Bear Bait (Hero Mine Book 1)

by Harmony Raines

  “Really? Have you come to attack me?” Lucas asked, getting up and coming over to them. Octavia noticed he had his hand balled, as if holding something, and there was a frisson of electricity in the air. “Maybe it is you who need protecting?”

  Cade stiffened and took step forward, putting himself between the druid and his mom and mate. “Protecting from who?”

  “Stand down, Cade. I have to be on my guard when a stranger is brought to my inner sanctum.”

  “You mean your office?” Cade asked insolently.

  “Don’t spar with words, you won’t win.” Lucas sent Cade a condescending look, which Cade shrugged off.

  “I could spar with my claws instead.”

  “And risk scratching my desk?” Lucas said. “Do you have any idea how old it is?”

  “No, and I don’t care,” Cade said. “People, family, are more important to me than furniture.”

  “Which is why you are here.” The man in front of them was middle-aged, thin as a willow, but with eyes that were cold. Octavia shivered as he looked her up and down. “A mate for Cade? Let’s hope you don’t get abandoned while your mate goes off on a fruitless hunt.”

  “I’m not going anywhere, Lucas,” Cade said curtly.

  “That was what Jack said to your mother, isn’t it, Eva?” Lucas asked, his voice stabbing his words into Eva, who tilted her head back and met him firmly.

  “You know why he went.”

  “Oh yes, to find his brother who ran off with something that did not belong to him.” The druid’s voice rose, resonating with power. “Why are you here? To steal more artifacts from the Council?”

  “The Dragon’s Tear was never yours in the first place,” Eva reminded him, and a grunt from Master Grimmwold supported her statement. Octavia wondered that the old man could appear to disagree with Lucas, who seemed to be surrounded by power and energy, while the old man looked humbled and stooped.

  “I am not going to argue this with you again. We went over it enough times before. You damaged your standing with the Council when you took it.”

  “I didn’t know you had told the Council it was gone,” Master Grimmwold said. “I have heard no rumblings of it.”

  Lucas shot him a sharp look. “Remember whom your loyalty lies with, Master Grimmwold.”

  “My loyalty lies with the truth. And the truth is the Dragon’s Tear needed to be returned to the dragon who shed it.”

  “Did you tell Liam and Jack where to go to find this dragon?” Lucas asked.

  “No.” Master Grimmwold shook his head. “You have asked me before, Lucas, and I cannot lie to the leader of the Council.”

  “Even about dragons?” Lucas asked.

  “Even about dragons,” Master Grimmwold answered. The old man lifted his head, his eyes fixed on Lucas as he answered.

  Octavia swayed on her feet. She wanted to grab hold of Lucas and shake him. He was delusional; dragons were not real. As if reading her mind, Cade reached for her hand and took hold of it, squeezing it reassuringly. She glanced up at him, and he gave her a faint smile and a nod, confirming Lucas’s words. Her whole world tilted, so much was real, so much she had thought of as fairy tales, and things of myth and legend, was real. How had the human race managed to fool themselves these things were make-believe?

  “Why are you here?” Lucas asked Eva sternly.

  “We have a problem.”

  “And you want me to clean it up for you?” he asked, sneering slightly as his eyes grazed Octavia. “My guess is, this has something to do with Cade’s mate showing up. In which case, what does it have to do with me?”

  “The past has returned to haunt us, Lucas,” Eva said.

  The druid’s expression faltered and Octavia glimpsed the man, hidden beneath the cold, hard druid exterior. “What do you mean?”

  “The degetty we were called out to last night. It was the same one that attacked me the night I met Jack.”

  “That’s hardly…”

  “Octavia was chased here by another degetty, which was sent by a man who seeks vengeance for something you did,” Cade said, cutting Lucas off.

  “Vengeance?” Lucas asked, his voice betraying his fear. There was a reason this man spent most of his time in the Council Chambers, and it wasn’t his work.

  “The son of Crosshead set the degetty on Octavia,” Eva confirmed.

  Lucas took a step backward. “Crosshead?”

  “You remember, the Templar you killed with your wizard’s fire.”

  “What does he want?”

  “The Dragon’s Tear, and in return he will call off the degetty,” Eva said.

  “But we don’t have it.”

  “Which is why we need your help.”

  “To do what? The Templars grow in numbers every day. We can’t take them down, not alone. And the rest of my kind will not fight. Not yet.”

  “I know, but Cade has a plan, and we need you to hear it. Then we will decide what to do.”

  “Cade?” Lucas asked quietly.

  “We unbind the degetty and then use it to find the Templars. At least the one responsible for this. We might not be ready to take them all on, but we can take a few of them down, deplete their numbers bit by bit.”

  “How? Once the degetty is unbound it will be totally unpredictable.”

  “Not if you control it,” Cade said.

  “You want me to bind a demon? A demon of unknown strength and power.”

  “It has a name. Taro,” Cade said.

  “Sorry, I don’t know degetty on a first-name basis,” Lucas said.

  “Will you do it?” Eva asked, taking a step toward him. “Please, Lucas. Help us.”

  “No. It’s against everything I stand for. I have campaigned for over a quarter of a century for there to be a total ban on dragging those things up from the Underworld. Now you want me to bind one? For what?”

  “To save your own skin. And to save Octavia,” Cade said.

  “Let them come and get me if they want me.”

  “Easy to say when you stay here behind these walls,” Cade spat. “Didn’t you hear? They will set it on Octavia if they don’t get the Dragon’s Tear. Our only chance is to set it on them.”

  “No.” Lucas shook his head.

  “Are you so scared?” Eva asked.

  Octavia watched the argument unfolding in front of her. Lucas had a resolute expression on his face, which told her he would never give in, not unless he was personally threatened.

  “No, I’m not scared, but I’m not stupid either. If I bind a demon and get it to do my bidding, one day that same demon will come back and wreak its revenge on me. I’m not Gareth, I’m not some stupid druid, drunk on power.”

  “You could have fooled me,” Eva shot back.

  “Evaine, Cade, it was good of you to visit. Octavia, a pleasure to meet you. This conversation is over, I have work to do.”

  With that, the door opened, and Lucas turned his back on them, leaving them under no doubt this conversation was over. They were on their own.

  Chapter Thirteen – Cade

  “Damn it,” Cade said as they walked back downstairs. He wanted to curl his fist into a ball and pummel the druid’s face in until he agreed to help.

  “Does this mean we need a plan C?” Octavia asked.

  “It does,” Cade said. “We just need to think of one.”

  “Don’t judge Lucas too harshly,” Master Grimmwold said. He was several steps behind them as they rushed down the stairs, and Eva stopped to face the old man.

  “Why?” Eva asked.

  In his mom’s eyes, Master Grimmwold was the wisest being on the planet. He knew everything there was to know about pretty much anything, and spent his days in the vast library contained in the Council Chambers, reading everything and anything he could. Seth had even come in and set up a computer for him, which was connected to the internet. Master Grimmwold spent hours at a time hunched over it, tapping on the keys with one finger. Cade suspected he was not watching cat vi
deos, or looking at memes.

  “He is trying to do what is right.” Master Grimmwold looked down at her. “He cannot be seen to break his own rules, which is what he must do if he sides with you on this matter.”

  “On this matter?” Cade asked hotly. “This matter is one of life and death. You know that.”

  “Have you tried sending the degetty back to the Underworld?” Master Grimmwold asked.

  “We have no idea of its power,” Eva reminded the old man. “And I doubt the Templars would have gone through all this with Octavia simply to send a degetty Tally could vanquish with one hand behind her back.”

  “Then find out,” he said simply.

  “We don’t know where it is,” Cade said.

  “Then find it,” Master Grimmwold answered.

  “And how do we do that?” Octavia asked.

  “You have everything you need,” Master Grimmwold said cryptically.

  “I don’t suppose you are going to tell us?” Eva asked.

  “No. Although your father might help you,” Master Grimmwold looked at Eva sternly. “You cannot ignore him forever.”

  “Yes, I can,” Eva said hotly. “I’ll talk to him when he tells me where Jack and Liam are. He sent Liam away, he told Jack the same information, but not me.”

  “For a good reason,” Master Grimmwold said. “It is not time.” He placed his old bony hands on Eva’s shoulders. “Soon it will be. But not yet.”

  Eva slumped forward, as if under a great weight, but then she lifted herself up and said, “On that day, I will speak to my father. But not before.” She patted the old man’s hands. “Thank you for your help, Master Grimmwold.”

  He chuckled. “Even if you think I have been no help whatsoever.”

  “You are a mind reader,” Eva said, and then stepped away from the old man and continued down the stairs.

  “Look after her, Cade,” Master Grimmwold said. “And look after your mate too.”

  “No hint?” Cade asked hopefully. It was worth asking.

  “A hint?” Master Grimmwold looked up at the ceiling, and then sighed. “You know what to do, you simply will not like doing it.”

  “And that is your hint?” Cade asked.

  Master Grimmwold shook his head. “You young people are losing the ability to think for yourselves.” He turned around and began a slow climb back upstairs. Cade stood side by side with Octavia, and watched him go, mulling over everything that had been said. They knew what they had to do; they just wouldn’t like it.

  “Tally,” Octavia said quietly.

  Cade looked at her quickly. “What about Tally?”

  “Master Grimmwold said you knew what to do, but wouldn’t like it. So my guess is, it has to do with Tally.”

  He studied Octavia for a moment. She might be right, but there was another option. The one thing that he might have to do, and the one thing he was most reluctant to do, was turn Octavia into a shifter. But it was not something he wanted to rush into. He wanted her to have the choice his mom never had. If he turned her, he would rob her of the option to return to her old life once this was over. Wasn’t that what she said she wanted to do?

  “Cade?” Octavia said, her hand on his arm, shocking his system awake.

  “Sorry, I was thinking.” He took her hand and pulled her down the stairs after Eva. “Let’s get out of here, the smell of magic makes my stomach turn over.”

  “Does magic smell?” Octavia asked taking a deep breath as they took the stairs at speed. “Hey, your legs are longer than mine, I don’t want to fall down these stairs and end up sprawled at the bottom. I do not want to know what a druid wears under his robes.”

  He slowed, and then grinned at her. “Magic doesn’t smell. But some of the druids need to take a shower more often.”

  “You don’t care for them much?” she asked.

  “In the same way they don’t care for us. We are grunts to them.”

  “Grunts? Is that what your bear sounds like?”

  “I might, but grunts means grunt work.”

  Octavia laughed. “You have a good working relationship with your bosses.”

  “They aren’t our bosses,” Cade said.

  “Really?” Eva asked. She must have heard the conversation. “Sometimes I think that’s exactly what they are.”

  Cade looked around. “Nearest exit.” He pointed to the large front doors of the Council Chambers.

  “We’re supposed to go out around back,” Eva said, with a wicked grin. “That door has a ward on it.”

  “So?” Cade shrugged and took hold of his mom’s hand, while keeping hold of Octavia’s, and pulled them toward the front door. With no free hand, he put his foot against the door and kicked it, wood splintering as the doors opened. Cade didn’t even pause as shouts erupted behind them.

  “I didn’t know I raised a bad boy,” Eva said, her face brighter.

  “I’m tired of us giving and them taking,” he said simply.

  “Me too,” Eva said. “I always knew Lucas was a coward, but I expected him to stand by us, since he is as responsible for this mess as I am.”

  “Don’t blame yourself for any of this,” Cade said as they reached the truck. He turned, half expecting to see a volley of fireballs heading their way, but when he looked across to the Council Chambers all he saw was Lucas standing in the doorway, his white robes fluttering in the wind. “Lucas should learn to man up.”

  “I doubt that is ever going to happen. His mother stopped him ever growing into the man he should be.”

  “Then I’m lucky to have you.” He hugged her and then opened the door for his two favorite women, standing guard while they got themselves into the truck. Then he ran around to the driver’s side and climbed in.

  Backing up, he turned the truck and took off at speed down the gravel road to the gate; he was tempted to smash right through it, but he figured he’d already made his point with the doors, and he did not need a bunch of irate druids on their tails. Although that might be one way to get them involved, he mused.

  “We should go and see Tally,” Eva said as he hit the main road and turned toward home.

  “No,” he said. “I don’t want her involved.”

  “I could have guessed that, but she is involved, or at least Helena was. We don’t have to ask her to help, but we do need to warn her. Matthew might have plans for us all. And that includes Kurt too.” Eva glanced at Octavia. “We could take you home first.”

  “No, I want to thank Tally again for her help last night.” Octavia flexed her feet. “They feel almost healed.”

  “She is gifted,” Cade acknowledged. “With an attitude to match.” He turned off the road and headed into the forest, turning once more to drive down the pitted trail leading to the house Tally shared with her mom and Locke.

  “We need to tell Locke about this too,” Eva said. “Crosshead is the one who destroyed his family, and took his mate from him.”

  “You aren’t worried Locke will go after Matthew for vengeance?”

  “Not alone, he is too wise for that. He’s been through enough; there is still a part of him that is broken. The loss of a mate does that to a person,” Eva said, her eyes bright with tears.

  “We are going to need the numbers if we have to go up against a degetty. You are right, they did not go to all this trouble to send a weak degetty after us. To send this Taro back to the Underworld is going to be one hell of a fight.”

  “They say revenge is a dish best served cold, but I never expected it to be twenty-five years cold,” Eva said sadly.

  He stopped the truck and they all got out, Octavia hanging back as they approached the wooden house. “Maybe I should wait here. Tally might not want me in her house.”

  “Nonsense,” Eva said. “You are part of our family, and Tally knows that. Anyway, no matter what her personal feelings are toward you, as part of the squad, she will stand shoulder to shoulder with us. And that means with you.”

  Cade was glad his mom had said th
ose words as he knocked on the door, and a pale-faced Helena opened the door. Tally’s mom looked as if she hadn’t been outside for weeks as she squinted against the light. “Hello?”

  “Hello, Helena. It’s Eva,” his mom said, forcing a smile to cover her worried expression.

  “Do I know you?” Helena asked.

  “Yes, don’t you remember? We used to be in the squa…”

  “Squash team,” Octavia blurted out. “And I am Tally’s friend from school.”

  “Oh, from school. Come in, Tally is in the back somewhere doing her homework. Is that why you are here?”

  “Yes. Cade and I are doing a school project with Tally.” Octavia grinned, took his hand, and pulled them past Helena.

  “Would you like some tea, Eva?” Helena said. “Then we can talk about squash. Although I don’t remember being on a team.”

  “It was a long time ago, which is why I figured it would be good to catch up,” Eva said sadly. “You kids go on, and I’ll join you later.”

  Cade led Octavia through the small cottage; he knew where Tally would be doing her homework. Opening the back door, he saw the young witch bent over a small cauldron, stirring it, while Locke looked on.

  “Hi there,” Locke said, looking up. “Ahh, so this is the lovely Octavia, whom Tally has told me all about.” He smiled and gave a wink, which earned him a scowl from Tally. “Come on, love, you have guests.”

  “How did you get past my mom?” Tally asked.

  “Octavia and her quick thinking,” Cade said, not meeting Tally’s eye, but studying the contents of the cauldron. “What is that? It stinks.”

  “I’m trying to brew a potion that might help my mom.” Tally threw a terrified look toward the house. “She is getting worse by the day.”

  “She didn’t recognize my mom,” Cade said.

  “She barely recognizes me,” Tally said, her bottom lip quivering, before she caught it between her teeth. Then she took a big breath, stuck a smile on her face, and asked, “So why is the newest mated couple here? I’m guessing it’s not a social call.”

  “And you would be right,” Cade said. “Something has happened, something that concerns us all. Including you, Locke.”