by Dianna Love
She turned to the conference room where Quinn and Tzader stood. Tzader had lost some weight, which honed his powerfully built body to sharper edges. He commanded a room just by walking through the door. That was a man born to lead. He took one look at Oskar and scowled.
An inch taller, and refined as usual in his mega-dollar suit, Quinn stared in horror. “What have you brought home this time?”
She snapped, “It wasn’t my idea. I tried to get someone else to deal with this little guy and what can I say? I drew the short straw.”
Oskar lifted his head and narrowed his eyes at her.
How much did he understand?
She asked Storm, “Do you have some towels I can put on the floor?”
“Is it housebroken?”
Now Oskar made a grinding sound deep in his throat.
If she had to guess, she’d say Storm had just insulted Oskar.
Trying to find some happy medium, she said, “That’s not the issue. I just want something I can pile in the corner that he can lie down on.”
Once Storm had the towels piled like a bed, the men all stood back to allow Evalle to enter the conference room and settle Oskar. She held up a hand. “I need a minute with Feenix.”
“We’re not in a hurry.” Quinn waved her off.
Storm headed for the doorway. “He’s upstairs.”
Evalle dashed out behind him, hurrying up the steps. When she reached the second-floor landing, her eyes bugged out at the trim work and paint in the hallway. “Wow. When did all this get done?”
Storm turned around. “These apartments are finished, and the furniture was delivered yesterday. We already have a guest. I set up Lanna with a new set of sheets, and stocked enough food in the apartment from our supplies for her to be set for a day or two.”
“Lanna’s here?”
Storm led Evalle down to the first door on the left. “She was with Quinn, and he wanted to talk to you. I figured she’d be good company for Feenix. He must have heard your voice and made Lanna let him out.”
One tap on the door and Lanna opened it, smiling. “Evalle! I am glad to see you.”
Evalle was still working on allowing people to get close, but Lanna was basically family. She hugged the teenager, then asked, “Where’s Feenix?”
Lanna had an ‘oh-no’ look on her face and tilted her head to her left.
Evalle stepped all the way into the room and found Feenix on his beanbag chair, hugging his stuffed alligator and ignoring her. She walked over and squatted down. “Hi, baby. Do I get a hug?”
He seemed torn between sulking and getting a hug from her. He finally dropped the alligator and climbed onto her lap, tucking his wings. She let out a sigh. She could fix his hurt feelings.
Then he whispered, “Mine?” and she flinched at the doubt in his voice.
Hugging him tighter, she said, “Of course I am, and you’re mine. Okay?”
He patted her with his chubby paws. “’K.”
Storm said, “I’ve been waiting to show you both something. Now seems like a great time.”
Turning to him, Evalle hesitated. Feenix had just gotten over one shock, but the tenderness in Storm’s gaze convinced her to trust him not to add to her little gargoyle’s stress. “Sure. You good with that, Feenix?”
He lifted his soft bat wings in a shrug.
Lanna bubbled, “Am I invited?”
Smiling, Storm said, “Of course.”
Once they were all in the hallway, Storm led them to the third floor. He’d kept the only door on that floor locked the entire time Evalle had been coming to the building. He said it hid a surprise, so she’d never pushed him to show it to her.
When he opened the room, she followed him in, unable to speak. All the floors had twelve-foot ceilings, but this space was huge and open and beautiful. Large video screens scrolled through different images. Pipes had been constructed into connected rectangular shapes in one corner, with an open platform eight feet up. Ten different whirly toys flew around the room. Half of the floor was covered in sod, and there were piles of toys and building block games scattered around.
This space was equal to ninety percent of the ground-level footprint. Two large beanbags had been tossed in as well.
Storm had made Feenix a playhouse.
Feenix was flapping his wings, trying to take flight.
Evalle gave his chubby little body a lift and let go.
He flew after something shaped like a four-winged bird that darted all over the place. And he was making the happiest noises she’d ever heard from him.
Lanna stood next to her, awestruck. “Beautiful. All this so good for Feenix.”
Evalle finally found her voice, but it was thick with emotion when she stepped into Storm’s waiting arms. He hugged her, and kissed the top of her head.
She said, “I have no words except thank you. I love you so much.”
“Best words in my world,” he murmured. “By the way, this doesn’t mean I don’t want Feenix in our living space, but in here he can’t hurt anything. If he does, I’ll replace it.”
Lanna’s sigh was all teenage girl. “I want a Storm.”
Chuckling, Evalle said, “There’s only one, and he’s taken.”
She turned in his arms in time to see Feenix catch a silver lug nut that shot off like a missile from the flying toy he chased. He snapped up the silver treat and chomped it.
“Wait one minute.” Lanna ran out of the room, which reminded Evalle she had to get back downstairs. Evalle had to call Feenix’s name several times before he fluttered back over to where they stood.
She squatted down to his eye level. “Are you happy, baby?”
“Yeth.” He hadn’t stopped smiling.
“Storm built all this for you.”
Storm put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “That’s not necessary.”
“Yes, it is. I want him to know who did this for him. I want him to understand so he can appreciate this. He has to do his part here, too.” She turned to Feenix. “When people do nice things we say thank you. Remember?”
“Uh-huh.”
Argh. He was being stubborn. “Do you want to go back to our old place to live?”
Feenix’s orange eyes strayed, taking in his playroom. He came back to Evalle and said, “Nuh-uh.”
“Me neither. I like it here. I’m happy to be with you and Storm. It would make me very happy if you told Storm how much you appreciate this.”
Feenix licked the tip of a claw, thinking. Then he waddled toward Storm and looked up. “Apprethiate thith.”
Storm’s face relaxed. “You’re welcome.”
“That’s my baby.” She opened her arms and Feenix lunged for her.
Lanna came back in, dragging Feenix’s original beanbag that had his stuffed alligator on it.
Feenix jumped from Evalle’s arms and landed on the beanbag. Pulling his stuffed toy into his arms, Feenix said. “Lanna thay.”
Lanna called out, “Yes, I will stay, and look at that!” She walked over to a small barrel the size of a five-gallon bucket. Reaching in, she pulled out a handful of lug nuts and tossed one to Feenix. Feenix started clapping and chortling.
Seeing things calm again, Evalle told Feenix, “I have to take care of some business downstairs, but you can stay here or with Lanna, if she wants, for the night. I’ll see you in the morning. That okay with you?”
“Yeth.” He was ignoring her in a moment of lug nut nirvana.
Lanna laughed. “Is fine. He will keep me company. Much better here than in Treoir.”
Evalle started to ask her what she meant, but Tzader would fill her in as soon as they got back downstairs.
With her pet gargoyle finally content, Evalle and Storm headed back down. She asked, “Where did all those shiny new lug nuts come from?”
He shrugged. “Here and there.”
She snagged Storm’s sleeve when he was a step below her on the stairs and pulled him around then kissed him, thanking him the best way
she knew how. She loved this man to the point it scared her at times when she thought about anything happening to him.
He must have liked it. He started growling under his breath and made it clear with his next kiss he wanted full body contact soon. Bring it. She missed Storm the minute she left and never got enough of touching him.
Breaking away, he cursed in his Navajo language. She only knew that because she’d asked him to translate once. “What’s wrong, Storm?”
His dark gaze churned with simmering heat. “Another second of that and I’d take you right here.”
“Oh.” She enjoyed the heady feeling of turning on a man as sexual as Storm. Leaning in again, she brushed a kiss over his lips. “I only wanted you to know I really appreciate all you’re doing to make Feenix happy.”
One of his dark eyebrows climbed up at that. “Let’s get this meeting done, and I’ll let you take more time showing me that appreciation. When you’re done, I intend to make Feenix’s mama a very happy woman.”
Another word out of him, and she’d be the one crawling up his body right here on the stairs.
He smiled and kissed her forehead. When she stepped down, he slung an arm around her shoulders. “I feel better now that I’m not the only one ready to call it a night.”
“I get it. Misery loves company.”
“Think of it as motivation to make this a short meeting.”
When they reached the conference room, Evalle took a chair at the table on the end near Oskar. He seemed to be sleeping. Good news on that front.
Storm sat next to her on the other side and whispered, “If he gets out of hand, I could calm him down with a little something special.”
Oskar’s head popped up and turned, much the way an owl’s head rotated. He sent a withering look toward Storm, who watched him the way a predator studies something new in its territory.
She knew that look. Storm was assessing Oskar as a threat to her. Evalle said, “He’ll be fine. Let’s talk about it later.”
Oskar’s intense gaze slid over to Evalle. She smiled at him, and that must have been enough for him to relax. When she turned to the three men, she had a hard time deciding who had the more grim expression—Tzader or Quinn.
She understood Quinn’s. He had to be juggling stressful situations related to being the new Maistir, but that was likely second to his grief. He normally kept his emotions shielded, but he would probably grieve in silence for a long time.
Evalle had no idea how you got over losing someone you loved that much, and didn’t want to find out.
Tzader, on the other hand, shouldn’t be back in Atlanta unless all was right with Brina.
Cutting a sharp look at Oskar, Tzader asked, “Now will you tell us what the hell is going on?”
Evalle arched an eyebrow right back at her friend. “I was about to ask the same thing. You first. Is Brina better?”
“No.” Tzader seemed to force the words out. “I’ve been booted from Treoir, but I have a lead on how to help Brina.”
“Booted? As in can’t go back?”
“Exactly.”
That was the last thing Evalle had expected to hear. “How bad is Brina?”
“Her memories continue to deteriorate every day, and I’ve discovered that the Noirre majik is still influencing her.”
Storm sat forward. “But we—”
Tzader cut in, “—brought her back from wherever the spell sent Brina and Lanna. I know.” He rubbed his eyes, and squared his shoulders, not giving an inch in any battle.
His emotions were clearly under siege from her illness.
Tzader explained, “We’ve been doing a lot of dream walking, because that’s where Brina remembers more easily. But even there, she’s been retaining less. I met someone in the last dream walk who said—” He shook his head. “This may be hard to believe.”
Evalle’s empathic ability wasn’t as sharp as Storm’s, but she picked up something she’d never felt from Tzader before. Fear. He was terrified for Brina.
Storm chuckled at Tzader’s comment.
When Tzader tensed, Evalle suffered a moment of embarrassment. It was unlike Storm to make light of Tzader’s situation. But then she realized the energy coming from Storm was compassion.
Storm must have caught her distress just as quickly, and placed his hand over hers. He told Tzader, “I’m a Skinwalker who shifts into a black jaguar and I have demon blood. Evalle turns into a gryphon and has a pet gargoyle. Quinn can mindlock with anyone, and you’re immortal. All three of you have kinetics. What can be so hard to accept about our world at this point?”
Quinn cut loose a sound. Evalle couldn’t believe what she heard. He was laughing. A real laugh. Not a big one, but more than she’d heard from him in a long time. Quinn said, “Good point, Storm. Just tell them, Tzader.”
Evalle asked, “You already know, Quinn?”
“Some of it, which is why we didn’t contact you telepathically.”
Storm interjected, “Evalle trusts anything and everything you two say, so you have my trust, and I will hold your confidence.”
That seemed to draw the tension from Tzader, who had fisted his hands together on the table in front of him. “A dream walker showed up today when I was in the dream space with Brina. I convinced her to leave the dream so I could deal with him without distraction. Once she was gone, we fought with swords.”
“He attacked you?” Evalle recalled Lanna’s warning about the potential of being injured or dying while dream walking.
“Yes, and no. He’s powerful. So powerful that he could have killed me at any time. He swings one hell of sword, like he was born to it in the dark ages. In fact, I think he’s pretty damn old.”
“What did he want?” Storm asked.
“He wants me to help someone escape Tŵr Medb.”
At that moment, Evalle realized this was not going to be a short meeting. “Why you?”
Tzader’s grim face tried to smile. “Motivation. He knows what’s going on with Brina. I was hiding Brina’s deterioration from everyone except Lanna, who helped me conceal it even from Macha, but this guy knew about that. I could go on about all he knew, but it would be simpler to say that after a lot of debating, I believe him.”
“How does he know so much?” Storm asked.
“That was one of my questions.” Tzader took a moment, as if gathering his thoughts. “He said he gets his information from the person he’s trying to free, and he claims that Noirre majik is still in Brina’s system. Still affecting her. After hearing him out and questioning Lanna, everything he said makes sense. He also seems to know things about Macha and Queen Maeve, and the traitor who attacked Brina, things someone privy to the prior Medb queen’s conversation and actions would know. Basically, the person trying to get out of Tŵr Medb is the only one who was present when the original spell was cast. That person can reverse the spell.”
Evalle had spent a significant amount of time in Tŵr Medb when she and the other Alterants had been captured and were forced to finish their evolution into gryphons. She’d managed to pull out every person who mattered to the Beladors when the gryphons were sent to attack Treoir Island.
Had she missed someone? “Just who needs rescuing?”
Tzader took in all three of them when he said, “A dragon.”
She thought on it. “They keep all kinds of creatures locked up near a fighting pit in their tower. How are we supposed to know which one?”
Storm swung around to stare at her, but didn’t jump in. Yet.
Tzader drew in a long breath, and on the exhale said, “This one should be easy for me to locate. It’s the queen’s dragon throne.”
“The throne? You’ve got to be kidding.” Evalle shook her head. “Queen Maeve would go postal. That would be nothing compared to what Macha would do.”
“I know. That’s why I’m going in alone, but I need help finding resources.”
Reeling from what he’d just disclosed, Evalle said, “No, you’re not.”
Quinn objected, “Absolutely not.” He added, “I told you Evalle wouldn’t go for it any more than I would.”
Storm slapped a hand over his eyes. “This is suicide.”
“Storm’s right,” Tzader said. “I won’t put anyone else at risk. This is my battle.”
Evalle agreed with Storm, but she also knew that look in Tzader’s eyes. She’d seen it when he went into battle. He would not back down, and he would not accept defeat. “Tzader, are you saying that dragon-shaped throne is a ... person?”
“Evidently. Queen Maeve supposedly cursed a dragon shifter into the form of a throne two thousand years ago. He hates her and Macha. Doesn’t trust either goddess, and to be honest, I can now see why when I couldn’t before.”
Storm lowered his hand. “What’s the whole deal?”
Tzader laid out the entire conversation with this man called Ceartas, then said, “He gave me a red dragon scale that I gave Brina. It worked, just as Ceartas said it would. After my last argument with Macha, I’m convinced that she’s as much a threat to Brina as any Medb at this point.”
“In what way?” Evalle asked, still trying to wrap her head around what they were discussing. Tzader would never make it alone, but to do this ... that was no simple decision.
“I’ll give you the details later, but Macha compelled Lanna not to tell me something about Brina, and Macha has shielded Brina from realizing what is happening to her own body.”
“You mean her mind,” Storm corrected.
“No. Brina knows she’s losing ground mentally, but she doesn’t know ... that she’s pregnant. It happened during a dream walk, before I understood that actions taken there were real.”
Stunned silence swept across the room until Quinn cleared his throat. “Did you really think I would let you go on your own with that at stake, too?”
Tzader sighed. “Sorry, Quinn. I know we haven’t found your daughter yet, so I hated to even mention this.”
“I will find Phoedra, and you’ll be there to help me, but only if you don’t try to steal a bloody dragon by yourself.”
Evalle swallowed. “You know there’s no love lost between me and Macha, but I’m at the bottom of the rung in her world. To treat you and Brina this way is ... well, I started to say unbelievable, but when I think of Macha it isn’t that much of a stretch.” Still, what kind of person would keep Tzader and Brina apart when Brina was pregnant?
