by Ava Benton
She chuckled. “Something fancy. You might be surprised, but everything we need is at our fingertips here. We can bring nearly anything into existence if we wish it so.”
“But you still live in a cave. Why live here if you could go anywhere, bring any sort of home into existence?”
Another sigh, like the one just before she told me her name. “There is much more at stake than what meets the eye. Many, many centuries of history. There are good, solid reasons for why we remain secluded as we do.”
“I know I shouldn’t ask because it’s really none of my business, but you sort of made it my business when you brought me here.”
“It was not our fault that you traveled here from your home.”
“I realize that.”
“And we have not managed to survive all these centuries by taking chances. Allowing outsiders to learn about us, then turning them loose.”
All these centuries? “What do you normally do to people who find you? And by the way, you found me. Not the other way around.”
“Normally, we would have erased the memory of the person involved, but that became a bit messy. Memories are funny things. It isn’t always possible to locate memories specific to one experience and only those memories.”
“You wiped people out accidentally. Is that what you’re telling me?” I could imagine a bunch of witless, directionless people wandering around until they died from starvation or exposure.
She nodded. “Not many, in case you’re worried. Come to think of it, we rarely find outsiders anymore. There is a reason why you were lost.”
“How did you know I was lost?”
She shrugged. “Remember, we feel things. It was fairly strong, your sense of confusion.”
“Got it.” Because I was definitely confused.
“A long time ago, we decided it would be best to place a series of enchantments and shields on the entire area. Rather than risking the presence of further trespassers, we made it impossible to find us. And our friends.”
Friends. They had friends? Were there more witches just like them? I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.
I was about to ask her to tell me more about their coven when a very loud, very familiar scream ran out through the cave.
Callie gasped and hurried out of the cell.
I scrambled after her, thinking this might be my big chance, but rebounded off the invisible wall. Damn it.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing to me?”
I knew that voice. Tears filled my eyes.
When she appeared, coming out from one of those tunnels, she was surrounded by a half-dozen witches who were doing their best to subdue her. They weren’t successful.
“The spell didn’t work!” Hecate shouted. “I can’t keep her quiet!”
Keira.
Seeing her alive and in one piece was a relief, even though she was in big trouble.
It was like something out of an action movie. No matter what they threw her way, she kicked and punched and elbowed like she was in one of her MMA matches. I held my breath as I watched. There was no way she would be able to keep them off her forever, outnumbered the way she was.
But she was doing a damn good job of it.
“Enough!” Selene’s voice rang out even louder than Keira’s had, and I jumped back from the cell walls like I was afraid of getting into trouble. It was a reflex.
Something about Selene made everything stop. Even Keira stopped fighting and stood still—was she amazed? Was she scared? Or just under Selene’s influence?
The other witches might not have been strong enough to stop her, but Selene was.
The witch just about blinded me when she smiled. “I believe we found the one who is missing.”
5
Alan
“That stupid woman!” I slammed my fists against the wall until I went straight through the sheetrock, revealing the cave wall beneath. It had been a long time since I’d seen it, as we had updated and renovated the cave as soon as the opportunity had presented itself.
“I resent your use of that word,” Tamhas growled.
“Fine,” I growled in return. “That foolish woman. That troublesome woman. Is that better?”
“You know it isn’t.”
“And you know she was wrong to run away like that!” I punched the wall once again, knowing I would certainly regret the damage once I was no longer angry. Then again, it would likely be a long time before my anger dissipated.
“Throwing a tantrum helps no one, especially Keira.” Ainsley placed a well-meaning hand on my shoulder, but I shrugged her off. The last thing I needed was her comfort when all she seemed prepared to do was undermine me.
“How dare you?” I snarled.
She fell back a step.
My rage wouldn’t be controlled. “A tantrum? Do not forget who you’re talking to.”
“I know exactly who I’m talking to, brother.”
“No.” I faced her straight-on, staring into those eyes that looked just like mine. “You are speaking to the leader of your clan. I am not your twin at the moment. You would do well to remember it.” I turned and went straight to the communication center, though I wasn’t certain why. It seemed like the most logical place to disappear.
I should have known better, as my sister and her mate and that stupid, thoughtless woman’s mate followed me. It was difficult for me to think about Tamhas as anything but, as he was so thoughtless in his support of her.
Too many questions, too many courses of action, yet they insisted upon following and thus making it impossible for me to think.
“Do you plan to find her?” Tamhas demanded.
“No, I plan to do no such thing.”
“How can you say that?” he shouted.
“You realize we’ll simply go without you, do you not?” Ainsley stood beside him. I couldn’t believe she would take his side over mine, over the clan’s. She refused to see this for what it truly was. They all did.
“Have you all forgotten? Have you?” I pointed to Klaus. “I do not expect him to understand, and I would not expect Keira to, gods know. But you ought to. For a thousand years, we have done all that was within our power to protect ourselves and each other. How can you be so selfish?”
“It is not a matter of being selfish. You speak of protection?” Tamhas asked. “What about protecting what is ours?”
“Keira is not ours!”
“She is mine! You know what that means to us! Simply because you’ve never known it yourself—”
“Don’t.” Ainsley stepped between us, facing him. “Do not say such things. You cannot take them back.”
The two of us stood there, glaring at each other. He was correct, naturally. I had no mate and had never come close to having one. And I understood all too well what it meant when one of us found the one person we were meant to be with for eternity.
Concerns such as one’s clan, the wishes of the leader, seemed to take second place.
Even so, I could not simply allow him to forget everyone and everything else in favor of what he wanted.
“Our history with the Priestesses is far too fraught.” I managed to keep myself somewhat in check, much to my own surprise. A leader did not allow emotion to take them as far as I already had allowed myself to go. I needed to be smarter.
As Gavin would have. I’d never seen him get into screaming matches.
He took a deep breath, let it out slowly. “I realize that. I remember it well.”
“It is my job to make these difficult decisions,” I reminded him. “It gives me no pleasure to do and say these things. I do not wish to hold you back or keep you from that which is so important to you.”
“Important?” he gasped, then laughed. “This is much more than simply important. This is critical. This is everything.” He held his hands to his head. “This is my dragon screaming, nonstop, demanding I find our mate and find her now. Do you understand what that is like? It’s torture, is what it is. The very fact that I�
��m standing here with you right now rather than going out there to find her is torture.”
“If the Priestesses were to find her, they would not harm her.” I looked from him to my sister, then to Klaus. “We know this. She is one of them.”
“There is a good chance they’ll never allow her to leave,” Ainsley murmured. “Once they have her back with them, they’ll tell her who she is and how powerful she could become, and they will not release her.”
“What if this has nothing to do with the Priestesses at all?” I asked. “What if it’s nothing more than a case of someone becoming lost in the woods? Why did we assume this had to do with the coven at all?”
“You were the one who was so certain it had to do with the coven. You dared any of us to claim you were wrong,” Klaus reminded me. He at least managed to look apologetic about raking me over the coals as he was.
“You’re right. I did that,” I admitted. “Thank you for reminding me.” The last thing I wanted to do was thank him.
“And perhaps it doesn’t have to do with the Priestesses. All the more reason for us to help Keira find her friend. She won’t come back without her. You know she won’t.”
“Aye. I suppose I know her well enough by now to know that.” Stubborn, she was. And strong. “At least we know she’ll be able to take care of herself if she comes across any threats.”
Ainsley winced. “While I consider myself quite the fierce fighter, even I can admit that just because she managed to outfight me doesn’t mean she could face down an animal.”
Tamhas shuddered.
“You know, there’s a good chance she’ll come back on her own. What if she finds nothing of Emelie out there?”
“She will not give up,” Tamhas whispered. His fists were clenched tight at his sides. “She will not.”
I believed that.
“Give me a bit of time to think this over. Please.” I looked at all of them. “I understand how important this is. I truly do. But going off half-cocked, not giving any thought to what we should do next? That is a sure recipe for disaster. We must give thought to how we move forward, or else we might make mistakes.”
It did not please him, that much was certain, but Tamhas relented. “Fine. Take a bit of time, but it cannot be much. I will go on my own if need be.”
“I know you will. I give you my word that I will be quick about it.”
The four of us left the room, allowing Owen to return to his customary place in front of our security feed. Before leaving him alone, I turned to him. “Keep a close watch on the perimeter. I’ll want to know if anyone goes into or comes out of the woods. Including any of us.”
“Understood.” For once, someone wasn’t arguing with my instructions. What a refreshing turn of events.
I escaped to my room, my sanctuary. The one area of our caves where I might be able to have a little privacy. Since Gavin’s death, it was rare that I got a moment to myself unless I locked the rest of the clan outside my door.
Before I did anything else, I splashed my face with cold water from the bathroom tap. It normally helped center me better than even flying could.
The face reflected in the mirror looked like mine in many ways, but not in all. I rarely looked so haunted. So angry and resentful.
Why did everything have to be so complicated? Did Gavin struggle this way? If he had, he’d done a good job of keeping it from us.
He’d been good at keeping secrets, too. At shielding the clan from that which he felt we did not need to be involved in. By doing that, he’d made the difficult decisions without bringing dissenting voices into the mix.
I wanted to be that type of leader, but it seemed increasingly impossible. Every challenge which came my way made keeping certain information quiet, away from those who did not strictly need to be involved. Tamhas and Keira would have shared the news of Emelie’s arrival and the fact that she was missing with everyone, whether I’d wanted them to or not.
Would that I might be able to return to a simpler time.
It wasn’t as though I wished to lie. I merely wished to manage the flow of information a bit more efficiently. Was that such a terrible thing?
And yet…
“If you told them the truth, they would understand.” I stared at myself, unwilling to break eye contact with my own reflection. “If they knew what you knew, they would know why you’re reluctant to go through with this.”
But they did not know, because Gavin had only told me of the true reason for the rift with the Priestesses.
That was the reason why I’d jumped to the conclusion of their involvement.
Why I distrusted them so intensely.
Why I questioned whether they’d had anything to do with our being invaded.
No matter, though, because a leader did not allow those he led to walk headlong into danger without doing everything he could to ensure things did not take a turn for the worst.
I didn’t agree that we ought to look for either Emelie or Keira, but I didn’t believe they ought to go without me.
They were waiting in the common room for me, all of the fun of the day having long since been crushed into silence. The television was no longer on, no more games. Nothing more than a group of people seated around the place, everyone looking either forlorn or frustrated.
Tamhas’s head snapped up the moment I entered.
“All right,” I shrugged. “We had better get started on a plan.”
6
Emelie
Neither of us had time to react to Selene’s strange, cryptic announcement before Hecate and Iris took Keira by the arms and led her to the cell. She was a lot less feisty than when she first entered the cave—in fact, she was downright docile. Without even moving a finger, Selene had placated her.
Meanwhile, Hecate had only to make eye contact with me to freeze me in place.
Damn it. I had to learn not to look at her.
Once they deposited Keira in the cell, the witches hurried off behind Selene, like they had some talking to do. The moment Hecate was out of sight, the spell broke, and I was free to move.
The first thing I did was throw myself at Keira.
“Oh, my God,” she gasped before she grabbed me in a hug. “I didn’t even notice you in here. How is that possible?” She looked around us, at the clear, not-there walls. “From the outside, I didn’t see anything at all.”
“You were busy. And the walls are magical.” I held her at arm’s length. “I can’t believe it’s you. I was so afraid for you!”
“I was for you!” She reached into the pocket of her jeans and pulled out a bracelet. My bracelet. “I found this. You lost it in the woods. You don’t know how many terrible things I imagined, and it would all have been my fault.”
I added the bracelet to the others, stacked halfway up my forearm. “God, I didn’t even notice I lost it. It’s been sort of a crazy time here.”
“Your hair!” She touched my head. “How long have you been inside?”
“Yeah. I’m in-between colors. And growing it out.” I’d gone back to my natural, near-black color.
“I’ll say.” So how long?” She asked again.
“I have no idea, but it can’t be more than a day.”
“Are they taking care of you?” she asked, holding my face in her hands. “Have they hurt you? Tried to do anything to your mind?”
“The opposite—well, actually, one of them ended a panic attack I was having. But that was a good thing.” I placed my hands over hers. “Keira, what is happening here? Why don’t you seem the least bit surprised over any of this?”
She let out a long breath. “We need to sit down.”
“I don’t think I’m going to like this,” I muttered as I sat on the floor.
“Oh, I know you’re not going to,” she said with one of her trademark wry grins. I had missed that grin.
Funny how having her back with me, even in a cave, in a cell with invisible walls powered by frigging coven of witches, made me feel bette
r. I was less lost thanks to her sitting in front of me, with her hands in mine, with the two of us leaning close to each other so we might have a little bit of privacy.
Not that it mattered. They could probably hear us or sense our thoughts or whatever.
“I didn’t want to bring you into any of this,” she whispered, squeezing my hands. “I’m so sorry. When I got your email—and it was too late by then, I should have tried to stay in contact with you, but I wasn’t sure how to do it safely—I completely freaked out. I didn’t know what might happen to you.”
“Yeah and look where I turned up.”
She shook her head, eyes wide and sadder than I had seen in a long time. “I am so, so sorry. I didn’t mean for you to get pulled in.”
“Pulled into what, though? You know these people?” I nodded in the direction the witches had disappeared in.
“Did it seem like I knew them?” she asked, tilting her head to the side. “They overtook me in the woods, while I was looking for you.”
“Oh, no.”
“It’s all right.” She flashed a grin. “Hey, I found you. That’s what matters.”
“Why did you fall off the grid the way you did?” I asked. “Where have you been? What have you been doing, how have you been living? I have a million questions, in case you couldn’t tell.”
“I can’t blame you,” she replied with a sad smile. “I made such a mistake, not at least keeping you in the loop. I guess I hoped you would be happy for me and move on. I don’t know.” She looked away from me for the first time, her eyes moving to the side when she did.
I had seen that expression way too many times, ever since we were kids. Whenever she did or said something she felt guilty about, something she knew was stupid in hindsight.
“Why did you do that, though? What did you find out here?”
“Tamhas. His family.” She still wouldn’t look me in the eye.
“What are they? A cult? You make it sound like a weird secret-type thing.”
