by Quinn Loftis
She didn’t know how long they had walked, their heads constantly turning this way and that as they tried to absorb their fantastical surroundings, when they came to a sudden halt. Anna nearly bumped into Crina who was in front of her. She stepped to the side so that she could see the holdup. Her eyes widened ever larger than before when she saw the sheer number of little bodies filling the trees, flowers, and ground before them. At the very front of the group standing on a large rock, she could only assume based on his confident posture, was none other than Ainsel, the King of the Pixies.
“Perizada, high fae of the council, ambassador to the wolves and trainer and keeper of the gypsy healers, has requested that we shelter you,” Ainsel’s voice boomed, surprisingly loud considering his size. “She has explained to me the circumstances and risks involved, and I have agreed to allow you to stay in our realm.” He paused as he looked at each member of their group until his eyes finally landed on the three healers. “I do however have one request.”
“Nothing is ever free,” Heather muttered under her breath.
“I require the healers’ assistance,” he finished.
“What sort of assistance?” Sorin asked as he took a step forward so that he was standing in front of their group.
“The healing sort,” Ainsel answered, his brow drawn together and lips pinched tight as if it should have been obvious.
“Does Peri know of your request? Elle asked.
Ainsel didn’t meet her eyes as he answered. “Sort of.”
“Sort of how?” Adam prodded.
To Anna’s surprise the great pixie king suddenly looked a little like a child caught drawing all over the walls with a permanent marker.
“Sort of, as in, I might have tried to tell her when she was leaving but I don’t know if she heard me.”
Anna watched as Elle’s eyes narrowed on the small king. She was sure that at any moment the fae warrior was going to skewer him. But to her surprise after several tense moments, Elle straightened and motioned for the king to lead on.
“We will discuss this request once you have shown us where we will be staying,” she told him.
Ainsel seemed to think that was as good as he was going to get at the moment and nodded as he turned to face the direction they had been walking. Anna leaned over to Stella covering her mouth to help muffle her voice. “What do you think he wants with us?”
Stella shrugged. “To use our mojo somehow I suppose.”
“I can tell you right now if he attempts to drain power out of us by drinking our blood, we are going to have our first ever pixie roast,” Heather added.
“Did you know,” Crina’s voice broke in as she sidled up next to the girls. “Pixies have very good hearing?”
Heather smiled as she looked in the direction of Crina’s voice. “Maybe they’ll think twice about trying to use us healers then.”
Crina laughed. “Maybe you’re right, healer. You would make a good wolf.”
“Come on now, let’s not start talking cray-cray.” Stella tugged gently on Heather to get her to speed up. “Don’t you think it’s enough that we have found out that we come from some ancient lineage and will one day be mated to a werewolf? Let’s not go adding furry and likes to hang head out the window to our list of traits.”
Crina held her hands up in surrender. “Okay, point taken. Too much supernatural makes a cranky Stella.”
Anna laughed as Stella shot Crina an unladylike gesture. “You can take the girl out of the Bronx…,” Anna said and laughed again when Stella shot her the same sentiment. She didn’t miss the fact that Stella had been rubbing her chest in the exact location that Anna had been earlier or the fact that as soon as Anna looked at her, Stella dropped her hand.
Stella bit her tongue to keep from blurting out colorful expletives as the trees parted and her eyes fell on a tiny little town. It looked like something an architect might use while drawing up plans.
The homes looked like they had been plucked right out of a Thomas Kinkade painting with their charming little flower boxes and crooked chimneys. They were built close together with little picket fences connecting one yard to the next, and all around these little homes and yards flitted hundreds, maybe thousands, of tiny pixies going about their daily lives. A hard pinch had Stella gasping and turning away from the fairytale setting to look at Heather.
“Was that necessary?” Stella growled.
“I’ve been tapping your arm and saying your name repeatedly and you wouldn’t respond. I had to make sure you were still conscious.”
“I’m still standing,” Stella pointed out.
Heather shrugged. “Okay, so maybe I just felt the need to pinch a black chick. Sue me.”
Stella rolled her eyes. “If you weren’t blind I might take offense, but since you don’t even know what the difference in a black chick and any other color is, I’m letting it go as ignorance via vision impaired.”
“Fantastic, so what is it that has everyone standing so still and breathing a little faster than normal?” Heather asked.
“The fact that you picked up on everyone’s breathing is a tad creepy.”
“If I told you I see dead people would it make it less creepy?”
“No.”
“Perfect, now moving on,” Heather said as she motioned with her hand in front of them. “What is it?”
“A miniature town,” Stella told her as she turned back to look at the pixie village. “Everything is scaled down to fit the pixie’s foot-tall bodies.”
“Okay, so nobody bothered to tell the blind girl that the pixies were short. That would have been good to know had a fight broken out.”
Stella laughed. “Exactly what are you going to do in a fight?”
“Well if I knew my enemy was only a foot tall, I would kick lower; it’s not rocket science, Stel,” Heather said dryly.
Stella shook her head at the girl who had fast become a close friend. She didn’t know how Heather kept such a good attitude in her circumstances, but she was glad that she seemed to see the glass as half full. Stella was a glass is half empty kind of girl. She knew she was too young to be so jaded, but then life hadn’t dealt her the best hand. She hoped that maybe Heather’s positivity would rub off on her.
“I know you all are thinking that there is no way you could stay in any of our homes, and you would be correct,” Ainsel shouted out above the noise of the zooming pixies all around them. “That is why we have set aside a specific place for you all to stay.” He motioned to their left and the group started forward pushing past a curtain of foliage until they were in another clearing, minus the miniature town. It was simply a field, but above it the pixies had somehow fashioned a roof out of thick lush vines. It was beautiful, and rustic, and Stella immediately wondered where in the world they expected her to pee.
She described the area to Heather and in classic Heather fashion she blurted out what everyone else was thinking. “Where are we going to pee?”
All of the girls nodded in unison with Heather’s question.
The pixie king looked at a female pixie who had followed them into the clearing. “We have set up separate bathing areas along with latrines.” She motioned towards the other side of the clearing with her arms spread wide indicating that the separate locations were far apart.
Stella decided that if she had to relieve herself in a hole in the ground, it actually probably wasn’t the worst place in the world she had ever peed—there’s a reason her neighborhood back home smelled like urine in the summer time.
“I realize the accommodations are a tad primitive, but it’s the only thing we could come up with on such short notice. Peri assured me that you all would be fine with the situation,” Ainsel told them.
“She was right, King,” Elle, who seemed to be their official spokesperson, told him. “This is fine; we’ve all stayed in worse conditions. Now, about your request…,” her forehead dipped low as her brow drew together.
“I can let you all get settled,” Ainse
l said absently as he started to walk towards the vine curtain that would take him back to the town. “We will get it all sorted out.”
Adam blocked his way as Elle took a step towards him, her mate at her side. “No, we don’t like to have unpaid debt. Tell us why it is you need our healers. Please,” she added as an afterthought.
The look on the king’s face had Stella’s curiosity peaked regardless of the fact that she was indeed tired, and not to mention the fact that for the last few hours she felt as though someone had been digging at her heart with a dull spoon. She didn’t know what that was all about but it was getting old fast. And on top of that she was beginning to have this profound sense of loneliness, despite being surrounded by her friends and a few dozen pixies. She was doing her best to ignore the new developments as she stepped closer to Elle and Sorin. Heather, still attached to her arm, moved with her seamlessly as though she were simply an extension of Stella.
“This is going to be good,” Stella whispered to Heather. “The look on old Ainsel’s face is classic I’m so embarrassed but if I don’t tell someone I’m so screwed.”
Heather grinned. “So sad that you had to waste that analogy on a chick who has no idea what kind of face that is.”
“Too true, but you seem to appreciate the effort.”
“My brother has gotten himself into a little bit of a bind,” Ainsel began slowly. “He’s young and heavily pursued by the females of many of the pixie clans.”
“They have different clans?” Stella whispered to Heather.
Heather shrugged. “Who knew?”
“As you know,” Ainsel looked at Elle and Adam, “different clans of pixies have different gifts. My brother had a misunderstanding with one of the wingless pixie females, and well,” he paused, “I think it would be easier to explain if the healers saw for themselves.”
Fifteen minutes later a large, human sized, wooden cart was pushed into the clearing by a gang of huffing and puffing male pixies with their wings beating the air furiously as they strained. It was completely enclosed with a door on one side to allow entry.
“I would ask that only the healers take a look at him. I would prefer to protect as much of his dignity as possible.” Ainsel requested.
Elle turned to look at them. Stella met the fae’s eyes and she could see the question there. Do you want to do this? Stella hoped her eyes conveyed her answer.
Do we really have a choice? Elle gave a slight shake of her head and Stella knew she had understood.
Stella took the first step towards the cart; Heather was on her left side while Anna was on her right. She attempted to describe the layout of the scenario unfolding before them to Heather, probably to ease her own nerves more than to help Heather in any way. As they reached the cart door Anna reached up to the latch and unhooked it. She gave Stella a wary look before slowly pulling it open just enough for her to peer inside. What she saw had her gasping and shutting the door as she quickly stepped back. Her hand covered her mouth as shock widened her eyes. Stella wasn’t sure now if she even wanted to look, but she knew she had to. She pulled the door open and stuck her head in just a little. Her eyes landed on the king’s brother as the air whooshed out of her lungs. “Oh, honey, that’s just not right.” She shook her head and pursed her lips. “That’s just not right.”
“I take it that I should be happy I can’t see right now?” Heather asked.
“You might want to do a two-step or whatever it is you Southern girls do; that is how happy you should be.”
~
“Does she belong to him?” Gustavo asked as he pulled his hand away from the cheek of the sleeping beauty. He watched as the large wolf outside repeatedly slammed his head into the window. Gustavo knew of no reason a wolf would act in such a manner unless another male was touching his mate.
“She isn’t of age yet so there are no mating signs. But his pull to her and desire to protect her is, as you can see,” Dillon motioned to the uncontrollable Dalton, “intense.”
“If you believe him to be her mate, why are you allowing other males near her?”
Dillon’s brow drew together as he continued to watch his Beta attempt to get into the house. “Because he has been denying it. Sally and I believe that Jewel will not begin to heal until she receives the blood and the pull of her mate. Sometimes a man has to be pushed to the breaking point in order to get him to see what is right in front of him.”
“Unless you want one of us to die, I suggest you cease pushing him,” Gustavo suggested as he took a step away from Jewel. The wolf outside stopped throwing his body against the house and began to pace like a caged animal, his eyes never leaving his mate. His nostrils flared as his breaths came out in great pants, and Gustavo could tell he was struggling to keep from continuing his assault on the house.
“He has been a member of my pack for a long time. I know how much he can take,” Dillon told the other Alpha. “He still isn’t willing to claim her, but he doesn’t want anyone else to have her either. That isn’t good enough for me. As his Alpha I want what is best for him. I need healthy wolves, not just physically healthy, but emotionally healthy as well. Damaged wolves don’t fight the evil threatening the world; they are too busy fighting the evil inside of them.”
“I hope you are right, my friend. I would hate to be the male that was standing here when that window finally breaks.” Gustavo turned and walked quietly leaving the Alpha to stare after his wolf.
Gustavo bypassed the other males and headed for the quiet of the back porch. He had known the moment he walked into the young healer’s room that she was not his. In fact he knew with absolute certainty that one of the healers in the pixie realm was his. He could feel her, well feel her pain was more accurate. She was beginning to feel the pull of the bond between them. The feeling would not yet be painful, probably just more annoying than anything else since they had yet to meet. He had felt it the moment he arrived in Peri’s home. The instinct to find her was like a rock in the bottom of his shoe stabbing him at different times as it rolled around beneath his foot. It wasn’t beyond his control, not yet at least. Just knowing she was there would be enough for now, and knowing she was safe helped. He stared up into the star covered night sky and at the full moon that was a constant reminder of their Creator. “Gracious, Great Luna,” he told his Creator knowing she would hear him. “I hope that I will be all that she needs.” Gustavo had never been worried about his ability to be a good mate to his female, but knowing that his mate was a gypsy healer, and a human who had no clue of their world until recently, changed things. They would both have to be willing to learn, and to be patient with one another, because they most assuredly had different expectations of what their relationship might be. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Deciding that worrying about his mate wasn’t going to bring her any closer in the immediate future, he decided to just be happy that he had finally found her.
Gustavo knew it was a joyful revelation that he would have to keep to himself. The other males would only see it as a challenge if he spouted off that he was certain one of the healers was his. So he would just keep his head down and go on as though he was as clueless as he had been before he arrived. I will be with her soon, he told himself because he needed to remind his wolf to continue to fight the darkness. Soon her light would fill them and for the first time in a very long time he would finally feel whole.
~
“I should undo the spell just as he’s about to plow into that window and let him tear into you,” Peri said as she stepped up beside Jewel’s bed. “When will Alphas learn not to meddle in the love lives of their wolves?”
“As if you don’t enjoy meddling yourself?” Dillon glanced at her from the corner of his eye. He could feel her mate’s eyes on him from the hallway and was not surprised that Lucian wasn’t far from Peri. He rarely let her out of his sight if he could help it, which was probably a good thing.
“I suppose I have meddled once or twice.”
Dillon chuckl
ed. “Three thousand years old and it’s only been once or twice. That’s impressive.”
“Most things are when it comes to me.” A low growl rumbled from behind them. Peri turned her head slightly to look at her mate. “Really? You consider that flirting?” She shook her head. “One of these days, wolf, I’m going to just give into my wicked urges and turn you into a nice wall hanging.”
“Do your threats really work on him?” Dillon asked.
“Depends on what you mean by work.”
“Perizada, enough,” Lucian growled as he took a step into the room.
She waved a hand at him. “Fine, I’ll behave. But I did come in here for more than silly bantering.” She nodded towards Dalton. “Are you going to continue to bring the males in here and let him beat his brains in?”
“If it means it will knock some sense into him, then yes. I do not want the binding taken down until he submits. When he is ready to accept what is, then I will let him near her again.”
Peri shook her head and let out a huff of laughter. “Did it ever dawn on you that keeping her from him would only drive him further into the dark?”
“It’s a chance I have to take. He wasn’t going to stay and if he leaves Jewel will die.” Dillon’s eyes lit momentarily with the emotions of his wolf.
“She turns eighteen in a month and a half—October thirty-first.”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t take that long for the fool to do the right thing.”
This time Peri let out a bark of laughter. “You expect a half feral wolf with a past so demented that he won’t claim his mate to make a smart decision? I don’t know if I should think you’re an optimist or an idiot.”
“Lucian,” Dillon growled.
Lucian grabbed Peri’s hand and pulled her towards him. “Come, love, I’m sure there are other wolves here you would like to provoke.”
