Ancient Ways

by Patti Larsen

  “Hi,” he whispered.

  “Hi,” I whispered back. Tilted my head to look up at him, so tall. He looked so much better than he had in the fall, recovered fully from the loss of Cian, his Sidhe soul after Ameline stole it in an effort to become maji. Even though I finally cornered and captured the evil witch, I still worried about her. Yes, she was in prison, awaiting trial, but she'd been in prison for months now. I knew the longer it took to finally get proceedings started, the more likely it would be Ameline, slippery as she was, could find a way to escape again.

  What was taking the Council so long?

  Liam's lips touched mine, hazel eyes sparking with green points of magic, cutting my thoughts off completely. Ameline who? There was nothing but thrumming earth magic under my skin, the heat of his body making my own temperature rise, the inhale of his breath.

  Shaylee sighed in my head, my Sidhe princess welcoming him fully as my demon grumbled and sulked. I pushed her back. No way was she ruining this for me.

  No, not her.

  “There you are, kids!”

  I jerked back from Liam at the same moment he stepped away from me, cheeks pink, a frustrated set to his shoulders. But he smiled as his mother clacked down the stone walk in her high heels, stylish hair and makeup perfectly put together. A hair stylist, Sonja always looked flawless, but there was lack of authenticity about her, which drove me bonkers.

  That and the fact she was the clingiest helicopter mom I'd ever met. Liam wasn't alone two seconds and there was Sonja. I figured she blamed herself, not only for the loss of his father so many years ago to the Unseelie lordling, Venemeth, but thanks to her, Ameline was able to steal Liam's soul in the first place. Ever since I'd returned Cian to Liam, Sonja made herself a major pain in my ass.

  “Hi, Mom.” He never complained, always welcomed her, even at times like this. When we just wanted to be alone. I was ready to claw her eyes out and he was hugging her.

  Momma's boy apron strings? Yeah, try a noose.

  Sonja kissed his cheek, leaving a red lipstick imprint behind, a visible sign she’d claimed him as hers alone, before smiling at me so brightly I knew it was faked. I didn't bother smiling back, crossing my arms over my chest. “Hi, Syd.”

  Whatever.

  Liam winced, but Sonja didn't react. Was she clueless or just didn't care? Either way, it totally sucked. I finally gave up Quaid, chose Liam. Even with the whole immortality thing, I'd finally chosen. Only to have his overbearing mother who refused to take the hint make it impossible for Liam and I to even consider a real relationship.

  “I just finished buying you a brand new comforter and sheets.” My, how relentless, considering he didn’t live with her anymore. I expected nothing less from her but pure manipulation by now. Liam stiffened and dropped his arm from her shoulders. “Your room is ready, sweetie.”

  I might as well have not even existed as their old argument fired up.

  “Mom,” Liam said, voice cooling off considerably. “I'm not moving in with you. We've talked about this.” Oh, they had. Over and over again, usually around me when Liam and I were meant to have “private time”, time Sonja agreed to but never, ever honored. Did they have to do it again in front of me now? In my yard? I was really reconsidering this whole relationship thing with Liam. And it was all Sonja's fault.

  “But, sweetie.” Sonja reached for his hand. “I'm your mother. You really need to move home with me.”

  I snorted and almost turned to leave. Almost. The only thing keeping me? This was the only issue on which Liam stood his ground. And it gave me just a bit of hope knowing he refused to back down.

  “My place is in the cavern.” Liam pulled his hand away. “And that's the end of it.”

  Sonja's pout was meant to hurt him, stage two in her typical assault to achieve what she wanted. “Well,” she said. “Your room is waiting for you. When you change your mind.”

  Dear elements, please cause harm to this woman before I was forced to take matters into my own hands.

  “Well,” I said, faking my own smile, “I have things to do. Nice to see you both.” That jab, joined with a bit of magic, was aimed straight at Liam. He winced and ducked his head before reaching for me.

  “Don't go.” The pleading in his eyes, in his voice, made me hesitate. Would have gone much further if he told his mother to leave. And I could have, too. Of course, I could have. Ordered her Unseelie ass off my property. But she was Liam's mother, and he already made it clear to me he loved and trusted her.

  I didn't. Sure, Venner was off in the Sidhe realm at last, supposedly owing me a favor. But Hortense Spaft still floated around, his evil and hideous lieutenant, and since Sonja allowed herself be used before, my trust level was in the sewer when it came to her. Still, she was Liam's mother.

  And while he’d never come out and said he put his mother first, that it was the package deal or nothing, I totally took the hint.

  I loved him. But I wasn’t sure he was worth it.

  Damn it.

  “I wanted to talk to you about your birthday.” Liam's hazel eyes lit up again, a slow, sexy smile pulling at his wide lips. My body tingled immediately in response.

  “A birthday!” Sonja practically put herself between us, so close to me I could see the powder clinging to the little hairs on her cheeks. “How exciting! We need to organize a party.”

  Yeah, the tingle was still there. But it now rippled with the need to murder the woman. My demon offered some violent alternatives while Shaylee huffed and puffed and demanded I just kill Sonja O'Dane already. Liam would never know. And she knew the perfect place to hide the body.

  Oh dear.

  Saved by my second. I heard the back door swing open just as I opened my mouth to tell Sonja I would never, ever, ever, ever attend anything remotely resembling a party if she organized it. Shenka entered my peripheral vision, smiling and taking my arm in a very firm grip.

  “Mrs. O'Dane.” Shenka backed me away a subtle step even as she took my place. “How lovely to see you.” I knew Shenka despised the woman as much as I did. Okay, maybe not as much. She was at least able to pretend to be kind where I was way past any sophistry.

  “Sashenka.” Sonja backed up herself, arm hooking through Liam's. Possessively. Like she owned him.

  Grrrr.

  “Did I hear someone mention a party?” Shenka's face fell in artful sadness. “I'm sorry, but Syd's twentieth must be celebrated on Beltane, with the family. It's a closed ceremony, just for coven members. I'm sure you understand.”

  Liam's face fell, shoulders slumping as Sonja smiled too quickly. Too happily.

  “Certainly!” She pulled on Liam's arm. “How silly of us. Of course. Well, it was lovely seeing you. Come along, sweetie.”

  Liam turned, a tiny frown creasing his brow as he looked back over his shoulder at me.

  I'm sorry, he sent. This is nuts. I'll talk to her again, I promise.

  I didn't bother answering, just let him go, his irritating mother nattering in his ear all the way around the corner of the house and out of sight.

  “You saved her life,” I said.

  Shenka sighed and hugged me.

  “I know,” she said. “Let's go bitch about her over chocolate.”

  I followed her inside, a hot ball of fury in my stomach.

  As much as I loved Liam, if things didn't change, and now, I was done.

  ***

  Chapter Four

  Gram flipped a panini on the grill, crisping toast and hot chicken filling the kitchen with aromas so delicious my stomach growled despite my crabby mood.

  As I took my plate, cheese bubbling out the edges of my sandwich, Gram caught my eye and snapped me once on the shoulder with her raised spatula.

  “He's not strong enough for you,” she said before pressing the lid down on the next sandwich with a loud hiss.

  My teeth ground together as I turned my back on her, forgetting, under her challenging stare, I’d only moments before considered kicking Liam t
o the curb over his mother. But I'd chosen, hadn't I? Whether Gram liked it or not. And she’d never said anything like that about Liam before.

  Not that I went looking for her opinion on my love life, thanks.

  Shenka slid into a chair beside me, sympathy written all over her face as Sassafras hopped up on the table, crouching over his kitty paw placemat, amber eyes locked on the milk carton. “He'll get tired of his mother eventually,” Shenka said, patting my hand. “He's just so sweet.”

  Gram snorted, tossing a second sandwich onto a plate and levitating it to Shenka who poured milk with her magic, Sass's bowl filling first before the carton poured a full glass for me. Charlotte took her usual place, standing by the doorway. Watching over us.

  I wished she’d just come and eat. It wasn’t like we were all that formal or anything. Far from it. And considering, if this were a normal house, all the magic in use would have been rather cool, she should have taken our casualness at face value.

  Speaking of faces, I found myself forgetting my bodywere and glaring at the carton of milk with evil intent, wishing Sonja O'Dane's mug was on it.

  Missing.

  That would be awesome.

  Gram joined us a moment later, her own steaming lunch following her as she claimed a chair, one fuzzy foot hooking the leg and pulling it over as her plate settled in front of her. A final plate landed in the empty space reserved for Charlotte. While the weregirl refused to join us, Gram never stopped trying.

  I picked at the corner of the cooling cheese, a sour taste in my mouth killing my appetite.

  “Sweet will get him nowhere.” Gram took a giant bite, breathing out steam through her open mouth before she chewed aggressively, eyes locked on mine. “And will hold you back, girl.”

  Wow. “Since when did you develop this hate-on for Liam?” First I'd heard of it from her. A whiny voice in my head complained it wasn't fair even as I smothered it with a burst of anger.

  No whining. Never again.

  “No one said anything about hate,” Sassafras said, looking up from the plate of tuna Shenka set in front of him. “But Liam isn't as strong as he could be. Not his fault, considering how he's been raised.” Sass took a quick lap of milk before sniffing the fish. “But we all know he's never been allowed to develop to his full potential.”

  Sonja again. Sheesh.

  “Listen to me, Sydlynn Thaddea Hayle.” Gram never used my real name, let alone my full one. I found myself sitting up straighter, petulance long gone, goosebumps rising on my skin. “That boy has a huge heart and he loves you.”

  But.

  “But.” She shook her head, white hair floating around her head in wisps like a puffy halo. Almost comical, considering Gram was no angel. “He doesn't have the strength you need. He'll never stand up to you. He'll cave, over and over again.”

  “I'm not that bossy.” Yeah. Stop laughing.

  Gram arched an eyebrow, a terrible little grin pulling at her lips. “You're a Hayle,” she said. “We invented bossy.”

  Shenka giggled, covered it with a cough while Sassafras snorted milk.

  Even Charlotte’s normally blank expression twitched in humor.

  Traitors.

  “If you end up with that boy,” Gram said, sitting back, one foot bouncing violently at the end of her crossed leg, “you'll turn him into a weakling yes-man. And you know it.”

  “I like nice and sweet,” I shot back, pushing my plate away as my anger rose. “And there's nothing wrong with a partner who says yes.”

  You know she's right, my vampire whispered.

  Shut up, I snapped back.

  “This coven, your responsibilities, they will try to devour you, girl.” Gram's voice dropped, tone sad and hollow. “Trust me. I know.”

  Okay, fair enough. She lost seventeen years of her sanity, all for the coven. But I wasn't her.

  “I can't pick who I love,” I said.

  Oh, Syd.

  Liar, liar.

  Gram's steady gaze told me she knew I was full of crap. “You'll need support,” she said, reaching across the table to me. “Shenka will be part of that.” My second nodded quickly, looking back and forth between us. “Sassafras.” The demon cat's eyes flared with fire. “But they can only do so much. Sass's job is to watch over your heirs. Shenka's is supporting the coven. Yours is keeping the family safe. And your mate...” Gram squeezed my fingers. “Your mate's job is to be there when you need someone strong to lean on, who'll challenge you when you're being an idiot. Push you when you want to quit. Love you, no matter what.” Was that a tear in her eye? My heart constricted as I thought about my grandfather, what I knew of Ivan Dumont. His betrayal of our family. Of Gram.

  “Ethpeal is one hundred percent correct.” Sassafras finished his bowl of milk, swiping at his whiskers with one paw. “I've seen generations of Hayle witches come and go and one thing is certain—a strong mate means a happy coven.”

  Anger flared inside me, the need to defend Liam so powerful a snap of magic shattered the plate under my uneaten lunch. Shenka jumped with a tiny cry, but neither Gram nor Sassafras so much as flinched.

  Temper, Sydlynn, my vampire sent.

  Whatever.

  “I'd like to know why you think you have the right to say anything,” I snapped at Gram, unreasonable anger driving me to bitterness. Damn her, I'd chosen! “Your husband was a family traitor.”

  Oh. Crap. Damn it. I hadn't said that out loud. Had I?

  This time Sass did react, a hiss of fury sending sparks of amber magic over his puffed-up fur as he glared at me.

  “Watch what you say,” he snarled.

  Shenka didn't move, barely breathed, staring at me, as though waiting for an explosion. But Gram just sighed and nodded. “You're right,” she said. “What do I know?” She stood, taking her plate with her, half a sandwich untouched as the temperature in the room seemed to drop to zero. I shivered, hugging myself, wanting to take it back. Gram didn't deserve to be treated this way. She was always up front with me, always honest. And I knew absolutely, without question, she had my best interest and that of the coven, at heart at all times.

  Perhaps you're so angry, my vampire sent, because you know she's right.

  Twinge.

  I didn't get to deliver the sharp comment on the tip of my mind. I jerked in response to the sudden jab of another mind reaching for mine, gasping out loud as I clutched at my head. Even through the powerful family wards, the pointed attack made it through. I watched Gram spin with a frown of concern in the periphery of my vision, Shenka reaching for me, Sassafras's magic surging toward me, Charlotte’s eyes flickering from blue to wolf as she left her post to come to my side. But I lost them all as I balled up my power in preparation to fight back.

  Syd! I knew that voice, the power behind it. Not an attack. I pulled back just in time, only a heartbeat before I blew Mia's mind into a gazillion fragments.

  What's wrong? My body trembled with releasing tension before she seized me in a surge of desperate energy fading almost as quickly as it rose.

  Help me Syd please help they're taking it and I can't stop them and I don't know what to do please help they're dying—

  I was losing her, Mia's touch failing, falling away, weaker by the second. Gram's power linked with mine, Shenka’s right behind her, Sassafras's demon magic pushing us further as I wound myself around the last of Mia's touch and held onto her.

  A single image made it through, from Mia's perspective, a slow tumble to the right as she fell onto polished marble stairs, dark shapes looming over her before she slipped away from me.

  With one last whisper.

  Please help—

  I dropped out of the connection, already on my feet, all thoughts of Liam gone.

  The Dumont coven was under attack.

  ***

  Chapter Five

  I ran for the back door, reaching for the veil I knew I wouldn't be able to access until I left the property and the family wards, only to feel someone's hand on my ar
m. I spun around, panic fighting against Shenka who shook her head, face grim.

  “I have to help her.” I tried to pull free, but Shenka's fingers refused to open, her grip on my sleeve keeping me still. Gram and Sassafras stood behind her, the demon cat clutched to my grandmother's chest. No surprise, Charlotte stood on my left, my constant shadow ready to join me without question.

  “You have to play by the rules.” My second’s words chilled the fire burning inside me, the need to rush off and save Mia. My old friend, the leader of the Dumont coven, hadn't been in close touch in a long time, not since the debacle at Harvard when she'd lost her boyfriend, Rupe, to Ameline's manipulations. Not to mention how some of the members of her coven had been associated with Ameline's plan.

  I'd done my best to support Mia, to help her cement her rule of her coven, but in this case, Gram was absolutely right when she'd said ages ago Mia wasn't strong enough to run her own family. Her power crippled when she was a baby by a mother who was just trying to protect her, Mia spent her whole life knowing she was different, but unable to access the magic she craved. I always worried she would crack under the strain, considering the corruption in her coven.

  But I never expected the Dumonts to fall under attack.

  Shenka shook me a little, dark eyes intense. “Miriam needs to be informed.”

  Right. The rules thing. Mom warned me last fall I stomped on thin ice with the Council. She'd done her best to protect me in the past, but by pushing the limits of the law, I put myself in a position of interest.

  This was different, though. I wasn't meddling. “Mia asked for my help,” I said, urgency rising again. “I have to go.”

  Shenka nodded quickly. “Of course you do,” she said. “But you tell your mother, first.”

  Gram tossed Sass into my arms, the silver Persian’s claws hooking on my t-shirt. “Do it,” she said.

  Mom. I threw my power at my mother, catching an image of her looking up, startled and angry, from her desk.

  Sydlynn Thaddea—