by P. Jameson
Adira shrugged apologetically, shoveling the items back into his shopping bag.
“They’re for Josie,” he explained, an edge to his voice. “Pregnancy craving. She craves bears. Bears not panthers. You know, I can’t find a single gummy cat anywhere? Like, who the fuck decided to make candy bears anyway. Why not lions or leopards or… you know, goddamn panthers? Or hey, why make them animals at all. Isn’t it kinda sick when you think about it? They could’ve made them into little steaks or something. Chicken legs? How about a carrot? It really is fucked up. I’m not the only one who thinks so.”
Adira stared at him, not sure how to answer.
He cleared his throat. “The Doctor Seuss thing doesn’t bother me, just so you know. It’s even kinda funny.”
Adira gave off a small laugh. “Perhaps. But it annoys me enough. Rhyming on the fly is rather tough.”
He stood, shaking the bag to settle the contents, and she followed him up.
“I bet.” His face grew serious. “How are you, witch?”
She knew Magic wasn’t the type to dig around in people’s affairs, but he was the leader of the Ouachita clan. It made sense for him to wonder if she was a threat.
“Don’t worry, I’m taking care. I won’t harm your people here. You are right to beware. The darkness creeps—”
“Wait a goddamn minute. My people?”
Near. She needed to say near. She had to complete her phrase, finish the rhyme.
“They aren’t just my people they’re yours too. And you—”
“Near,” she blurted, shooting him an apologetic grimace.
Magic stared at her, brow high, before tilting his head to one side and narrowing his gaze. “Okay. How about this, you go ahead and rhyme the fuck out of this conversation, like a boss, and I’ll just tell you straight what I’ve been thinking. Deal?”
She nodded. She had no use for careful words anyway. Not now when her time was running out.
“You belong here, Adira. This clan is your people, and you are ours. You have done more than your share of ass-saving around here, and now we’re going to find a way to save yours. We can handle a little darkness. Ain’t scared of that shit. But I’ve got feelers out to other shifter clans and packs, for any information on this Anchor thing. So hang in there, witch. Ya hear? Hang in there.”
Adira pressed her lips together, nodding. There was no need to try and explain her plan. And besides, she wanted to keep his words of confidence in her heart to remember.
He nodded sharply. “Good. Now, I’d better get these damn candy bears to my mate and remind her why a big cat is what she really craves. Talk later, witch.”
Adira waved him off, and he brushed past her down the hall.
She drew in a deep breath and sank back against the wall. Leaving this place was going to be hard. But staying… staying would be harder. Because once she’d turned wicked, they wouldn’t look at her with those faith-filled eyes. They wouldn’t be proud of her or depend on her or even call her one of their own.
If she ever wanted to maintain her dignity, she’d have to go. Keeping them all safe was the primary goal, but saving face was the extra weight on the scale.
She closed her eyes, trying to calm the storm in her middle. She was going to miss this place so bad. Her people. She’d miss them all.
This was going to hurt.
Chapter Three
Mason stomped up the footbridge that linked the main parking lot of the lodge with the trails that led into the woods. He stopped at the highest part of the arch and looked out over sparkling Lake Haven. Arkansas was beautiful land. Beyond the water, the mountain sloped with trees turning color to bring in the fall. Oranges and yellows emerged, and soon things would go rusty red. Until the mountain had shifted from green to multicolored.
Time ticked away, and things changed. Nothing ever stayed the same. Not the mountain, not life.
It transformed.
He sighed. Like Adira if he didn’t find a way to help her.
He’d spent the last hours searching the lodge and its property for her, but she was as good as a ghost. He’d been to Thames and Nastia’s cave, Theo and Mirena’s cabin. He’d asked Eagan in the kitchen. Beth had no information for him. Layna had seen her come through the lobby but couldn’t tell him what direction she’d gone.
And his cat. His goddamn cat couldn’t seem to track her scent.
There was one place left to look. But he’d been avoiding it for so many reasons.
With a growl, he hurried the rest of the way over the bridge and through the graveled parking lot. He nodded at Layna as he passed through the lobby, and she waved him off as she answered the ringing phone. He took the left wing that led to the staff quarters. It was where Adira was staying until Renner and Ryan’s construction crew could get some more cabins built. Her door was the last on the right, and he’d been there many times before. But the last time was the worst.
He’d ranted at her over Mirena’s baby suggestion. He’d only been trying to explain his point of view but the more he talked, the sadder she’d become, until the scent of it filled her room like thick smoke. Frustrated, he’d left in a hurry, and it was the last time they’d spoken. He had been determined to give her space, thinking if she cleared her head, maybe a solution would show itself. She’d been so worried about her sisters, but now that they were safe…
Oh, hell. Who the fuck was he kidding?
He’d left because of two reasons. Her sadness ripped him up on the inside, and he’d been five point seven seconds away from pushing her back against the bed and using his body to make her forget all her troubles.
And then the thought of getting her with child hit him like ice water, and the conflicting emotions inside him were too confusing. So he’d escaped. Just like he tried to do with his past. With life.
Fuck. He was an idiot.
Stopping in front of her door, he rapped his knuckles against the wood and waited. But there was no answer. He knocked again, harder this time. Still, no answer. Leaning close, he listened, letting his feline ears tell him if she was inside. Maybe she was sleeping. But there was no snoring from the other side. No rustling of sheets. It was silent.
Mason waited outside the door, thinking of where to look for her next. He could wait in the lobby until she showed up. Lunch was soon. He might find her there.
His cat urged him to keep looking. He’d wasted enough time being hung up over the baby thing. They needed to get serious about finding a way to keep her magic. Because damn it, he couldn’t lose her. She was the first ray of light he’d felt since losing Jordy turned his world gray. He could pretend he was unaffected by her, he could keep that fence around his heart that he’d erected all those years ago, but he could not let her be lost because he was too stubborn to help her fight.
“Ah-choo.”
Mason jerked his head back to Adira’s door. The faint sneeze had come from her room. So quiet that if he’d started down the hall, he might have missed it.
He listened closely and heard soft sniffing. She was in there.
He pounded on the door with his open palm. “Sunshine, open up.”
But he was greeted with more silence. The hell?
“Adira, it’s me. Open the door. We need to talk.”
Nothing.
Frowning, he tried the handle and it turned. He knocked once more, sliding it open. “Coming in,” he murmured, and stepped inside, closing the door behind him.
“What? No,” she squeaked from the bed where he caught her yanking her covers up to her chin. Her room was dark, the blinds pulled. But he could make her out clearly with his feline vision.
She looked small under the blankets. Different than he’d ever seen her. In all their time together, he’d never witnessed her unbuttoned like this. Casual. She was prim and proper to the letter, with her demure clothing and a mouth slightly sassier.
He liked this side of her. It felt personal. Secret. He’d bet a nut none of the others had ever seen her lik
e this.
Mason stayed by the door, but he wanted to march over and give her a tongue lashing for ignoring him. Shit. He wanted to be close to her, and feel the heat she radiated. He’d missed that over the past week. Missed just looking at her. Missed her voice.
“I didn’t say you could come in,” she sniffed, dabbing her nose with a tissue.
“No. You didn’t.” He eased closer, jamming his hands in his pockets to keep them from roaming if he came within reaching distance. “Why is that?”
“Don’t want visitors right now.”
“Tell me why.”
“It’s my room. I don’t have to explain myself.”
“True. You avoiding me?”
She sneezed again, sniffing away the sound, and grabbing another tissue from the box beside her pillow. Mason frowned. There was a whole pile of used ones on the floor by her bed.
“Why don’t you tell me why you’re here, cat.”
Oh. Okay.
He shrugged, trying to stay casual. “Haven’t talked in a few days. And I saw you in the spa earlier. You looked upset, so I came to see if you were alright.”
“Seven days,” she said. “Not a few. Seven. And to answer your question, I’m fine. Now, please. Go.”
His lion snarled inside. The animal was angry at Mason for leaving her alone so long, but he’d deal with that later.
“You’re mad.”
Adira closed her eyes, her shoulders sinking. “Not mad, Mason. Just… tired.”
But there was more she was leaving out.
He inched closer until his legs touched the edge of her bed. “Look at me. Say that to my face.”
She huffed a frustrated breath and turned her red-rimmed gaze on him. “I’m not mad.”
But her words hit him funny, and he was finally able to identify what she was actually feeling. Sadness. Deep aching sadness that made him want to bleed whatever caused it.
“Talk to me,” he rumbled. “Like you have before. Tell me what hurts you.”
She looked away shaking her head. But it only confused Mason even more. She’d always been frank with him. It was one of the things he loved about her. From the moment she’d forced his animal back in his body leaving him naked on the ground. She’d actually looked at him with distain and primly told him to cover his ‘manhood’, not the least bit worried about him retaliating.
But now she was keeping a wall between them. He wanted to know why.
“Sunshine…”
“No. It’s not your problem. Nothing of mine is your problem. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to rest. Okay, Mason?”
He stared at her as she settled farther down the bed and turned her back to him.
Shit. She was dismissing him. She truly didn’t want him here.
Regret filled him. If only he hadn’t been so transparent with her over his baby qualms. Maybe if he hadn’t lost his shit with her.
Mason rubbed his fingers roughly over his mouth, his mind grappling for something to say. Do.
Maybe she was just exhausted. She’d been working hard, on very little magic. Damn it, he shouldn’t have left her alone for a week. They should have been working to find a way to anchor her.
But he’d help her now. Do the heavy lifting. Go to her sisters and rehash all their previous ideas. Exhaust every option. The answer was out there somewhere. They just had to find it.
Mason turned for the door.
Rest, Sunshine. Let me do the work now.
Chapter Four
“What about the Daybreaker spell?” Mason stared back and forth between Mirena and Nastia. The ancient witchy books they all believed in were sprawled across two of the largest tables in the lodge’s dining room. Mason had been pouring over the tomes, asking question after question, but everything out of their mouth was as helpful as a frog on a log.
Heh. That rhymed.
They needed Adira here. She was better than him at weeding through this spell shit.
“It won’t work,” Nastia said flatly, referring to the spell that gave her life from death and turned her into a blood drinker. “It took all of Adira and Mirena’s magic, plus the power they siphoned from the clan to pull off that spell. With my ties to the mystics severed, there is only Mirena and the clan. There simply isn’t enough magic to bring her back as a Daybreaker.”
Mason sighed. “Okay, so what have we not covered? What are we missing?”
The sisters looked at each other. They had this eerie way of communicating without words. Maybe because they’d been together for so long. He didn’t know, but it wasn’t very helpful right now. He needed less meaningful staring, and more lips moving.
“What? What is it?”
Nastia stared at him, her expression grim. “What are your intentions with our sister, Mason Miller?”
The hell?
“My intentions? I don’t understand.”
She pressed her palms into the table top and leaned forward until she was eye to eye with him. “Your intentions,” she demanded, her tone light but no less threatening. “Don’t play coy with me.”
He tightened his jaw, his molars squeaking with the pressure. His intentions…
“I want her safe. I want her to keep her magic.”
“And then what? Will you mate her?”
His mouth came open with shock at her blunt question while his cougar pawed for him to answer. But he’d already mated. Deana was his intended and even though she’d died of an overdose the year after Jordy, Mason didn’t think his animal could produce another mating bond. Sure, it had worked for Magic and Josie, but those were different circumstances.
“That’s personal,” he gritted.
Nastia barked out an ironic laugh. “Nothing’s personal anymore, cat. Not now, when we’re in the final days. Do you have feelings for her or not?”
Mason glared at the Sorcera-turned-vamp. This wasn’t what he wanted to talk about. He wanted to brainstorm. Shoot ideas back and forth. Not talk about his feelings for their sister.
“Because if you do, if you want her as a mate, you need to stop holding back. You could be her Anchor. And if not you, then… a baby you could give her.”
“No.”
“I don’t get it,” Mirena cut in, her hands splayed wide, palms pointed to the ceiling. “You know, Adira would make an excellent mother. She’s always loved helping the younger Sorcera. Father Isaac used to call her mother hen.”
“I don’t doubt that,” Mason pushed through clenched teeth. Goddamn, he knew Sunshine was made to be a mother. Could sense it. She’d be nothing like Deana. Not an abandoner. She’d be a lifer. She’d care.
Mirena’s shoulders sank like a wilting flower. “I just… don’t understand. Mason, help us see what the problem is so we can find a solution.”
“It’s…” Shit. His animal was raging inside, wanting out. He should go for a run. Take to the woods and cool off. “It’s none of your business.” He twitched his shoulders in an attempt to ward off her injured expression.
Nastia drew in a long sigh, her lips pressing into a thin line as she steepled her fingers over her mouth.
“Okay,” she said, turning to Mirena. Her tone was quiet, but she wasn’t trying to hide her words. “We have to come at this differently. We’re wrong about him. I know what you think, but it’s wrong. He has nothing for her like Theo had for you, like Thames had for me.”
Not true! his lion roared, and Mason stood from the table so fast his chair toppled backwards to the floor with a thwack. His breath heaved in his chest, but he couldn’t let anyone in this clan think he was cold to Adira. Not when she was the first ray of sunlight his shadowed heart had felt since losing Jordy.
“I can’t be a father. Not again.” His words exploded into the void, and both females turned to gawk at him, eyebrows arched to the ceiling. “I can’t. Okay? My cat says she’s mine, and I will do anything to keep her, but not that.” He swallowed fire down his throat, and met each of their eyes so they could see he meant it. “Not that.�
��
Nastia’s brutal gaze softened, and Mirena’s face pinched with understanding as she used her imagination to fill in details he’d purposely left out.
Slowly, Nastia’s hands settled on her hips. She nodded, murmuring, “Okay. Okay, cat.”
Mason squeezed his eyes shut, not wanting to see the look on her face. With a furious shake of his head, he quickly started slamming the books closed and gathering them in a pile.
“I have to go. Gotta get free for a while. Shit.” He threw his hands in the air. “I’ll come back to this later.”
“Okay,” Nastia said in her level tone.
He and his cat needed to have a reckoning. Everyone was telling him the same thing. Destiny, the sisters, his animal. If he wanted to keep his Sunshine, he was going to have to face some big-ass inner demons. And he was going to have to do it right fucking now, because he’d already wasted too much time looking outside the box for answers.
The answers are inside you, Mason, Destiny chimed in as he practically ran from the dining room, heading for the front doors of the lodge. Heh. How’s that for some fortune cookie wisdom? I really am getting the hang of this Eldering thing, aren’t I?
Mason let off a low warning growl.
Never mind that last part, she added quickly. What I’m trying to say is you need to trust your animal. Trust yourself and what you feel. It’s time for you to come out of mourning. Time for you to find your happiness, but it will only happen if you let it. Fighting happiness is like fighting a rainbow. Dumb as hell. He heard a chugging sound as she cleared her throat. Sorry. That was exponentially less fortune cookie-ish. I’m still working on my inspirational speeches.
Mason pushed into the open air and took a left to wrap around the building. He aimed for the cover of the trees, battling his cat that wanted out now rather than waiting another five minutes.
Cat, please, Destiny pleaded. Will you say something? Just so I know you’re good. You haven’t been talking to me, and it sorta hurts a little.
As Mason trudged deeper into the woods, he started shedding his clothes. Shirt first, then shoes. Pants last.
