Love's Salvation

by Jenny Penn

  Daisy knew they didn’t take it further out of respect for their mother’s presence, and that touched her heart. Tex and Brock were good sons. They looked after their mother with the same devotion that they showed Daisy. It was the same devotion that Josie’s mates showed her and Tex and Brock’s fathers showed their mother.

  It was just the nature of the beast, Josie had explained one afternoon as Daisy helped her in her garden. Daisy tended to hang out with Josie for a couple of hours before heading on to Mr. Gibbins’s library. That was really where she would have liked to spend her whole day but didn’t want to draw too much attention to the research she was doing under the guise of helping him organize and notate the oldest of books and journals in his collection. Most were written in a language she didn’t know, but Daisy was learning.

  She was learning a lot more than that every night when she finally headed home to greet Tex and Brock as they stopped working for the day. She and Tex normally went for a walk while Brock cooked dinner, and then after that, she and Brock would sit and talk while Tex cleaned the dishes. Then it was on to bed, where they taught her everything they knew about pleasure.

  Then the dreams balanced it all out with the cries of the dead begging to be released. Every dream ended the same, with darkness beaten back only by the slim light of a flame. The flame flared out to consume everything, and Daisy would wake with the certainty that she was being called to do something. The only problem was, what? And whether Tex and Brock would allow her to do what needed to be done.

  Chapter 9

  “Can I ask you a question?”

  “You just did.” Josie shot Daisy a quick smile as she teased her with that answer.

  Daisy returned it, not the least bit put off by Josie’s quick response. She’d learned over the past three weeks that Josie liked to tease. She was just such a bubbly, happy woman that Daisy almost envied her. Almost, because if she had to choose between Josie’s mates and her own, there was no competition.

  Mates. That was sort of the problem right then.

  “No, I want to ask you something that…it needs to be just between us, okay?” Daisy paused, the weeds she’d been pulling clenched tightly in her hands as she met the other woman’s gaze. Josie’s eyes widened.

  “Are you pregnant?”

  “No,” Daisy answered quickly.

  She’d made her opinion known on that subject and expected that Tex and Brock would respect her enough not to trick her into having babies before she was ready. Actually, Daisy knew they wouldn’t. That kind of deception went against their nature. She’d learned over the past few weeks that nature was everything to the pack.

  Like gossiping, it just wasn’t done. It was disrespectful. If someone had something they wanted you to know, they’d tell you themselves, which was just such a refreshing change from the campus life Daisy had known for too long. She was beginning to realize how cloistered and sheltered she’d become in her little academic cocoon.

  While she’d just swapped one cocoon for another, this one was better.

  “Then, sure.” Josie stopped pulling the weeds starting to sprout up in the eggplant bed and gave Daisy her undivided attention. “What’s up?”

  Daisy hesitated for a second, her voice naturally dipping into a whisper as she leaned in a little closer to Josie. “I’ve been having dreams.”

  Josie blinked and said nothing, apparently sensing that there was more. It took all of Daisy’s courage to get the “more” said. She licked her lips and swallowed, refusing to let her fear stop her from saying the truth.

  “About those trapped in the trading post.”

  That had the twinkle in Josie’s eyes dying instantly as her smile faded away. “Really? You mean…the dream.”

  “No.” Daisy shook her head, her misery over the subject thickening with Josie’s grim tone. This was as serious as she’d known all along that it was. “It’s different and…and Tex and Brock don’t know about it. They’re not there.”

  “Oh, that’s bad,” Josie whispered, sounding more than a little unnerved by Daisy’s revelation.

  “No…I mean, I don’t know.” Daisy swallowed back her doubts once again and leaned even closer to Josie, her tone dropping to a bare whisper. “I see the other mates, the lost ones. They’re in agony, and they’re pleading with me to save them. Then there is the fire⎯”

  “Fire?” Josie blinked and shook her head. “Fires are dangerous, Daisy. You know we mind the mountain to ensure that none take hold.”

  “I know, but I’m talking about a flame…the eternal flame,” Daisy qualified. She’d been researching in Mr. Gibbins’s library for weeks now and had learned a lot. “You know about the eternal flame. I told you the legend.”

  “Yes.” Josie nodded. “I asked my mates about it, and they said that you were right. They said the flame was recently relit.”

  “I know. I saw it in my dreams.” Daisy had seen more than that but couldn’t tell if she was watching prophecy or simply going insane. What she knew, though, was that time was running out for both her and the lost souls. “I think that flame will wash away the shadows. It will free us.”

  Josie didn’t immediately respond, but stared at Daisy with a strange sadness. “Is that really what you want to be? Freed?”

  “Don’t you?” Daisy couldn’t understand how Josie couldn’t. “Don’t get me wrong. I don’t want to lose Tex or Brock…but I don’t want to lose my family, either. I want to be able to leave and come back.”

  Josie seemed to consider that before breathing in a deep breath and nodding. “That would be nice, but you can’t leave without the ghosts coming for you…Have you told them about these dreams?”

  “No.” Daisy hadn’t had the courage.

  “Then I would suggest that you do.”

  That wasn’t a shock, but Daisy needed a backup plan, and Josie was it. There was no masking that desperation in her tone as she pinned her friend with a hard look. “And if they say no, can I count on you to help?”

  Josie hesitated and Daisy could sense her reservations over doing anything behind her mates’ back, much less the entire pack. It wasn’t the way things were done, but Daisy pressed, knowing she had to do this.

  “Please.”

  Josie frowned and slowly nodded. “Of course. You are my pack sister. It is my honor to help you in whatever you chose to do.”

  It was that kind of loyalty that brought tears to Daisy’s eyes as she accepted Josie’s gift. “Thank you.”

  “But still, I suggest you talk to your mates.”

  * * * *

  “No! Absolutely not!” Brock thundered, displaying a temper that Daisy hadn’t known he was capable of as he stormed around the kitchen island, balking and cussing at everything she said. “You’re not leaving the mountain! I forbid it!”

  Daisy watched him go on and on, working himself up into a true panic. All the while, Tex sat beside her at the island, holding her hand and offering her what comfort he could without actually agreeing to her plan. He hadn’t said anything, yet. He hadn’t had a chance. Brock was on a roll.

  “The entire thing is absolutely insane. It’s crazy! It’s inconceivable! It goes in the face of all traditions. No. No. No!” Brock shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest, making his stance clear. He stood on the other side of the counter that divided them.

  A long minute ticked by before Tex cleared his throat and spoke up. “I think we should listen⎯”

  “I’ve heard enough,” Brock snapped back, “and it’s all lunacy. She’s having dreams simply because she has an overactive imagination. That’s all. If they were prophecy, we’d be in them.”

  “How exactly does that work?” Daisy asked, speaking up and drawing Brock’s frown in her direction. “How do you get into my dreams? How do the ghosts?”

  “Because Malsumis allows it,” Brock stated simply, but with a wealth of authority. “He wouldn’t ask a task of you that he wouldn’t ask of us. These dreams you’re having…they’re n
othing.”

  “Or you just want them to be,” Daisy retorted. She didn’t handle confrontations well and normally wilted away from them. This time was too important to back down. “I am the descendant of Sally Mosby. Maybe I’m supposed to be the one to save her.”

  “Save her? She’s dead already!”

  “And her soul is trapped in that damn town!” Daisy shot back, giving voice to the frustration building up inside of her. “They all are, and their pain has gone on long enough! On that, I’m putting my foot down.”

  “Is that right?” Brock stiffened up, his brow lifting in a look Daisy didn’t care for. “I’ll tell you what I’ll do with that foot⎯”

  “Enough!” Tex broke in. “Arguing isn’t going to do any good or solve any problems. If Daisy is having dreams that lead her to believe that her mission is to save those souls, then…we have to support her. She’s our mate.”

  “If she leaves this mountain, she will be vulnerable,” Brock all but snarled, proving that his anger stemmed only from fear, and that grew out of his love.

  That thought had Daisy lifting off her seat to cross around the island and wrap her arms around Brock, offering him the only comfort she could. He resisted at first, remaining stubbornly tense until, with a heavy sigh, he relaxed against her. Brock’s arms loosened, wrapping around her and snuggling Daisy deep into his chest.

  “I just love you so much that I can’t bear the thought of something happening to you,” Brock muttered into her hair as he rested his cheek against the top of her head. “Please don’t leave me.”

  “I don’t want to,” Daisy assured him, squeezing with all her might before breaking free of his hold and stepping back. “But I’m afraid. These dreams…if I don’t heed them, then something bad is going to happen. I can sense it.”

  Brock stared down at her, studying Daisy for a long moment before he nodded. “Fine. We’ll go to the peak. If these dreams are really the work of Malsumis, his spirit will come.”

  “It will?”

  “The Great Owl, he is the one who leads us to our mates and carries us into their dreams. If this is your destiny, he will guide you to it,” Brock stated solemnly. “We will pray to him, and if this is your destiny, he will guide you in it.”

  “This I approve of.” Tex rose out of his seat with a nod. “But if we are to go, we should pack our mate a picnic and make a true homage out of the hike.”

  “I’ll get started,” Brock agreed with no hesitation, amazing Daisy that he was so willing to at least try and support her, despite his clear reservations.

  She suspected Tex held his own, too, but he tended to be less combative than his brother. Instead, Tex showed his concern by ordering her to dress appropriately. Jeans would be necessary, as well a sweater in case they had to stay out into the night when it got colder. By the time Daisy returned, dressed as requested, the men had hiking packs loaded up with all sorts of supplies that she knew were for her.

  Then they were off.

  It was a long walk, and the light slowly faded as they rose higher and higher up the mountain until they reached the rocky, narrow path that led to the peak. That was when Brock and Tex produced a length of rope that they tied around her waist and then their own. Daisy knew it was catch her if she fell, for they were too surefooted even if they were barefooted.

  It was an interesting habit almost all the wolven shared. They only seemed to wear shoes while working. Other than that, they all appeared to like to get their toes dirty. That was why they’d never paved their roads. Tex had explained it all weeks ago, the primitive desire to feel nature beneath their bare feet, to feel at one with it. He’d made it sound almost romantic, and Daisy had tried to do things their way, but she kept stepping on sharp bits of wood and stone and had given up the effort after one day.

  That evening, she was glad for the sneakers that protected her tender tootsies from the sharp rocks beneath. Daisy was glad, too, for the rope, as she all but clung to the sheer cliff that rose out of the forest to top the mountain with its menacing face. The Devil’s Peak was a sight to behold from below and an even greater one to take in up close.

  The boulder was huge, the face menacing, and the nose proportionally larger than it should be. Daisy studied it, thinking that it looked odd, like the face had a growth at the tip of its nose, a growth that looked hollow from the cast of the shadows that lanced through broken and ragged holes. In an instant, Daisy knew what it was for.

  She wanted to reach out to try and break the end off, but the face was too big and the distance too great for her to bridge.

  “You’re going to fall over the edge if you stretch any further,” Tex warned her.

  Daisy knew he was right but still cast him a frown for his unhelpful attitude as he came to untie the rope from around her waist. Brock was busy spreading a blanket on the ground and setting out the dinner he’d brought with him. Daisy turned away from the distasteful head and thanked Tex for releasing her with a quick kiss to his cheek. The small caress pulled a smile from him and put a sparkle in his eyes, and Daisy knew just what he was thinking.

  “Food first,” she instructed him as she took Tex’s hand and led him over to the blanket. “And while we’re eating, you can tell me more about the Devil’s Peak.”

  “I thought we already told you about it.” Brock glanced up with a frown. “It was put there as a stopper to keep the rest of the beast’s army out. It can’t be toppled, and it can’t be harmed or destroyed in any way. It was placed there by the gods themselves.”

  Daisy had already heard that story and read all about it in the old journals at Mr. Gibbins’s house. “Then there was an epic battle.”

  “There were many battles,” Tex corrected her as he assisted her down onto the blanket before flopping onto the ground next to her. “Millions died before the beast was tamed.”

  “And now there is a soulless woman, right?” Daisy asked, her mind churning with many thoughts.

  She was almost certain that the shadows would be destroyed by the eternal flame and the ghosts with it, but the Devil’s Peak was a different story, a different mystery.

  “Yep.” Brock nodded, passing her a juice box and a large sandwich. He opened up a bag of chips and set it in the middle of the circle the three of them formed around the food. “She’s a real bitch, too, from what I understand. Nasty person.”

  “She’s still evil, then.”

  “No.” Tex shook his head. “She’s soulless, and that’s worse.”

  Daisy didn’t see how, but she didn’t argue the point. “Still, maybe she’s the one giving me the dreams. I mean, how do the ghosts get into my dreams? Does Malsumis let them in?”

  “Of course not.” Brock sounded offended that she would even suggest such a thing. “They may follow the Great Owl, but it is you who lets them in.”

  “Me?” Daisy blinked, surprised and uncertain if she should be offended. “How?”

  “Your doubts,” Tex stated simply. “They feed on your doubts and your fears.”

  Daisy considered that for a moment, recognizing the implication of his words and feeling her heart sink. “You think these dreams are coming because I still have doubts, don’t you?”

  “Don’t you?” Brock returned with a pointed look. “It’s been three weeks, and you still refer to our house as Tex’s and mine. You’re nice to everybody, but you haven’t made a place in the pack for yourself, either.”

  “I just…haven’t found my place.”

  “And that’s the problem,” Tex stated sadly. “Your place is with us. We’ve expressed our love for you in every way we know, but you take the pleasure and still withhold some part of your heart from us.”

  “That’s because some part of my heart aches for everything that I lost,” Daisy argued. “It’s not because you don’t own the rest.”

  “But you own us, whole heart and soul.” Brock looked deep into her eyes, and she could see the truth there. He was hurting. She’d hurt him, and that felt like a pain to her
self.

  “I’m sorry. I do love you, love you both,” Daisy insisted, looking from Brock to Tex and willing them to understand. “But I love my parents, too, and I miss them. I ache thinking about the worry they must be feeling right now. Can’t you understand that?”

  “This we do.” Tex picked up her hand and held it to his heart. “If there is a way to give you all that you want, know that we will stop at nothing to see it come to pass.”

  “I know.” Daisy smiled slightly. “That’s why we’re here, and I’m thankful that you two granted me this favor.”

  “It was not a grant. It is not a favor. It is our devotion to you,” Brock vowed

  How could she not kiss him for that?

  Daisy launched herself over the bag of chips into Brock’s waiting arms. Their lips collided in a kiss the quickly spun out of control as the bag of chips got crushed beneath their legs. Brock flopped onto his back, taking Daisy with him, his tongue never even pausing as it invaded her mouth on a mission to conquer.

  Daisy fought back, enjoying the battle as the urge to grind and shift had her hips starting to flex against his. She felt Brock’s cock thump against his zipper as it pressed its teeth into her stomach. Daisy wanted a taste of that. Determined to have it, she broke free of Brock’s kiss and quickly crawled down between his legs.

  As she fumbled with the metal tab keeping her from her treat, Daisy felt Tex shift behind her, his own hands settling on her waist to snap open the buttons of her jeans. Even as she finally managed to free Brock’s thick erection, Tex was dragging her back onto her knees as he shoved her pants out of his way. Almost in the exact same second, his lips broke over her pussy as her mouth closed over the flared, weeping head of Brock’s cock.

  Then it was a race just to see who got who off first. Daisy gobbled her way down Brock’s dick, sucking hard as Tex began to twirl his tongue over her clit, making her mew around Brock’s velvety length. What Tex could do with his tongue was magic, true magic, because he could make it grow longer, wider as he fucked it up the clenching walls of her sheath, but Daisy had powers, too.