by Bianca D’Arc
Maya stood in the middle as the two men pushed the sorceress back from the field of battle. Hiram spoke ancient words that Maya didn’t understand, but she felt their power in every fiber of her being. Admiral Morrow did the same, calling on the elements to distract and defeat their enemy.
Maya kept herself ready, looking for an opportunity to spring. Often, it required a physical attack to finish off a mage, and Maya was the one best positioned to carry it off while the men kept the sorceress distracted.
“Now, Maya!” It was Morrow who gave the order that she acted on even before he was finished speaking.
Maya lunged for the woman, catching her throat in massive bear jaws and ripping without mercy. She tasted the evil blood, and while it satisfied her bear’s bloodlust, it also disgusted her. Not the blood, but the evil that flavored it.
Maya moved back when the mage was well and truly dead and found herself flanked by Marlon and Jeff. They watched her warily as she tried to spit out the flavor of the woman’s blood from her mouth. Unable to bear it, she walked over to the pool and rinsed her mouth thoroughly, then dove in and submerged fully to clean her fur. Yuck. There was nothing worse than the taste of evil.
When Maya raised her head above the water again, she realized that when the sorceress had died, all her spells had died with her. The men who had been fighting under her protection were now all dead. All but that one who had been chasing Maya around and was even now being held by Shelly and Sullivan down at the other end of the pool.
Admiral Morrow came up behind Jeff and Marlon, and put his hands on their shoulders. The big cats were all in the pool, swimming down toward the other end and the women who waited there, with a prisoner. Jeff hadn’t seen how that had occurred, but at least there would be someone to question, after all this.
“That was well done of you both, to help us like this, even though I’m sure you were surprised by what you saw here tonight,” Morrow said.
“Sir, you know we’ve heard rumors, and we, more than anybody, know that strange things do exist,” Jeff began, but Morrow waved his words away.
“You kept open minds, and that counts for a lot. You’ll never be able to talk about any of this with your fellow Gemini members, though. You understand that, right?” Morrow seemed to want to make sure.
“Understood, Admiral,” Marlon said in a sober voice.
“That said, now that you’re in on more than one major secret about some very highly placed people, we might find use for your particular talents from time to time,” the admiral went on.
“We’re here to serve, sir,” Jeff said.
“Good. Now, about those chairs…” Morrow raised the topic they hadn’t even had a chance to discuss among themselves, yet, but the cat was out of the bag, now. That was for sure.
“Sir, that never happened to us before,” Marlon told the admiral.
“We’re not really sure how it happened or if, in fact, we did what we think we might have done,” Jeff added.
“Oh, you did it all right. None of the magical folk had time to act, and I doubt a counter spell would have worked so cleanly. That was telekinesis. Had to be,” Morrow said. “I was told it might develop among some of the Gemini pairs, but it had never manifested.”
“Until now,” Marlon said quietly.
“But I’m not sure we can repeat it,” Jeff couldn’t help but point out.
“If you could, it would be quite a weapon in your arsenal,” Morrow said. “But we’ll have time to look into that later. For now, I hope you’re okay with the fact that many of the people you’ve been dealing with for the past two days are shapeshifters. I take it you’ve never believed such things could exist before now?”
“The thought never even crossed my mind, sir,” Jeff admitted. “I thought it was all just fairytales and silly rumors.”
“And now that you’ve seen for yourself that it’s not?” Morrow persisted.
“Well, we’ll have to readjust our thinking, sir,” Marlon replied for them both. “We’re not the type of men to live in denial.”
“I know you’re not,” the admiral agreed. “Now, things might get a little stranger before they settle down. I want everyone to run though the pool to remove any trace of blood or magic from your persons. Then, I want you all to go back into the house and get patched up, as necessary.” Morrow was speaking to everyone now. “I’m going to clean up out here, to remove all traces of this battle. I want you to start working on the inside. Bring any fallen enemy to the door over there, and I’ll take care of moving them.”
“Won’t you need some help, sir?” Marlon asked, probably ready to volunteer them to assist the old man.
“No, son. I’ve got this. Just… Keep that open mind and don’t worry about anything strange you might see out here.” With those odd words, the admiral backed off to speak in quiet tones with Hiram.
“So, what do we do now?” Jeff asked Marlon silently.
“I guess we follow orders and dunk ourselves in the pool.” Marlon pointed to the water. “The big cats are gone, at least,” he added. “Only Maya the grizzly and something gray underwater that is probably Kaitlyn are still in there. I hope the poor kid isn’t hurt too bad.”
“Okay, but I’m leaving my weapons up here,” Jeff said, already unbuckling his belt with its holsters.
“We’ll go one at a time,” Marlon said. “I’ll watch your guns, and you can do the same for me. Just in case we haven’t seen the last of trouble for the night.”
“Agreed.”
Washing off was accomplished in short order. The massive bear that had to be Maya kept her distance, treading water around the gray form that came up for air a couple of times while the guys were cleaning off. It wasn’t Kaitlyn. It was a seal. Not a Navy SEAL, but the aquatic creature.
“Kaitlyn shapeshifts into a seal?” Marlon asked his partner when they first saw her surface to take a breath then dive back down to the depths of the pool again.
“There are Irish myths that call such beings selkies,” Jeff supplied, remembering his granny’s stories from when he was a boy. “I always thought it was just a legend.”
“Apparently not,” Marlon observed, dunking his head to try to watch the sleek little creature scoot around the bottom of the pool. “She’s fast.”
Jeff was silent a moment, thinking through the ramifications of everything that had just happened. He came to one unanticipated conclusion that he had to share with his partner.
“You know, after seeing all this, I don’t think it’ll be that hard to get Maya to understand about our telepathy,” Jeff mused.
Marlon rose up out of the water, a grin on his face even as he shook his head. “You’re probably right about that.” Marlon hefted himself out of the water and ignored the dripping from his sodden clothing. “But we never discussed it in so many words. You think she’s the one, too, don’t you?”
Jeff nodded. “She’s it, brother. My heart was hers almost from the moment she started swimming beside me. What about you?”
“I feel the same. I want her to be ours, forever, if possible.” Marlon’s words were solemn as he turned to look at the bear that was their future—if she agreed. “As impossible as this all is,” Marlon went on. “I love her.”
Jeff came up beside his friend, handing over the weapons he’d left behind. “Yeah, I do, too.” They both watched Maya swimming circles above where the selkie hid. She was a natural protector. Why hadn’t they realized that before? “But does she feel the same? And is a relationship with guys like us even possible for her, being what she is?”
“I honestly don’t know, Jeff,” Marlon ran his hands over his face, “but we’re going to find out.”
Maya kept her eye on Jeff and Marlon, though she kept her distance while they were in the pool. She didn’t want to frighten them off, and there was still Kaitlyn to protect. When Jeff and Marlon finished washing themselves off, they looked at her until the admiral came up behind them and ordered them both into the house. Then
, Morrow turned to her and Kaitlyn and told them to do the same, and Maya had little choice but to follow the powerful admiral’s orders, as well.
She clambered out of the pool and shook her fur, water flying in every direction. Kaitlyn jumped out of the water and then waddled on her flippers toward the open door. The room they entered was the one stocked with supplies for the pool, and the jaguars and lion had already shifted and were wearing towels wrapped around their hips.
Jeff and Marlon were not in the room, but their scent was strong enough to tell her they’d just gone down the hallway toward where they’d dropped some of the bad guys. The admiral had ordered them to clean up, after all. Sullivan came over to the doorway where Maya and Kaitlyn were standing, her arms loaded with a few more large towels.
“These are for you,” she said, dropping the towels on the side of the couch.
Maya was grateful. She changed quickly and wrapped one of the big beach towels around herself like a sarong. Kaitlyn did the same, pausing only to thank Maya for helping to protect her.
“If I was in the ocean, I would’ve been fine,” Kaitlyn explained, “but a pool isn’t the ideal situation for a selkie in trouble. Thanks for your help back there.” Kaitlyn offered her hand and Maya shook it, hoping she’d made a new friend.
“I was happy to help. Back home, I never get a chance to do anything with all the big male bears around,” she quipped. “My brother won’t even let me chip a nail without a complete investigation. It was good to let my bear do her thing for once.”
“I totally understand,” Kaitlyn replied as she rubbed her wet hair with a smaller towel. She tossed another clean towel to Maya, and she did the same.
She could scent that Jeff and Marlon were getting closer…along with the smell of blood. They were carrying two of the attackers when they re-entered the room, and Hiram had the third. They didn’t pause but went straight out the open doors, depositing the fallen enemy with their cohorts.
She watched as Admiral Morrow had them stand still for a moment. He twitched his finger, and all the water and blood that was on their clothing and themselves was sucked away in an instant. Now, that was something interesting. She’d heard vague whispers about the Morrow boys being gifted with their chosen element of water—which was why they’d been asked to help with the leviathan problem in Grizzly Cove—but she’d never seen anything quite like what their father had just done.
Apparently, neither had Jeff or Marlon, going by their stunned expressions, though they seemed to be taking all this a lot better than she’d have guessed. Maybe they wouldn’t be too upset with her secret. Maybe there was still hope for the three of them, after all.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“What in the hell was that?” Marlon sent to his partner as their clothes and hair went from damp to dry in the blink of an eye.
“No clue, but this old admiral is definitely not normal.”
“And not old. At least, he doesn’t look old when you see him like this. Do you think it’s all for show? The staid old admiral pose is just a cover for a highly-capable, highly-magical being?” Marlon proposed.
Jeff didn’t move but gave the mental impression of a shrug. “We’ve seen a lot of strange shit tonight.”
“Hell, partner, we’ve seen a lot of strange shit in our careers. Tonight, we’re finally getting explanations for some of the inexplicable stuff that went down years ago. Especially with Big John Marshall and his team.”
“Good point,” Jeff agreed.
“And our Maya is Big John’s sister,” Marlon reminded them both.
“His older sister, she said,” Jeff inserted.
“These shapeshifters must live a lot longer than regular folk,” Marlon finally decided.
“I think you’re on to something, partner,” Jeff agreed.
Morrow signaled them to return to the house, and with a flick of his finger, he guided the ball of muddy-brown water that had come off of them around the pool area. It became larger, and redder, as more blood and water droplets joined it. Marlon was mesmerized by the big glob of dirty water moving as if weightless, but under the control of Admiral Morrow.
“That’s some freaky shit, right there,” Marlon observed before turning to head back into the house.
“Dude looks like Poseidon, himself, ruling over the waters,” Jeff, always the more fanciful of the two of them, said. But there was something to Jeff’s observation that rang true in Marlon’s mind.
They walked back into the room where all the wild animals had, once again, reverted to human form. It looked like some kind of frat house toga party. Everybody was wearing towels.
Except for Hiram, of course. He was looking a bit more normal, as well. Those sharp canines had reverted to normal human-looking teeth, but after what they’d seen, Marlon knew, they’d never look at the eccentric businessman the same way again.
“He’s a water elemental, of course,” Hiram observed as he joined Marlon and Jeff by the window. “I’ve never seen him in action, but I knew one of his kind many centuries ago, in old Pompeii. Their powers are impressive, are they not?”
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Jeff readily agreed while Marlon’s head was spinning. Was Hiram talking about the ancient city of Pompeii that was buried in ash from a massive eruption of Mount Vesuvius around the dawn of Christianity? Holy shit.
They watched the water glob grow as Morrow seemed to suck every last drop of wetness off the pavement and the area where the fighting had taken place. Not a trace of blood or water was left behind when he was through with an area. Then, he positioned the big glob over the pool, and it seemed to shrink and grow darker as most of the water came out and little drops of tainted water from the pool rose to join it. This process took a few minutes, but they could actually see the pool water clearing as the dark stains were removed.
Once he’d done that to his satisfaction, the admiral moved the water and blood ball toward the fallen. One by one, he lifted them, using the dark water and nothing else, making them hover a few feet off the ground while he cleansed each area of blood and any other evidence of what had happened. The water ball stretched to support each body as he added to the burden of floating fallen.
It was both grotesque and amazing. Before too much longer, Morrow had all the enemy combatants in the grasp of the water. He began guiding it toward the gate that led out onto the golf course. Once he had passed with his ghastly burden, there was no sign left that a fierce battle had taken place anywhere near the pool earlier that night. Only a slightly lower water line in the pool gave any indication that something had happened. Of course, that, in itself, gave no real clue as to the actual events.
“Now, that’s a neat trick,” Hiram observed as the admiral disappeared from view. He turned and offered his hand to Marlon first, then Jeff. They shook his hand out of polite reflex. “I must thank you both for your assistance tonight. I won’t say we couldn’t have done it without you,” he tilted his head, “but it certainly would have been more difficult. There’s something about you two—the way you work in tandem… But Morrow says I shouldn’t ask too many questions, so I won’t pry. At least, not tonight, at any rate.” Hiram chuckled to himself. “Suffice to say, I owe you one, and thank you, again.”
“We were glad to help,” Marlon answered for both of them.
“Ah, yes, you are protectors, by nature. That is a good quality in a being of any kind.” Hiram looked over to where Maya was standing with Kaitlyn and the other women, drying off. “I suspect the three of you have much to discuss. Don’t be too hard on her. The shifters have very strict rules about disclosing their abilities. She couldn’t have told you, unless…” His words trailed off on a note of speculation.
“Unless what?” Jeff asked, impatience in his tone that he didn’t bother hiding.
Hiram turned the full force of his gaze on Jeff. “Unless you two are her mates,” Hiram replied with a sly smile. “Mating is a very serious business for most of us with supernatural, paranormal,
magical, or whatever you want to call it, abilities. Mates are rare, and for life,” he told them. “Usually, there is only one special person who can complete the circle and bring lifelong happiness to our kind. I have been searching for many centuries and have never found my One. Very, very rarely, there can be more than one true mate, but it’s really the stuff of fairytales among our kind. However, whatever it is about you two—whatever it is that makes you act as if with one mind in battle—that might make all the difference.” Hiram’s gaze narrowed, his eyes twinkling just the slightest bit as he looked from them to Maya and back again. Then, he gestured, jerking his head toward her. “Go. Talk to her. Make sure she knows how you feel and that you aren’t afraid of her animal spirit.”
“How do you know all this?” Marlon asked, feeling a bit uncomfortable with how easily Hiram seemed to read their situation.
Hiram laughed. “Son, when you’ve been around as long as I have, it’s not hard to see the signs. Go. Tell her. Be happy. Your lives are so short. Enjoy them while you can.”
“That almost sounded like a threat,” Jeff observed as they followed Hiram’s advice and walked slowly toward Maya and her little group of women.
“If that dude had really threatened us, I get the distinct feeling we wouldn’t both still be standing,” Marlon replied wryly.
“Yeah, you’ve got a point,” Jeff allowed.
Their slow advance was halted by Sam Kinkaid, who came up to them, hand outstretched. “Glad you two didn’t freak out on us,” Sam said in a growly tone that held a hint of the lion he had become. “You were a lot of help.” He said that as if he was bemused by his own words, but Marlon didn’t take offense.
“You surprised us, but we were glad to be of assistance,” Marlon told the other man.
“You’re a good team,” Sam replied. “So, you work for Morrow, eh?”
