by Lauren Dane
“I’ve been around a few years. I can feel the buildup of something in the air. Expectancy. Anticipation. The world most often feels, to me anyway, properly compartmentalized.”
“Like one of those plates they give kids and people who don’t like their food touching.” Meriel winked at Lark, who had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing.
“Yes, I’m sure.” Edwina sniffed and looked to Lark again. “But over the last month, especially the last three or four days, it feels… lax perhaps? The elasticity between realities and planes of existence is weakening.”
“And we can’t prevent it? Shore up those walls or whatever it is that keeps all of us where and when we’re supposed to be?” She’d really never even thought about planes of existence before she arrived in Seattle. She certainly hadn’t had a Lycian in her life who took her to the other side of the Veil.
“The Fae who came to us, the one who told me the queen’s warning? He said they’re calling the Fae back to their side of the Veil. Can’t we shut all the walls? Keep the Magister wherever it is now?”
“The Veil isn’t just between us and the Fae and Lycians. There are many passages between time and place. Infinite, I’m given to understand. Portia Gennessee said this and I have no reason to doubt it.”
Gennessee and Owen were part of one big clan territory. Originally Owen settled in California but after a time they wanted to migrate to Seattle and build a clan there. But not all the Owens wanted to go. So some stayed and became Gennessee. But they were all Owen at base, all connected and related on a magickal level.
Portia was Edwina’s great-aunt and someone Lark considered a walking encyclopedia. Also she was spooky and old and she had great stories to tell.
“She and Gia Kelly have been in contact of course.” Edwina tipped her head in thanks to Lark for making that happen. “She called to tell me she’d had a series of dreams about me. About Meriel and Owen. My daughter and I need to perform the spell in unison. And the Magister will manifest. I can feel it right now.”
“Really?” She couldn’t help but lean forward, fascinated.
“Holding the seat of the Clan means I’m in tight connection with the earth around us. The ground here that holds our magick. Little changes are common. Witches coming and going. There’s a growing Other population here, which builds up. But this is different. The balance was tipping and now it’s wobbly. It feels top heavy.” Meriel shrugged, clearly unable to put it into more precise terms. “Edwina was the Owen for a long time, her connection to the Clan and our ground is second nature by this point.”
“We’re on the verge. The Magister is on the verge of becoming. It’s not an if question, now. It’s a when question.” Edwina sat back and Lark did as well.
In her business, knowing things was a positive. She just wished they knew something better than that some world-ending supervillain would be showing up to dinner.
“And before you ask, no, I don’t know exactly when. Soon. But time to a being like the Magister is relative.”
“Gennessee is using the havens.” Havens were safe places members of the clans could retreat to in times of trouble. They were fortified and warded and only a very few people in each clan knew their location.
“Well, Hunter, what is your recommendation regarding the havens and our witches?” Meriel arched a brow and looked very much like her mother in that moment.
“I have concerns. Our strongest are staying. Which means the weakest are going. I can’t have them going unprotected. So we’d have to send some of our hunters. Which means of course that we’d have less here for whatever showdown that finally comes to pass. Additionally, a group of witches in a haven would create an energy spike. If our enemy knew what to look for, and I think it does, we’re putting them in the middle of nowhere, poorly protected as it appears our wards aren’t always effective. I don’t think we can protect them better there than here.” And she’d told her sister this as well. But Gennessee had a bigger hunter force and some would go to the bigger havens.
“I agree with this.” Meriel shrugged. “Tell me what we’re doing to protect them here.”
Lark laid out all the details for the safety net she’d put into place. A system of calls to check in, alerting all their people to this danger and encouraging them to keep in groups and not to go out at night, which seemed to be the prime time for getting snatched.
They were working with the wolves and vampires on broad, nonstop sweeps of the Seattle and Bellevue metro areas where the overwhelming percentage of their people lived and worked.
“Our trainings continue and according to some data I went over a few hours ago, about eighty percent of the clan has received some level of defensive magick education.”
“And Craig? I’ve been told about the situation at the house. What’s the status on that?”
“Mike is on it. They haven’t found anything. We’re still looking.”
“I know this boy. Craig has been a member of this clan, as his parents have been, for his entire life.” Edwina’s gaze narrowed. “I understand his timing was inappropriate, but that doesn’t make him a spy.”
“No, it doesn’t. But we’ve got evidence the mages have been receiving some intelligence from a witch. We know they have from various insiders the whole time. I’ve been trying to figure out how the spell that killed those two prisoners got through the wards. It was not like Dominic’s situation a few months ago. Getting through those wards around the cells would have been extraordinarily difficult. Without help. A small tear in the wards is all they would have needed. It is my belief there is a leak here in Owen. And it’s my belief he’s the one responsible. So I’ve removed his access to anything integral and he’s being watched.”
Lark’s and Edwina’s gazes held for some time. This was not the time to let emotions take over logic. She would do what was right, lifelong members of the clan or not.
“I hope he’s innocent. But until I know he is for sure, I’m going to keep watching him.”
“Are you sure this isn’t just that you don’t like to be questioned?”
Meriel’s eyes widened at her mother’s question. “Mother, that’s enough.”
“No, let me answer. I don’t like being questioned. No one does. But if you believe I’d falsely accuse anyone of being a spy, especially given the seriousness of the situation, you should fire me right now.”
Edwina nodded once. “I don’t believe that. I just wanted to be sure you didn’t either.” She and Meriel stood.
“Keep me apprised, Lark.”
Chapter 30
IT was nearly six hours later, long after midnight, when Dominic tapped on her door, startling her from the papers she’d been going through.
“Simon tells me you’ve had a grand total of four hours’ sleep in the last two days. You’re off duty now. I want you to get some downtime.” Dominic stood in the doorway with that busybody she had sex with. She sent him a look but he shined her on.
“I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not. Lark, you need to sleep. You know better than most that your power will run down if you don’t rest. You were attacked by one of the mages. I know what that feels like, by the way. Go home and sleep for a few hours. Eat a real meal. Take a shower. Do yoga, whatever. But you’re off duty.”
“Dominic!” She stood and Simon moved into the room, grabbed her bag and then he actually lifted her like a sack of goods and tossed her over his shoulder. “I have work to do. In case you haven’t noticed, this is end-of-the-world stuff! Simon, put me down.”
“I’m the boss. I get to say when people need rest. You need rest. We have others here working. We’ll be over later. Meriel has a lot of stuff to talk with you about. But I’m going to make her sleep too.” Dominic waved as Lark twisted to argue with him. “I will spell you to sleep. Don’t make me do that.”
He could, she knew. He was an incredibly powerful witch and that he and Meriel held the seat of the clan meant he’d be even more powerful
. Far more than she was.
“We’ll be at your house at eight. That’s six hours. It’s not forever. But you need it.” Dominic shrugged and Simon sort of rumbled his approval. Hmpf.
“You’re going to pay for this,” she muttered as he continued carrying her. She wouldn’t make a bigger scene by punching him in the face. Not until they were in private.
“Looking forward to it. Right now you’re not strong enough to take me on so be quiet.”
He bundled her into the car and she didn’t look at him. Not that he cared.
Her father wouldn’t be taking a break. Or her sister. “I slept this morning.”
“You slept yesterday morning. You’ve been working straight through since you woke up. You look like hell.”
“I’m aware of your feelings about my clothing. Anyway, Shelley came to see me and fixed my shoulder. I’m taking anti-inflammatories and I need to stop the end of the world. The last thing I need is to be managed like I’m five.”
“I’m not talking about your questionable taste in clothing. You haven’t had a real meal in days. You haven’t slept in a bed for days. Just fucking admit you need it. God, why do you have to make everything so hard? It’s still the apocalypse looming over you when you’re not so tired you’re stumbling.”
“I’m not your ward. I’m supposed to be your girlfriend. Last time I checked that didn’t include letting you make all my choices for my job. A job I’m very capable of doing, thank you very much.”
He drove, perfectly controlled, but the look on his face wasn’t so very controlled.
“And I notice you’re not sleeping. How is it that I’m supposed to do this or that but you’re just fine to be operating machinery and carrying girls around?”
“I’m six hundred fucking years old.” He said this through clenched teeth. “I’m Lycian, I’m built, bred to be up for days while fighting. That’s what we’ve done for millennia. I’m made to carry people around and be on the move for days at a time. You are not. You’ve done your job. It doesn’t mean you failed that you need to consume food and sleep, for heaven’s sake.”
Boy, he said the F-word a lot more when he was pissy. But she was pissy too, so she might have to pull out a few F-words of her own.
“Do you think my father is sleeping right now? Or Helena?” She didn’t mean to yell and suddenly she fought tears and then mortification that she’d yelled and wanted to cry.
“I think I don’t care. And fuck that ward comment. It’s beneath you to say that.”
“Fuck you right back, Simon. It’s beneath you to carry me around and undermine me to my boss simply because you’re besties and all.”
He growled and she felt better that his controlled mask slipped a little. So she was petty.
But he continued as if she hadn’t said anything. “I don’t care what your father is doing because he’s not here. Helena didn’t save her friend. You did. Neither of them has taken on these mages multiple times, overhauled an entire hunter crew and clan and also been injured over and over. But you have. So what these random people would or wouldn’t do doesn’t matter to me. What you do matters to me. And the rest of the damned world too, Lark. Because that’s who you’ve been working to save pretty much nonstop since you arrived. And I’d wager since you could walk.”
He heard the tears in her voice and it sliced through him. She was so tired she shuffled, and yet she kept going. Dominic had come to him to complain about Meriel going without a break and he’d realized they both had women who needed some sleep.
He knew he was pushing it. Could see her anger with him was genuine and in another time with another set of circumstances she’d be right to be angry with him. But she was exhausted and if the battle with the Magister were to happen right then she may lose because of the way she’d been going without a break.
So he’d let her be mad and he’d be mad too, but she’d get some rest and be better able to deal with whatever came along. There was no way he’d do anything that made her less able to deal with the monumental task before them.
“I love you, Lark. You’re not my ward, you’re my everything. I’ve got to deal with the fact that you’re walking into the face of something so strong even the Fae are freaked. I can’t stand by and watch you work yourself to the verge of passing out. You have to be ready for the Magister. I’m not going to lose you. So if you want to be mad at me, go on, but I’m not sorry.”
They pulled into his garage and she was alert again, looking, he knew, with her othersight to be sure they were safe and no wards had been tripped.
“Clear.” She got out and headed toward the house. That she didn’t sock him or kick him in the junk was probably a good indicator she was less mad than she was at first. But he was on guard because she was sneaky.
“Bed.” He followed her and steered her away from the table where she kept her laptop. “Plenty of work to do in the morning.”
“I’m totally not having sex with you. You carried me out of the office.”
She moved into his bedroom—well, their bedroom—and peeled her clothes off. This was going in a nice direction.
“Of course you will. But not right now. No one saw. I wouldn’t have done it if there had been people around. They’re all sleeping or out on patrol.” He handed her a T-shirt and she snatched it from his hand and glared. “Put that on and let’s go to sleep. I’ll set the alarm for seven.” He did as she watched, suspicious. As if he’d set it for nine just for fun.
“I should sleep in my room.”
“This is your room.” He pulled his shirt off and knew he had her attention. He’d use whatever he had to to make sure she got rest so he unzipped his pants ever so slowly and held back a smile of satisfaction when she got in bed while never taking her gaze from him.
“You’re cheating.”
He shimmied from the pants and tossed them in the laundry, following up with his shorts. He came to bed totally naked and his woman seemed very fine with that.
“Don’t need to cheat. You’re easy for my body. That’s not my fault.”
He pulled her to him and she squirmed for a moment and then sighed, going lax and letting him hold her. “See. This is nice, isn’t it? Close your eyes and let yourself sleep. If anything happens, they’ll call. People are working right now. You can let go. For just a little while.”
She turned and buried her face in his neck with a little snuffle and they both let go and fell into sleep.
HE knew they’d both been exhausted when it was the alarm clock that woke them instead of his internal clock. He usually got up before she did and she would follow rather quickly. But today she rolled over and groaned with a stretch.
“Seven came a lot earlier than I thought it would,” she mumbled and got out of bed, making him frown.
“Though you know how fond I am of your ass, why are you walking away from bed instead of toward it?”
She went into the bathroom for a bit.
When she returned, it was as she answered his question. “Because unlike some people who perpetually look as if they’re on a movie set with five makeup and hair people at their beck and call at all times, I need to go to the bathroom and brush my teeth and hair.”
She jumped back into bed, landing on him in a warm tangle of legs, the softness of her against him.
“Good morning, Adonis.”
Smiling, he stretched to kiss her. “I feel very objectified.”
“Thank God. I was worried I’d have to throw myself at you to get you to notice me.”
He grinned, hugging her tighter, keeping a grip on that delicious bum of hers. “You’re feeling better.”
She frowned and glared. “Don’t think I’ve forgotten you showed up like my dad and hauled me home like a bag of potatoes.”
“If you think I’m going to apologize for not being willing to watch you work until you passed out—or worse gotten confronted with something major that you’d be too worn out to defend yourself against—you’re going to be waiting
a long time.” He kissed her again, this time it was a slow, teasing kiss. A kiss that warmed as she softened against him again, as she slid her fingers into his hair, cradling his skull as she nipped his lip.
“Loving you is never boring.”
“Is that a compliment?”
He rolled her to her back. “Of course it is. How’s your arm?” He peeled her shirt off to examine her better. And to get his mouth and hands all over her body.
“It’s better. Mmmm.”
He kissed down the center of her chest, the swell of her breasts brushing against his cheeks.
She had bruises on her torso and he kissed them carefully. These were marks of the battle she’d been in not even two days before. A battle she’d won. They bothered him on one level. She was his woman. So small and fragile compared to him and oftentimes those who wanted to harm her.
But mainly they filled him with pride. “You’re incredible.” He kissed the now-fading love bite he’d given her.
“I am?” Her voice caught on a gasp as he flicked his tongue over her nipple. “’Cause from where I’m standing, um, laying, you’re the incredible one.”
“Watching you fight is better than any sexy movie I’ve ever seen. You’re smart and strong and you run your crew like a born leader. My beast wants to rub up all over you, to snarl and gnash teeth and rip apart our enemies side by side.”
Her teasing manner faded and she listened, her features betraying how touched she was.
“A female like you, so rare and unique, is a gift greater than any riches.” He needed her to know he not only respected what she did, but that he believed in it as she did. Needed to know why it was he found her so beautiful.
He kissed down her belly and over to the bloom of purple/green bruises on her thigh. She thought he’d spent even a single moment regretting that she wasn’t one of the women he’d dallied with before her. Which was silly.
“No one I’ve ever met has been like you. I’m a very, very lucky male.”
“You’re such a flatterer.” But she blushed. “I don’t know what to do with you sometimes. You’re smooth and classy and have a crapton of money, by the way.”
