the edge. Kīlauea belched smoke from deep inside. Soot filled my nose. The ground rumbled beneath me.
“What the hell is that?” Payne asked. His wolf eyes flashed.
I went down on all fours then belly crawled to the mouth of the crevasse. Instinct and ancient magic fueled me I took the medallion off and held it out.
Vibrations rumbled through me. I could see the last piece of the medallion in my mind’s eye.
Dirt and rocks dislodged from further up the mountain and rained down on us. I grabbed my earpiece from the pack still, strapped to my leg.
“Zendra,” I said. “I’m here.”
“Do you have it?” she asked, her voice breathless with alarm.
“Not yet,” I said. “But I can feel it. How far down
is it?”
“Only about two feet,” she said. Her answer surprised me. If that were true, it should have dislodged from the vibrations by now.”
“Just a second,” I said. I crawled a little closer.
“Be careful,” Gentry said. “If you fall in, I can shield you from getting burned, but I can’t do anything about gravity. Unless wolves have wings, you’ll be screwed.”
“There,” I said. A glint of gold caught my eye. “I can almost reach it.”
Payne came behind me and grabbed my legs. I stretched forward, dangling my medallion toward the source of the light.
The ground shook. Rocks tumbled down. I clutched my medallion to my chest.
A shaft of light shot up from the hole, knocking me backward. Payne fell too. The fire mages were blasted straight into the rocks.
“What the hell was that?” I shouted. “Zendra? Are you there?”
There was nothing on the other end of the mic but static. My heart tripped. I felt her. Zendra was terrified. And I sensed she wasn’t alone.
Payne got to his feet first. He was shouting into his own earpiece.
“It’s a trap,” he said. “Abort!”
I was on my feet.
“Zendra!”
Purple lightning cut through the air. Olen stepped out of it. He had blood running down his face.
“Edward, stay back!”
Olen had Zendra in his arms. He held a knife to her throat. My God. How had he gotten to her so quickly? The Fae portals had more power than I realized. What else could he do to her? If I wasn’t careful, I knew he could disappear with her to someplace I could never follow.
“Best listen to her,” Olen said. In his other hand, he clutched the third piece of the medallion.
“I said, let her go,” I said. “I’ll give you what you want.” I dangled my medallion in front of me.
“No!” Zendra screamed. She fought against him, but Olen was too strong for her. He held her by the hair and dangled her over the portal. I froze.
Olen smiled.
“Take me instead,” I said.
“Interesting offer,” Olen said. “I may take you up on it later. For now, I’ll just take what’s mine.”
