“Our creation as in humans?” I hoped we weren’t about to get into some evolution debate.
“No. I assume you’ve heard about that story already.”
I stepped around a fallen tree.
He reached out to steady me. “Ok. First let me say I don’t actually believe this. Like I said this is old folk lore, but most stories have a basis in the truth, so knowing it might help us out.”
“Gotcha. Let’s see how good of a story teller you are.”
He shook his head. “You’re as sarcastic as me.”
“We do have a lot in common.”
“Unfortunately you’re absolutely right. May I continue?”
I nodded.
“In the beginning there was man.”
“Wonderful start. I may have heard a story like this before though.”
“Would you just shut up and listen?” He glared at me.
“Fine.” I pushed around in front of him to continue up the steep incline. “By all means, continue this riveting tale.”
“In the beginning there was man.” He repeated himself to annoy me. I was sure of it. “Man lived without magic for years. There’s debate on exactly how long—”
“Ok, please skip the history lesson.”
“Fine. At some point they found these powerful crystals that gave them access to magic.”
“What kind of magic?”
“All magic.”
“Meaning?” I turned back to look at him.
“Meaning these crystals were the source of all types of magic. Man had unwittingly discovered powerful crystals that would change the world forever.”
“So what happened?” I urged him to continue.
“The story goes that man created each of the different supernatural creatures using the crystals.” He stopped to glance around at our surroundings. He was being careful too.
“Who was first? The Pterons?” I figured the story would have to be self-serving in that way.
He shook his head. “No.”
“Oh…” I turned to him again. That wasn’t the response I was expecting.
“Witches were first.”
“Witches before shifters?” I scrunched up my face. I hated witches as much as he did after what Tiffany did to my sister and my mom.
“I know, and like I said it’s folklore. Shifters came soon after. We learned Pterons came first, but take a guess about how your family tells this story?”
I laughed. It felt good to laugh despite our situation. “Of course, Ursus came first.”
“It’s an old story that no one really believed, and the crystals were never found to back up any sort of claim.”
“But now Gareth found them?”
“Remember the eyes and ears.”
“Ok, fine. Hypothetically if someone found them, how would they know?”
“They’d have immeasurable power and have the same properties of hot and cold.”
“You’re banking on these being the Origin Crystals because they are hot and cold?” I’m sure my mouth fell open. And he was buying this?
“Will you keep your voice down?” He narrowed his eyes. “And, no. I’m banking on it based on your father’s reaction and his explanation. It also fits with all the healing and power talk from Gemma.”
“I’m ready to wake up from this insane dream.” I tried to stretch. My bag was heavier than it was the last time I wore it. My mom must have added something to it.
“Honey, I wish we were dreaming,” Jared said in a way that accentuated his sexy southern drawl.
I followed Taliana’s advice and took us southwest. We stayed in the forest most of the way because it provided us cover. I’d have much rather flown, but we couldn’t chance leading the witches to the cave. Whether the crystals were real or not, I wasn’t going to let those witches get their hands on anything that could make them stronger. I didn’t like talking about the cave or the crystals, but I knew Vera well enough to know she wasn’t going to come unless I gave her some more info.
“Get down!” I yelled just in time before a bolt of something red flew by us. I’d never seen witches use weapons like these before, but we still had the advantage of strength if we shifted. “We need to shift.”
“What was all your talk about not flying?” She pulled off her shirt. Even as she argued she was listening.
“I’m not flying, but I need to shift to be of any use. I’m stronger that way.” I pulled off my shirt and felt the familiar sensation take over. My long black wings splayed out behind me.
“How much further do we need to go?” She was completely naked now.
I forced myself to ignore the ache and want. Now definitely wasn’t the time for that. “Not too far, but we have to go through a clearing. My guess is we’re going to run into something.”
“Fantastic.” The air buzzed before she shifted fully into her bear form.
“Stay close.” We left the cover of the forest and reached the rocky hill that separated us from the woods that housed the cave. I didn’t like the idea of being out in the open, but we had no choice. We had to cross this area first.
“We have company.” I noticed the large brown bear off in the distance. It wasn’t a Norco bear, and he was standing next to a warlock. A warlock was a rare sight now-a-days. Usually it was only the female witches.
We walked forward, pretending we hadn’t noticed the danger.
The bear acted first, lunging at me. I easily tackled him to the ground before letting Vera take over. I had the warlock to deal with.
“The women let you out of the kitchen?” I taunted. I wasn’t being stupid, I was being strategic. Taunting an opponent enough to upset them and cloud their mind with anger could allow you to take them down easier.
“Very funny, bird.”
“Actually I’m a Pteron. I guess you aren’t out in the field much, so I’ll let that slide.” He didn’t seem surprised to see me, and that was a problem. They shouldn’t have known a Pteron was on the island. It looked like someone on the inside had tipped the witches off.
“You really want to die today?” He grinned a wicked all teeth grin.
“Not particularly. Life’s not so bad.”
“Too bad you’re not going to see more of it.” He held out his hand in front of him, sending a bolt of light toward me.
I immediately jumped out of the way. I dared a glance at Vera. She’d made quick work of the bear and was wiping blood off her paw as she stood over his body. I turned back to the warlock. “Is that all you have?”
“No. I’m just getting started.” He held out his hand again, but this time I was ready. I soared up and landed behind him. I had his hands secured behind him before he could turn around.
“It looks like I’m the one who was just getting started.”
“No, it’s me.” The warlock’s body heated up. It would probably be enough heat to make a human let go, but I wasn’t a human.
Before I could worry about what to do with the guy, a grizzly barreled over. It wasn’t Vera, but he was definitely of Norco. He had the same markings on his fur. I watched as the grizzly tore through the warlock’s abdomen with its large paw.
Vera nudged me. It was time to keep going.
I took one last glance behind us and nodded at the bear before we headed up the hillside.
Vera shifted back. “Nice work.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
She grinned. “Nope I got the fun job, and whoever that bear was at the end.”
“Your whole clan wants us to survive. We can thank Gareth for that.”
“Are you sure it wasn’t one of my admirers?” She pulled her tank top back on. I wasn’t bothering with my shirt. I might have to shift again.
“Glad you can still joke after that.”
“You forget I spent months with Murphy. I can handle conflict.”
“You did well.” She’d impressed me once again. Her parents wanted me protect her, but the girl was incredibly strong on her own.
A few feet into the forest Vera stopped. “Where the hell are you taking us?”
I held up my hands in front of me. “This can’t bother you.”
“Of course it does. Don’t you feel that?”
“Feel what? The haziness?”
“Haziness? It’s called evil.”
“Uh… I don’t know if I’d go that far.”
“It’s horrible in here. Please tell me we won’t be in here long.” She wrapped her arms around herself.
“Not too much further.” I wasn’t sure what to think. Was this all part of her gift? Did she sense something I couldn’t? Or did my being a Pteron somehow protect me from something that affected her? Either way, I needed to get her to the cave, and I needed to do it fast. Vera had taken down a larger bear with ease, and if she was complaining about the forest, something was seriously wrong.
I picked up my pace, taking her hand in mine. I wasn’t letting her fall behind. Her face was pale, and I could tell that every step was taking effort. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, let’s keep going.”
“Maybe this will help.” I picked her up and threw her over my shoulder.
I didn’t get any of the protests I expected, but even if she’d screamed I would have kept going. She felt cold, and shifters were never cold.
I ran through the enchanted forest, pausing only once to glance over my shoulder before we reached the boulder. I set Vera down and pushed the boulder. It didn’t budge. I tried again, putting my entire body into it. Nothing.
“Fuck.” The curse slipped from my lips. Maybe this was a trap. How were we going to get in? Gareth had made it seem so easy, and I knew he couldn’t be stronger than me. Gareth and his people weren’t witches, but they talked about gifts all the time. Maybe they’d an enchantment on it. I was willing to believe anything at the moment.
“Let me try.” Vera elbowed me out of the way. She touched the boulder and easily pushed it out of the way.
She grinned. “Getting weak on me, future mate?”
“No, sorry to disappoint you. There has to be an enchantment preventing an outsider from moving it.”
“Or so you say to save face.”
“No, it makes sense. It’s protection.” I stepped inside. “Be the lookout for a minute. I want to make sure there are no surprises.”
I slowly walked through the narrow opening into the open part of the cave and saw and sensed no one. I lit the lantern left at the entrance. The light might lure out any potential danger.
After waiting a minute longer I turned around and returned to the front. “We’re good.”
Vera entered the cave and easily rolled the boulder back into place. “Let’s say I believe you. Gareth booby trapped that door to only work for his flesh and blood, the question is why?”
“You’ll see.” I retraced my steps again back into the cave. I walked into the open area with the large and colorful crystals, and she followed.
“You weren’t kidding about the crystals, but I thought you meant just one or two.” She reached up to touch a crystal, but I pushed her arm down. “What the hell?”
“The orange ones are hot enough to singe your skin. The purple ones are cold enough to freeze it.”
She leaned in to get a better look at the one she’d come close to touching. “They don’t look that way.”
“Feel free to do it, but last time I checked bears didn’t heal as fast as Pterons.”
“I’ll take your word for it then…”
I waited while Vera walked around the large open room.
After a moment she joined me again. “If no one else but specific Ursus can move the boulder in front of the cave, does that mean we have to wait for one of them to get us?”
“You can move it so we can leave. We’re not stuck.” I tried not to dwell on the fact that my safety now depended on Vera. Technically I was at her mercy.
She grinned, probably following my line of thinking exactly. “So you can’t leave without me.”
“So?”
“So? I’m all powerful.” She grinned.
“On a power trip?”
“I’m just reflecting on the shift in dynamics.”
“Shift in dynamics?” I raised an eyebrow. “When were you not in a position of power over me in the last few days?”
Evidently that was the right thing to say. She grinned. “You’re right.”
“So Ms. All Powerful, what do we do now?”
“What should we do? Or what do I want to do?”
“The former is probably more important, but your desires may have merit.”
“I’m stuck alone in a cave with you. I can come up with some things to keep us busy.”
“Sex? You’re thinking of sex at a time like this?” Vera was always full of surprises.
“You were thinking about it too. Admit it.”
Of course I was. We’d been close to having sex an hour before, and I’d seen her naked again during that hour. “I’ll admit the thought crossed my mind.”
“Just crossed your mind?”
“Believe it or not, I was worried about some other things too.”
“Me too.” She gazed at the boulder.
“You’re worried about everyone else.”
“Of course I am.” She touched the wall beside the boulder. “Don’t you kind of feel like a coward, running in here?”
“Yes, but I’m willing to put some faith in your parents. Protecting these crystals and coming here had to be important.” I decided not to point out the significance of her words. She felt bad running. That was a real change for Vera.
“Me too.”
“Good. So stop day dreaming about sex.”
She put a hand on her hip. “Hey, you admitted I’m in a position of power. You might want to be careful what you say to me.”
“Why? You want to be stuck in here forever too?”
She crossed her arms. “I’m a bear, caves don’t bother me.”
“This one doesn’t bother me.” Well, not as much as other small caves. I still didn’t love it.
“Want to explore then?” Her eyes sparkled.
“You sound almost as excited about that possibility as you did about the sex.”
“We could combine them you know. A little bit of exploring followed by a not so little bit of sex.”
“Now you’re the one trying to distract me.”
“Why won’t you at least admit you don’t like it here?”
I laughed. “Am I that easy to read?”
“You mean aside from being a Pteron in a tight confined space?”
“It’s not that tight.”
“Not as tight as other things.” She laughed.
“You have a dirty mind.”
“So do you.” She pushed a finger into my chest.
The simple touch set me on fire. “Let’s explore.”
“Ouch.”
“You weren’t really offering sex. Besides, I’d rather not be getting it on with you if your father shows up.” Or someone else. We still didn’t know anything about the so-called team.
“Fine. We can explore first.” She grabbed the lantern from me and headed toward the back passage of the cave.
“For the record, I’d never choose exploring a cave over having sex with you.”
She stopped walking. “What if it was exploring somewhere else?”
“There’s very little I’d pick first.” Sex with Vera topped my to-do list.
She turned to me. “What about flying?”
“Maybe we could combine those.” I winked.
Her eyes nearly bugged out of her head. “Would that be possible? I mean, could we really actually have sex while flying?”
“I suppose anything is possible.” I con
tinued walking, hoping she’d follow me with the lantern light.
“But you’ve never done it?”
“Nope. I’ve never even had sex with my wings out.”
“Wow, something you haven’t done?”
“One night stands with humans don’t leave much time to experiment with your paranormal side.”
“Good thing you left your man-whore days behind then.”
“Yes, who would have thought I’d be settling down with a bear?” I laughed dryly.
“Yeah, settling down,” she said with disbelief.
“You did agree to be my mate, hun.”
“You asked as a joke. I said yes as a joke.”
“A joke? Is that all it was?” I teased. Teasing her was easier than anything else.
“What else would it have been?” Fear entered her voice.
“Relax, I wasn’t declaring my undying love, but I figured I couldn’t have you running off with another bear on me.” My whole plan of laying it all out there was going to have to wait. I couldn’t risk setting her off.
“Oh yeah? Afraid of losing me?”
“You did have a lot of great options. I mean come on, who wouldn’t want a guy you could knock out with one kick or how about one half of a rare Ursus twin? Or heck, I bet you could have had both.”
A large object flew over my head. “What did you just throw at me?”
“A rock.” She jutted out her chin.
“That could have hurt me.”
“And you just made a joke about me mating with a set of twins.”
“I’d have thought a girl as adventurous as you wouldn’t find that upsetting.” I didn’t actually know. Personally, it wasn’t my thing.
“I’m a one partner girl. “
“We have that in common.”
“So you never had a threesome?”
“I didn’t say never…. but it’s not my preference.”
“Of course. You’ve probably had orgies before.”
I laughed. “Yeah, not quite, but glad you think I could handle that much.”
She groaned.
“I know I could, but think of how much more one girl would get if she were alone?”
“I know all about what that one girl would get.”
I turned after walking down a side corridor, needing to see her face. “Have fun last night?”
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