by Sabrina Rue
She was still and quiet, looking at her lap. “Something’s wrong. I-I thought there might be.”
“Hope!” Talon whispered frantically. “Why didn’t you tell us?”
Titus interrupted. “Right now, your child is safe. She’s nearing the point where she’ll start making your body expand to accommodate her. When that happens, there’s a chance that your previous injuries will make things dangerous.”
“She could die.” Tears fell into her lap.
“No, Hope. She’s stronger than you are. The risk is to you. The doctor removed the metal shard. He repaired your womb and handled excess scar tissue. Isn’t that right?” She nodded. “What he couldn’t do was strengthen the walls of your uterus. He couldn’t safeguard the blood vessels closest to your original wound.”
“Titus,” Hope swallowed hard and she lifted her face to meet his eyes. “Please help me keep my baby safe.”
He held her cheek. “Your baby is not the one in danger, sweet girl.” He touched his temple with the tip of his finger. “Let’s keep you safe.” Kissing her forehead, he said, “The twins are protected with me as well. I give you my word.”
Standing, he looked at Talon. “Drake and my blood will help.” Bringing Hope’s water glass to the edge of the table, Titus held his wrist over it and sliced along the vein. “I want to thin it a bit so nothing is wasted.” Licking across the vein, he gently swirled the liquid in the glass to blend it and handed it to her. “Every drop.”
Hope obeyed instantly and wiped her mouth with a shaking hand when she was done. Her eyes glowed brilliant green, her canines fully extended, and a low growl rumbled into the room.
“Mate?” Talon looked ready to panic. “Are you okay?”
“Whoa.” Her voice held laughter. “That packs a serious punch. My god.” Straightening, she inhaled deeply. “Thank you, Titus.”
Bending, he kissed the top of her head. “You’re welcome. I’ll let you know when Drake returns from patching the wounded from another Purist attack.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Indonesia this time. Simply killing them would keep more people safe but…I could be making the same mistake they’ve been making and rob those in the Lesser Kingdoms of their Mates.”
Juliette took his hand. “If we find more Mates linked to the Purists, word will spread through their ranks. We’ve found three.”
Justice said, “Right now, we have a dozen Weres waiting for us. Let’s get back and see if we can’t give them answers before it gets too late.” The twins stood in front of their mother. “You should have told us your fears, Mommy. We can’t help if you keep things from us. Uncle Titus has potent blood. That will help even more than Drake.”
They kissed their parents and Justice transitioned them from the house.
Titus stroked his hand over Hope’s head and explained, “My blood, being what and who I am, encourages your body to rebuild new cells. You need to rest while it works.”
Talon stood and scooped his Mate from her chair. “You’re not so much as walking to the bathroom until Phoenix and Drake confirm that you’re out of the woods.”
“I’ll be…”
“In this, I’ll be every Were male stereotype you’ve ever heard in your lifetime, Mate. I won’t argue, I won’t care how angry you get. Lord Titus said our child is safe. I cannot, I will not, lose you, Hope. I would hurt if we lost our daughter but I would not die. If you’re taken from me after waiting so long to find you, it will kill me.”
“Talon…” She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and sobbed at his neck. “I’ll do whatever you want. D-don’t say it. Don’t.”
Holding her firmly, he asked, “Will you take us home, Lord Titus?”
“Immediately.” Tugging Hope’s face around, he murmured, “All will be well. Listen to your Mate and let my blood go to work on the parts that didn’t mend as strong as the rest of you.” She nodded and he smiled gently. “You were always the one who listened.”
“Cheap shot, Titus,” Harmony grumbled.
“And yet, so effective,” he retorted.
A moment later, he was gone with the couple. Desiree kissed her mother, saluted her brothers, punched Harmony in the arm, and started walking back to the Weres who waited to find their Mates.
She was deep in thought as she lost sight of the house when someone landed in front of her in a swirl of smoke and sparks.
It wasn’t Titus.
Scrambling back several feet at the image of the red tattoo on the back of the Daemon’s hand, she tried to calm her racing thoughts. Then she thought about her Mate and what would happen to him if she died.
That infused her voice with strength. “What do you want?”
“I…mean you no harm.”
The male was shaking, his eyes sunken. He looked dirty, sickly. “Are you hurt?”
“No. No, nothing like that.” He seemed confused, shook his head twice sharply. “Where is this place?”
“You’re in the middle of Texas Pack.” She frowned. “How did you come to be here?”
The Daemon rubbed his temple hard. “I-I don’t know. I don’t remember.” Pointing north, he added, “I was somewhere there and felt…I don’t know. Now, I find myself here.”
Gently, she asked, “What’s your name?”
“Forneus. No one has called me by my name in a very long time. I’m certain that’s it. Certain of it.”
“My name is Desiree. We’ve been reaching out a lot today, searching for Mates. Perhaps the power drew you here.”
His eyes flashed from gray to purple and back again. “You…search for Mates. You can do that among your people. Were kind. You have Shamans to find them.”
“Were Shamans can only find Mates if they have Were blood. I’m not a Shaman. I’m something else.” She watched him inhale deeply and his eyes flickered again. “Lord Titus is my Mate.”
His lips moved before his voice seemed to catch up. “I dreamed a dream. People like me took him, tortured him, killed him. It was a terrible dream.”
“He was taken and tortured by Purists,” she told him. “Despite his royal blood. He was rescued.”
Ripping at his robe, he threw it on the ground and sat cross-legged. He seemed to be staring at the grass.
“Forneus.” She repeated his name three times before it got through to him. His eyes were flickering. “Are you looking for your Mate?”
“Nine thousand years and not a hint to lead me to her. Alone, alone, alone, and we’re not meant to be alone. Do you know that? I was diligent. For eight-thousand years, I was patient. I walked so I wouldn’t miss her. I walked every habitable place on this planet. Nothing…” He looked over his shoulder. “Where were you walking? Why is Lord Titus’s Mate out here alone?”
“I was returning to my work. We work as a team of four.” Carefully, she approached the Daemon. “Perhaps we can help you…”
“Your work? There is nothing here but you were walking toward a there. Meaning if you walk through the nothing, you come to something.” His expression was haunted. “Your team is Mated?”
“Myself and Lord Titus. Two very young children.”
“I see. I wonder why I feel there is something when it’s clear there is nothing. There is always nothing. It tires me.”
“Forneus. There are Weres waiting ahead. Men and women from my Pack searching for their Mates. We’re new at this so we’re beginning with the oldest members and working our way to the youngest. Lucian requested we do the same for the eldest of Daemon kind.”
His head whipped around and his eyes were brilliant purple. “You lie. Lucian would never allow Were kind to know our weakness, to know we can’t find our Mates on your world.”
“It’s no lie. Come with me.” Then Titus was beside her and she said softly, “Darling, I’m attempting to get Forneus to join us. He doesn’t know how he came to be here.”
The Daemon rubbed his temple before pulling at his speckled purple and gray hair. “There seems to be nothing but then one stumbles upon
something. It’s strange how that comes to pass but I’ve seen it again and again and again for millennia.”
Titus crouched beside the man. “Forneus. Do you remember me?”
Purple eyes flickered to gray. “Lord Titus. I saw you speak when I was a boy. Back and back before I turned into another person who can’t sleep at night. One who kills to try and save myself. I kill but I only fight those who can fight back. It helps me with sleep.”
“How long have you been wandering, Forneus?”
“Suns rise and moons rise, the seasons spin in a circle. I walk because perhaps then…I felt the pull along the conduit. I was curious but I’m unsure how to get back to the place that used to be somewhere but now is nowhere.”
“I’m going to transition you to the place where we work. Do you understand?” Titus put his hand on the Daemon’s shoulder. “Don’t draw your sword. Don’t make me kill you to protect my Mate and the children we go to meet. Do you understand?”
Holding one hand behind him, Desiree took it and then they were in the pretty space they used to find Mates.
Juliette and Justice froze mid-sentence. Justice murmured, “Another one? We need to switch to finding Daemon Mates.”
“Sooner rather than later,” his sister agreed. “They just pop up and it could start a war. Frightened beings don’t pause to think about the Greater Kingdom equivalent of mental illness.”
Forneus didn’t pause in his confusion. “Some birds run into glass and snap their own necks. Daemons are too smart not to see the glass…we can’t snap our own necks. We snap the necks of others so someone will come do it for us. A simple solution though rather messy.”
Desiree raked her hands through her hair. “Change of plans. Uh, you might have to do some GPS so we can go to them. I don’t know how he managed to find us.”
“Somewhere, somewhere, somewhere…”
Meeting Titus’s eyes, she said, “We’re really going to have to up our game, Mate.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Titus walked across the room and placed Forneus on a heavy leather chair. He seemed to have no strength remaining.
“There are places that matter and places that don’t. I’ve seen them all, every single one, and all of them are empty. Filled with spider webs and past lives but nothing left for the new life, the pure life, the peaceful life.”
From the porch came the sound of footsteps then a sharp rap on the door. “Desiree?” It was her Aunt Maliah. “Desiree, let me in.”
“Uh, we need a few minutes.”
Forneus whispered, “All the minutes stacked one on top of the other won’t make a bit of difference because they belong to no one…”
“Open the door, Desiree!” Maliah’s voice was hard. “I-I don’t want to break it down but I will.”
Running to the front entry, Desiree opened it and said, “Maliah, what are you doing? I thought you were willing to be patient…”
Her mother’s best friend shoved past her without a word and crossed the room. She dropped to her knees a foot from the Daemon rambling incoherently.
“All the seconds, hours, days…all the inches, feet, miles for nine-thousand years,” Forneus babbled in agony. “Now the clock ticks to the end and I find I’m nowhere when I thought for certain I was somewhere at last. I paid my seconds and walked my miles and killed to make gods I don’t believe in hear me but there is silence upon silence.”
His eyes flickered gray to purple, purple to gray.
Desiree wasn’t certain what to do. Not because she doubted they could restrain him if necessary but because she was almost positive her Aunt Maliah had scented her Mate from the porch.
Reaching out, the redhead wrapped the Daemon’s hand in both of hers and covered the Purist tattoo that burned there. “My name is Maliah. Tell me your name.”
He ranted softly for another ten seconds before his voice trailed away. “Perhaps the next second, the next step, the next…” Tears slipped over his cheeks as he took several deep breaths. “Wanting so badly to be somewhere that I now resort to lying to myself.”
“Look at me and tell me your name.”
As if moving his head was physically painful, the male Daemon turned in tiny increments until he stared at a woman Desiree had known since birth. “I’m nowhere but…I think, you might be somewhere.”
Squeezing his hand, she whispered, “My name is Maliah. Maliah. What’s your name?”
“A very long time ago, I was a being named Forneus who had family and friends and hope. Now, I’m the shell of Forneus. All the inside pieces dried up and drifted away. The husk might still be him but it’s hard to say for certain. Yes. It’s certainly hard to say.”
Raising up on her knees, Maliah put her hand on his sunken cheek. “I’m Maliah and you’re Forneus. I’m a Were female and you’re a Daemon male. My home is with Texas Pack and it seems you were with the Purists at some point. I’m almost ninety-years-old, entering what are considered the elder years for Were kind. You mentioned you were nine-thousand. You look good for your age.”
“I don’t…I can’t…reality slips just out of reach now and again. Give me, forgive me, I-I need a minute to catch it by the tail.”
“Take your time. I’ll sit right here and hold your hand. Would that be alright?” Justice brought her a stool and helped Maliah stand so she could lower to it without letting go of the Daemon. “We’ll sit together and hold hands. Breathing and thinking about reality.”
“You know about the seconds and the miles…?”
Maliah laughed. “Not as many as you but…comparatively, yes. I know the miles and the seconds and the confusion.”
“I was there and ended up here. The power flickering along the conduit whispered to me. I’m not sure where there is now.”
“It doesn’t matter. Here is all that matters, Forneus.”
“I told you, I mentioned my name?” He rubbed his temple with the hand she wasn’t holding. “I must have. Of course, I did. Mentioned it and forgot like so many other tiny, drifting pieces of information.”
“All you have to do is breathe. You don’t have to think, you don’t have to go anywhere. Just be still and breathe while I hold your hand.”
Desiree could tell her aunt didn’t care about anything the Daemon might have said or done or believed.
“Yes,” he agreed. “I think sitting and breathing are noble pursuits in the right stitch in time. Once in a while, they’re the very thing one needs.”
“I agree. Just sit and breathe. I’ll hold your hand and wait for you.”
The male slowly calmed, his ramblings trailed away, and he simply stared at nothing. Maliah stood and moved to sit on the arm of the chair. Still holding one hand, she raised her opposite wrist and bit it.
Holding it to Forneus’s lips, she whispered, “I think it’s been ages since you ate or drank or slept. Something tells me you need this.” Resting her forehead against his hair, she told him, “Drink, Forneus. Let me bring you back from the confusion, the pain.”
Eyes glazed, looking at nothing, Forneus swallowed the blood that filled his mouth reflexively. One second, another, another, and then his eyes glowed brilliant purple, his other hand came up to hold her wrist to his mouth, and he sucked deeply.
Pulling his hand from hers, he grabbed her around the waist and yanked Maliah’s entire body into his lap. She grunted at a hold that likely hurt but didn’t attempt to get away.
Instead, she wrapped her arm around his shoulders. “Take what you need and come back. It’s time to come back.”
He drank in long pulls for another few seconds, licked over the wound, and stared into her brown eyes.
Softly, she repeated, “My name is Maliah.”
“M-Maliah,” Forneus managed.
She nodded. “I think you were looking for me.” He released a hoarse sob. “I’ve been looking for you, too. Weres, we don’t live as long as Daemon kind and…more than half my life is over. Almost a century of feeling like an open wound. I thought t
he rest would pass and I’d never know what it was like n-not to hurt.”
“You smell like cherry blossoms…”
“So do you.”
He lifted his hand and placed it over her upper chest. “Your heart beats.” She nodded. “I can hear the air moving in and out of your lungs.” Remaining still, she let him examine her. Running his fingers down the length of her thick red braid, he said faintly, “So soft. Tangible.” Wrapping his fingers around her throat, he hissed, “Are you an illusion? How can you be real?”
Desiree took a step forward but Titus held her still.
Forneus put both arms around Maliah’s body and laid his cheek against her chest. She hugged as much of him as she could reach and he started to weep jaggedly.
“There was nothing and now there is something. I was nowhere and now I found somewhere.” Eyes squeezed tightly shut, he sobbed, “Maliah.”
She stroked her fingers over his matted hair. “Come with me now. We’ll get you cleaned up, fed, and you can rest. I’ll take care of you and you’ll get strong again.”
Leaning back, he stared into her face. He slipped his fingers along the nape of her neck, pulled her head to the side, and sank his teeth into the bend of her shoulder. Maliah gasped, her hand tightening on the back of his head an instant before Forneus transitioned them away.
“Uh,” Juliette said in confusion. “Did he just…Mark her while we were all just standing here watching?”
Clearing her throat, Desiree tried to wrap her head around what they’d just witnessed. “Y-yes, it would appear he did.” Gripping her hands together in front of her, she added, “My mom is going to lose her shit when she hears about this.”
She raked her fingers through her hair, smiled at the children, and said, “We have a lot of work to do. Let’s see what news we can tell the rest of those waiting. For the Daemon kind we need to help, we’re going to have to take some field trips.”
Justice gave the air a fist pump. “Yes! I haven’t been on the road since Mommy was on the run with me. Let’s do it…”
“Not so fast,” Titus cautioned. “We’ll need a team of guards. I gave my word to your parents to protect you and I won’t risk your safety. For now, let’s see the rest of our appointments and I’ll make the necessary arrangements for tomorrow.”
