by Sara M Zerig
Wow, Chloe thought, trying to visualize it.
Cara continued, “Our talents can emerge at different stages of adolescence but always by young adulthood. Is there anything that has set you apart from your peers in the Earthen Realm?”
Chloe spoke tentatively. “I can sense other people’s feelings, sometimes as if they are my own. When someone is troubled, I see pieces of their past that are significant to them.”
“From their point of view?” Cara asked.
“Yes.”
“And do you feel what they felt?”
“Emotionally, yes.” Chloe sought to explain. “If there is physical pain, I sense it, but I don’t actually feel it. If the vision is too intense, it affects me. I feel sick.”
“Interesting … And the visions come to you when the person is, as you say, troubled?”
“That’s the only time it happens on its own, when someone is carrying around whatever has upset them.”
“Do you receive visions from strangers? Or do you have to know the person?”
“No, I don’t have to know them. I don’t even have to touch them, but I tend to see more when I do. If the images don’t come to me on their own, I can probe for them, but I don’t like to do that.”
“I see,” Cara said in a way that sounded like she thought that was sweet. “And what do you do with what you see and feel?”
“It depends. If I think the person wants to talk about it, I encourage them to talk. If I think I can help, even just by listening, I do.”
“And does it help? When you listen?”
Chloe thought on her most recent encounters with Dante from the center and with Kimi, respectively. “Sometimes.”
“Your talent is empathy. Empaths can be seers or healers, but I believe you may be a healer,” Cara speculated. “We have many healers who can quicken the healing of physical ailments—I am one. But to facilitate the mending of a wounded spirit or broken heart, this is a special talent indeed.”
“It is?” Chloe’s voice sounded small to her own ears.
“I am not aware of anyone who receives visions quite like you are describing. We can work with your talent together if you would like. When I visit?”
“Yes.” Chloe found herself nodding in earnest. “Yes, I would like that.”
“And I can tell you about the Coven Realm, our family, and our clan.” Cara looked her over again. “You have been through a great deal today, Chloe. We can talk more tomorrow evening. Until then, remember to drink plenty of water and stay inside as much as possible during the day. A witch’s body cannot withstand the heat of this realm for long.”
Cara produced a necklace then and offered it to Chloe. The long silver chain was silky smooth in Chloe’s palm. She turned the circle pendant over, spying small crystals imbedded in one side and a mirrored surface on the other.
“It is a scrying mirror,” Cara explained. “If you say my name into this mirror, I will hear you. Call to me if you need anything at all, day or night.”
Chloe nodded. Cara left the den, and the lights dimmed again. Chloe eyed one sconce and then another and another. Magic.
Ritt waited in the tunnel for what felt like hours. He couldn’t hear the conversation from where he stood with Dane and Colton and wondered if the den was somehow designed to keep conversations private. He didn’t know what to expect of Chloe afterwards, and he hated the uncertainty.
Cara walked out first, immediately seeking Dane and Colton. Speaking to the shifter elders in their native tongue, her voice was clear and direct. Dane and Colton simultaneously gave an affirmative nod in response, and Ritt gathered that Cara had set some sort of expectation with them. She regarded Ritt then, her silver stare disconcerting. “My daughter says she loves you.”
“She does,” he returned, hoping to convey confidence rather than arrogance, “and I love her.”
The petite blonde’s visage did not change. There was something more she wanted from him. Ritt was at a loss for what it could be.
“I loved my daughter even before she was born. But love was not enough to keep her safe.”
“I will keep her safe,” Ritt promised.
“See that you do, shifter,” Cara returned quietly.
A glittery glow emanated from her chest, surrounding her form until she disappeared. Chloe emerged from the den then, eyes wide in wonder. She threw herself at him. “My mother is magic!”
Chloe grabbed his hand and barreled down the tunnel towards the guest room, leaving their hosts bemused behind them. Back in their room, Ritt watched his mate with arms crossed over his chest. Chloe attempted to convey everything in a rush of words and emphatic hand gestures.
Chloe had an older brother, she told him, who could invoke storms from the sky. Then there was something about lights, talents, and a bird riding a bicycle. He shook his head at her when she finally came up for air.
“Chloe, slow down.”
Ritt leaned back against the dresser, while Chloe practically bounced off the walls. She kept talking as though she hadn’t heard him. “She has this energy about her, you know? She’s magic, Ritt. Like, really, truly magic.”
“So, you’re a witch.”
“Yes! But not the bad, scary kind. More like, Glenda-Good-Witch kind.”
He smirked at that. “Good to know.”
“She says she’ll come back and visit and tell me all about my home and my family.”
And what about home-home and your adoptive parents and Nikki? What about my family? Ritt thought but didn’t ask. The details would occur to her later.
“And your father?”
Chloe sobered. “I guess he isn’t ready to visit yet.”
“Because he means to take you from here,” Ritt pointed out quietly. From me.
“Cara says he’s trying, though.”
“Trying to what?” He felt a low rumble in his chest. “Trick the wards?”
“That’s not fair,” Chloe rebuked. “I’m his daughter.”
“You’re my mate,” Ritt countered with a growl he hadn’t intended.
Chloe crossed the room to him then. Ritt was sure his possessiveness was all but palpable to her. He didn’t care. He was possessive of her, just as she should be possessive of him.
“My parents wanting to know me doesn’t change that.” She lifted her lips to his, and Ritt grudgingly gave in to the kiss.
“Chloe,” he breathed, breaking the kiss. “I need to know where you stand with all this.”
“I stand with you,” she assured him, reaching up to place her hands on his shoulders. “Always.”
Ritt scooped her into his arms and carried her the short distance to the bed, setting her atop the covers. Chloe reached up to pull him in and rolled atop him, straddling his hips. She pulled her coral top over her head, tossing it to the floor, and Ritt forgot to worry about … whatever he was worried about.
Chapter Seventeen
The morning tour of the dwelling took a little longer than Chloe had hoped it would. They started just after sunrise, which helped. Stevie had brought her and Kimi some lightweight shifter dresses cut for Shifter Realm children. Kimi seemed at ease in her pale blue mini sundress; Chloe was not comfortable in hers. She told herself it was functional—no way she could have endured the outing in her regular clothes. Who cared if she was wearing what looked like a baby-doll teddy out in the middle of the day?
Ritt wore the customary linen pants, slung low on his hips, and damn but if they didn’t look good on him. Chloe pushed those thoughts away, though. Those thoughts only raised her core temperature. There was a new heat to their lovemaking since he had marked her, and she was still getting acclimated. The cool of the cave was doable, but if he so much as kissed her in the middle of the day, outside, it would probably give her a stroke.
By midmorning, the heat was unbearable, but Chloe refused to complain. Instead, she focused on what their hosts told her about the marketplace and the trade with other realms. All of the realms traded local herbs, oi
ls, crystals, and tinctures. Much of the fabric for clothes came from the Elven Realm. The Coven Realm offered magical services designed for efficiency, and the Shifter Realm produced leather and large game. According to Lok, there weren’t many animals in the Coven Realm, and what they did have were small—rabbits, birds, fish.
Stevie pointed out a dress cart, saying, “Coven Realm.”
“These clothes? They’re from the Coven Realm?”
“Yes,” Stevie confirmed. “Delia.”
“Delia is a witch from your clan and a talented designer,” Pali detailed. “Before Delia’s influence, our dresses were very plain.”
“I thought all witches were either healers or seers?” Chloe asked Pali.
“They hunt and gather and build and sew too, just as we do, but with more magic. And Delia’s witch’s talent is still unknown.”
“She’s a child?”
“No, just a late bloomer.” Pali frowned at her then. “You need more water?”
“I’m fine.” Chloe was feeling lightheaded, but they were at the end of their tour. She’d be fine once she was back in the cave. She’d take a nap, then they’d have dinner with their hosts and then Cara would visit. Chloe had been looking forward to seeing her mother since the moment Cara had left the night before.
“Why do I think you’re smiling because this is almost over?” Ritt intruded on her thoughts.
“Because you’re perceptive,” Chloe told him.
“Heat getting to you?” Ritt’s eyelids lowered seductively, and Chloe knew what her man-cat was thinking.
“Maybe I just want a nap,” she teased.
He flashed her that devilish smile of his. “You can nap after.”
Their flirting was interrupted by an argument that started at a nearby cart of cookware. Things turned physical, and Ritt stepped forward to shield Chloe. Copper pots rained down, prompting Chloe to duck, her arms over her head. Chloe looked up as Ritt caught one pot in his hand. Kimi caught another. Fists flew as two shifter males fought in their human forms.
Peering from around Ritt’s side, Chloe gaped at the fight. One giant fist smashed into the side of a thick jaw, unhinging it. Claws emerged next, and the punching turned to slashing; blood sprayed out, splattering across bystanders. Chloe gasped as one shifter’s jaw twisted and contorted before her eyes, revealing a mouthful of viciously sharp teeth. He snarled and snapped at his opponent with an alarming growl.
“Enough!” Dane jumped to the middle of the altercation and sent both shifters sailing through the air in opposite directions.
Chloe could swear she heard whimpering. The whole thing lasted less than two minutes, but serious damage was done. One shifter limped away while the other stayed down, tended by others.
“That one wasn’t bad,” Kimi said to Ritt.
Ritt didn’t disagree as he reached for Chloe, encircling her in his arms. “You all right?”
“Is that how you and your brothers are?” Chloe asked before she realized she might not want to know the answer. Ritt lifted a shoulder, and Chloe’s jaw dropped open.
“I told you,” Ritt reminded her, “shifters fight.”
Ritt had taken Chloe back to the cave and lay beside her while she slept. They hadn’t talked much after the fight in the marketplace. It wasn’t as bad as she thought. Maybe in a couple of weeks, he could track down one of those shifters and show Chloe just how swiftly his kind heals.
Shifter life was new and strange to Chloe, but she would get used to it. He eyed her sleeping form and was less sure if she would ever acclimate to the heat of this realm. She had been unconsciously tugging at the tiny shifter dress all morning. These clothes were too revealing for Chloe’s taste. Ritt might not love the dress either if she was wearing it out in public in the Earthen Realm, but shifters respected matings, and Chloe was marked as his.
The Shifter Realm really was a shifter’s paradise. There were no limitations on when or how often Ritt could shift. The cat could run for miles in any direction without ever running out of space. Ritt felt almost guilty for leaving Kent and the others behind in their stifling homeland. As he contemplated Chloe’s sleeping form, though, it occurred to him that it may be easier for them to coexist in the Earthen Realm.
A commotion outside drew Ritt to the dining area. Lok had brought a basket of large fish to be prepared for dinner. “Can I help?”
Pali answered Ritt, “Please. I do not care for cleaning fish.”
Lok made a show of rolling his eyes. “She might get fish guts on her new dress.”
Pali had a retort at the ready, but Kimi spoke up. “We got it. It’s the least we can do.”
There was a proud gleam in Dane’s eyes when Kimi spoke, Ritt noted. His mother missed it. Kimi glanced about the eating space. “Where’s Chloe?”
“Sleeping,” Ritt informed her. “This heat wears her out.”
“Is this normal for her people?” Kimi asked Dane.
“Their climate is cooler, forested,” Dane explained. “Coven Realmers are not typically here for more than a couple of hours at a time.”
“Let her rest then,” Kimi said to Ritt. “Tomorrow, when we hunt, we’ll go early.”
“Hunt?” Ritt could feel his cat straining beneath the surface at the mere mention of the word. Hunting in the shifter’s paradise was a childhood dream come true.
“If we go before sunup,” Dane agreed, “it will be fine.”
The moon was high when Dane walked Kimi to her room after dinner. It was a formality they could drop as soon as he marked her. She should be retiring to his home, but with Chloe’s warning to Colton, Dane was determined to take this one step at a time. Step one, first kiss; step two, first shift together—so that their animal forms could get acquainted; step three, first hunt together—he was looking forward to seeing his Earthen wildcat in action; step four, take her to his bed and mark her as his.
Kimi tilted those deep brown eyes up at him, and Dane knew that first step was imminent. He hooked an arm about her waist to hoist her a couple of feet off the ground so that her perfect face was just inches from his. He leaned in for the kiss and Kimi’s arms came around his neck. She kissed him softly, tentatively.
Dane pulled back, disappointed. “That is not how my mate should kiss me.”
Kimi blushed and Dane’s frown deepened. Was she toying with him? Playing coy? He had no interest in that game. He delivered the feverish kiss he wanted. Kimi seemed to come alive with the kiss, matching his intensity.
Dane resisted the primitive urge to go from step one to step four and released her from the kiss. There was a dazed passion in Kimi’s eyes that made it nearly impossible to let her go. He set her down anyway.
“We leave before sunrise. Get rest.”
Chloe was in particularly good spirits when she met her birth mother just outside of the cave after dinner. The shifters were excited for their upcoming hunt, and her cheeks ached from smiling at Ritt throughout the evening. Her mate’s giddy anticipation was infectious.
Again formally dressed, Cara wore a gray-blue satin dress with belled sleeves and scalloped neckline. Her hair was tightly braided into a bun atop her head. A refined lady, she looked out of place in the Paleolithic-like Shifter Realm.
Chloe wished she had a light robe to wear over the shifter mini dress. She hadn’t seen anyone else wear a robe in the evenings here and thought it might be rude to ask. If Cara thought Chloe’s scrap of an outfit was distasteful, it did not reflect in her expression.
They walked to the den together. Cara began with an update on Chloe’s parents and Nikki. “Nikki is protected. Soon, your parents will be protected too. They will all believe you are living with Ritt far away.”
“Far away?”
“Australia.”
“Australia?” Chloe stifled a laugh. “Why Australia?”
“It has to be far enough away that they will understand why you are not visiting more often. They will believe you have always longed to live in Australia and that Ritt
has family there.”
Chloe didn’t want to be the one to poke holes in the idea, but Cara didn’t know who in her life knew what. “My parents haven’t met Ritt, and Nikki knows his family is in Arizona.”
“They will think they have met him. They will even know what he looks like. Nikki will believe Ritt has some family in both places. Most importantly, they will all know that you are happy and safe.”
Chloe had no reason to doubt her, yet found herself asking, “You can do all that with a single spell?”
Cara seemed impressed. “Not exactly, no. We will need to coordinate a number of elements to make this work … what made you ask me that?”
“I don’t know. It seemed too easy.”
“Your magic instincts are coming alive in this realm,” Cara noted.
“And I can visit them?”
“We will have to plan it carefully, but yes, we will find a way for you to visit your adoptive parents and Nikki. None of them can know of the magic realms, you understand.”
“I understand,” Chloe said, although she had mixed feelings about it. She hated to lie to the people she loved like that, but she did not want them to worry either. She would miss being a phone call away from her parents and would miss seeing Nikki every day—she already did. But Chloe supposed, given the circumstances, it was for the best.
Cara prompted a change in topic. “How was your day?”
“It was good. The shifters told me about Delia. She’s from our clan?”
Cara lit up at the mention of the name. “Yes, Delia is a lovely witch. I think you will like her.”
“And she designs clothing? For the Coven Realm, too?”
“She designs clothing and jewelry for all the magic realms. This is one of her designs,” Cara informed Chloe, referring to her gown. “She also fashioned my scrying necklace and the one I gave you.”
Chloe’s hand moved to the chain around her neck. She had almost forgotten she was wearing it. She had tucked the pendant inside her dress so that it would not get too hot during the earlier tour.