Sheridan couldn’t help but smile as she watched the gold-and-red mist form around him. She forced Kyle to take more than a few steps back. This was a transformation she’d seen before and she knew what to expect.
Sparkling scales reminiscent of diamond-shaped lotus petals appeared on his skin, his body not expanding so much as disappearing into the large impossible creature that was forming around him. Within a few heartbeats, his beautiful features had been replaced by a red-and-gold snout and a mouth full of pearl-like teeth. Sharp and gleaming.
Raj was a fiercely stunning shifter. Not cursed, but born as a dragon. An honest-to-goodness fire-breathing dragon.
Evil. They are all evil. Just like—
No. Raj wasn’t evil. Despite her recent lapse, she could never truly believe that. As she watched him take off, his great wingspan nearly blotting out the sun and sending a blast of heated air their way from his body’s warmth, she knew she was right. As a man or as a dragon, he would never hurt her.
He’d treated her with respect since she arrived. With compassion. He’d never asked her about what happened or why she wasn’t contacting her family. He gave her space. Shifts and fireballs notwithstanding, he often seemed the most human of them all.
Kyle’s muttering brought her attention back down to earth. “I have got to learn when to keep my mouth shut around these guys. You never know what you’ll be in for.”
Sheridan felt the loss of Raj’s body heat and yanked up the collar of her jacket. “Tell your story walking, my friend. The lodge isn’t too far away, but it’s far enough.” She strode to her dropped staff and leaned down to pick it up before laying it over her left shoulder. When Kyle was finally beside her, she looped her other arm through his. “To Oz, Toto.”
“Son of a bitch.” He trudged through the snow beside her, surprising her with the depth of his steps. She hadn’t realized the snow was so thick. Why hadn’t she noticed? Each step Kyle took sank him up to his calves. Slowed him down.
Her poor partner was completely out of his element. A Texas cop in the Himalayas. A man who got so chilly in an air-conditioned movie theater he had to bring a sweater. Why hadn’t Finn flashed him to the lodge?
She knew it was wrong, but she couldn’t help it. She laughed. Not at Kyle, but at the normalcy of it. Of him. The sheer relief of his humanity—warts and all. Laughing. When was the last time she’d done that and meant it?
October. The Texas Renaissance Faire. Before the Horde came.
“Sure, yuck it up, Sher.” Kyle was smiling as he grumbled. “You’ve been up here enjoying your Rocky montage while I’ve been stuck in the real world. I didn’t sign up for a hike to Shangri-fucking-La.”
“Shambhala.” Sheridan smirked as she corrected him, tugging him along. “Good thing too, since we’re not going there. Apparently no one is allowed in that place, even if you know the royal family.”
She wasn’t kidding. Everyone, human or Other, was shut out of Raj’s sacred city. He hadn’t told her why. Perhaps it was to protect them from what he faced in the outside world. Or, knowing now how much Raj appreciated his privacy, it could simply be that they had no interest. For all she knew dragons could be the hermits of the supernatural world.
But that wasn’t the mystery that was making her antsy. “So what are you doing here? And did you know Meru was coming?”
“Yep. She called me. And then your mother called me. And then Meru called me again just to follow up. You know how they are.” His breath puffed out of him, leaving small white clouds trailing behind him like a freight train as he struggled to keep up. “You look amazing, by the way. Better than ever. All this fresh, frozen air must be good for you.”
He let out a shivery chuckle and glanced sideways in her direction. “And here we were all thinking you couldn’t survive without us.”
She heard that heartbreaking note beneath the charm and bit her lip. “Kyle…”
“No, it’s okay,” he assured her. “I knew in high school that I wouldn’t have you around forever. Figured I’d lose you one day to some brilliant chiseled-jaw type with a taste for adventure and travel. I had no idea I was competing with supermen. Or your destiny. You were always special, Sher. I just didn’t know special meant this. Or that it would take you so far away.”
Sheridan made a face. “I’m not that special, trust me. And for your information, there’s no competition, babe. Let’s go. You and me. We’ll hitch a ride on that dragon as soon as we get to the lodge. I’m ready to spend the rest of my life in your broken-down, smelly old car staking out normal bad guys.”
“Really?”
Her smile felt too wobbly. “Are you kidding? At this point Harold ‘the Nose’ Delaney’s desk job sounds like a dream to me. Nothing would make me happier than boring human crime. I’ve had enough danger and magical creatures for three lifetimes.”
Kyle forced her to stop and stared at her in silence for one long moment. Then another. “Bullshit.”
The words felt as though they had force. “What?”
He rubbed his hands together briskly, blowing warm air on his fingers through the gloves, his astute, serious gaze never straying from hers. “You heard me.” He shrugged. “I wish I could believe you, Sheridan. Houston sucks without you, especially on the job. My new partner’s wife just left him and he keeps driving by her house and playing the same damn country song over and over again while he leans on my shoulder and cries. Talk about hell.”
His new partner. Sheridan tried to ignore the twinge of hurt as another piece of her old life disappeared. Kyle didn’t seem to notice.
He shook his head. “You may miss me, but you don’t miss that. You always wanted more. Craved more. And now? Now there’s something burning inside you that would never be satisfied with boring or ordinary again. That would never be satisfied with staying out of the fight. Which is why I don’t understand why you’ve been here so long. It’s obvious you aren’t being held against your will and you still have all your limbs intact, which can only mean one thing.” His brown eyes were piercing. “You’ve been hiding as much as training on this mountain and everyone knows it.”
She glared at him, feeling the sting of betrayal. “Is that what you think? What they think?”
“I don’t give a damn what they think, Sher. It’s what I know.” His expression told her he didn’t like what he was saying, but that didn’t make it any easier to hear. “You could have trained with the Fianna. With Damon and Finn. You could have stayed with your family and worked with Meru and Myrddin to understand what your part of the prophecy in the Book of Veils meant. Could have. But you chose not to. For the first time in your life, you ran away. As if you’re actually afraid you won’t be able to do what you need to do. And the overachieving ass-kicker I used to know? She wouldn’t be able to stand that.”
He knows you too well. He can see your fear. Your weakness. He’ll be able to tell.
She grabbed his arm and pushed him forward. “Walk, genius. I already told Raj I didn’t need therapy. Though I’m thrilled you would travel all this way just to give me one of your famous pep talks.”
They were famous because the bastard was usually right. “Even if I was doing a little bit of running, could you blame me, Kyle? You know what I’ve been through since that damned book came into our lives. I wish he’d never given it to Meru. I’d hate Myrddin for that alone. For filling us all in on the fun fact that we’re not even close to normal. That Druids are more than weird freaks in robes.” She pursed her lips in disgust, feeling bitter. “We are the only ones who can save the world, according to him. My family against the monster horde. Now he’s seduced my mother, dazzled my cousin and convinced them both that I have some ability I’m not sharing.”
Sheridan let go of him and held out her hand, watching it tremble, more with emotion than cold. “He dragged us into this fight without caring what kind of danger we’d be in. Now we’re the focus of the Dark and that jackass who leads them—from a prison they said no one could
escape, mind you. We’ve been chased. We’ve been kidnapped and uprooted and fought over like a goddamned bone. And because we’re not cursed werewolves or gifted with immortality, because we don’t have a magical fucking sword, we’re the ones who could suffer and die. It isn’t fair. We weren’t ready for this.”
Only they had been ready, hadn’t they? Meru and Lily were both thriving in this new reality. Her mother she could understand—a self-described pagan, Lily was used to spells and enchantments. Used to naked chanting and incense. Used to crazy. And Meru had spent her life studying all things old and weird.
The only thing that had been a surprise was the way she lost every trace of shyness the instant Damon arrived on the scene. Sheridan snorted, thinking of the long sleepless nights before she’d asked for Raj’s help and came to his mountain. Nights spent listening to passionate animalistic growls and high-pitched cries of pleasure coming from her cousin’s bedroom. But it wasn’t just about sex. Since she’d discovered her gift of true sight, Meru had blossomed in every way.
They had been born for this. They hadn’t flinched.
Sheridan was the one lacking. She’d chased down criminals for a living and loved to fight the good fight, yet she was the weak link in the family chain. Even after all this time in the damn back of beyond, she still felt fear and shame when she remembered how she’d failed to see the danger in time and allowed herself to be used as a distraction. Tortured because of her perceived value. And yes, she was afraid it could happen again. Or worse, that it would happen to someone who counted on her to save them. And she would fail.
Only one thing scared her more—the knowledge that it was just a matter of time before they discovered she was tainted by the Dark. That thing that was Eonis might be physically dead, but a part of him was still in her head. Torturing her. Reminding her of how completely she’d fucked up.
If she had any power in her blood from her ancestor, he must have taken it along with her pride. She was amazed Raj hadn’t noticed by now. Didn’t he see that she hadn’t really had any magical epiphanies? Not the kind Meru had described when she came into her powers. And until she did, she wouldn’t be ready to face what came next.
You know what will happen if you tell them you hear voices in your head or that you have this darkness inside you. We both know. They’ll never trust you again. Not even Meru. You’ll be all alone…or you’ll be dead at their hands.
“I see.” The disappointment in Kyle’s voice shattered her far more than her morbid inner dialogue. “Was Nyc right then?”
“Nyc?” Sheridan suddenly remembered Raj’s earlier comment. “As in the pain-in-the-ass, silver-scarred Nyctimus? I thought you said Finn brought you here.”
Kyle glanced down guiltily to study his boots. “I told you how irritating my new partner was, right? So maybe sometimes, just to have some normal conversation, I hang out with Damon’s brother. And maybe on occasion I call him instead of Detective Mopes-A-Lot for backup. At least he enjoys the job. Damn good at it too.”
“Are you insane?” She forgot her own worries and tightened her grip on the staff so hard she wondered if it would crack. “He is not normal, Kyle. And he’s not Damon’s brother. Not really. Don’t be fooled just because he’s latched on to the others, and now you, like some homeless alien puppy. He’s the bastard son of the supreme bastard who cursed Damon and made him what he is. I thought I could at least take comfort in the fact that you weren’t drawn into all of this—”
She searched for a word to describe the chaos that was now her life, but found nothing. And Kyle was definitely reacting badly to the harsh environment. They needed to get back to the lodge as soon as possible. “Fine. Fine. I don’t want to fight with you anymore. We’ll argue about it later, when you aren’t turning blue.” She paused. “What exactly was Nyc right about?”
He reached for her hand and gripped it tight. Was he bracing her or ensuring she didn’t run? “That you’ve changed so much that Áine’s prophecy no longer applies to you. That you may have more training, but you don’t have the heart to fight.” His chuckle this time was harsh and humorless. “You’re lucky he didn’t zap me into another dimension when I reacted to those words. And I’m lucky that steel jaw of his didn’t shatter every bone in my fist.”
Sheridan winced. Nyc could see it too then. The weakness she’d been fighting to no avail. The darkness she could sense creeping in. She exhaled slowly. “Maybe he is right.”
Kyle’s grip became a comforting caress. “Sheridan, babe, you know I love you?” He waited for her to nod before he continued. “I’m only human and I’m not a part of this big important prophecy of yours. So you can trust I wouldn’t be up here, getting high on the atmosphere, if I didn’t believe in you. With that said, it’s time for you to get your head out of your ass.”
Kyle held up his hand to silence her when she opened her mouth to protest. Although the front entrance of the lodge was in view, he stopped to rest again, his breathing labored.
“I may pass out when I’m done talking, so listen up.” His voice struggled to break through the winter winds that surrounded them. “Your cousin was kidnapped and tortured too. Your mother has been burned out of her home and business, her security gone and her friends killed to smoke all of you out. And now everyone, Sher, every single man, woman and child could find themselves in the same situations, or worse, if you don’t start remembering that you aren’t in this alone.”
“What the hell does everyone think I’m doing up here—playing count the scales on the dragon?” Sheridan’s struggle against him was halfhearted at best. “Do you think I want to be away from my family? That I asked for any of this?”
“You’re the one who has been shutting them out. The one who hasn’t answered our calls.” He turned her toward him and pressed his forehead hard against hers. “You may never feel like sharing what happened to you with me. With Meru. You may never be able to forget what that bastard did. But there are a few things I know about you that you may have forgotten.”
Was that hope fluttering in her chest? “What things?”
Kyle lifted their entwined hands to wipe the tears she hadn’t been aware of from her cheek with his thumb. “First of all, you cannot abide a bully. And you’d never let one win. Particularly one who has already gotten the jump on you.”
It was true. And if the Dark was full of anything, it was bullies. Paranormal bullies who could turn into mist or were covered in lizard skin. She shuddered in disgust. “Hence the Rocky montage, smart-ass.”
He smiled. “Other than sass, the one character trait that truly defines you? The one thing that I know will get you through this next part and out the other side alive?” He paused, waiting until he knew she was paying attention. “It’s a truth that should scare the bejeezus out of all of them.”
“What truth?”
“Nobody messes with Sheridan Kelly’s family and lives to tell the tale.”
She’d really missed him.
Chapter Two
“She’s far stronger and faster than I could have predicted. Her senses have heightened considerably, but the changes have been so subtle, I don’t believe she’s consciously aware of it. Today, despite her distraction, she even sensed the change in the atmosphere when Finn dropped Kyle so unceremoniously in the snow.”
Finn listened in silence as Raj reassured Damon and Meru, who’d arrived at the lodge with him. It was exactly what they needed to hear, though it was obvious to him that Raj was holding something back.
He couldn’t force himself to confront the man, because he was mesmerized with the view out the front window. Two figures slogged through the snow, the man leaning heavily on the taller woman as he appeared to grow increasingly fatigued. He’d warned Kyle about the altitude change…just before he dropped him off.
Humans were such a trial, he sighed, particularly that one. The only reason he’d agreed to transport the Texan was for her. Sheridan Kelly.
Her hair was growing back. The long wais
t-length braid of rich dark honey that had always whipped around her as if it were a living thing was gone. She’d hacked it off as soon as their last battle was over and she’d known her family was safe. An act of rebellion or a reaction to the kidnapping, Finn wasn’t sure. Perhaps both.
Whatever the case, it was growing almost defiantly now, just past her shoulders in waves thicker and more alluring than before. He watched as it whipped across her face, clinging to her strong cheekbones and full lips. He could see her clearly, though her sparkling hazel eyes were hidden from him, as were her thoughts. The only mind he could never touch, no matter how desperately he wanted to.
Her wounds were concealed as well, but he knew they were there. They would be scars by now, some of them deeper than others. He remembered everything he’d seen the night he found her. Every mark, every bloody wound the Horde inflicted. And once this task was done? He would spend the remainder of his service to the Fianna hunting the Fae who had sought out the Dark. The ones who had followed Eonis. And he would extinguish them from existence.
Not that she would care either way. Only a thin barrier of glass and a few yards stood between them, but it seemed an infinite chasm. Had it only been a few months? Never in all his days had time passed so slowly, each moment a painful reminder of time lost and things he could never take back.
She’d made it clear before she came here that she wanted nothing to do with any of the Fianna. More specifically, she wanted nothing to do with him. For that reason, he’d tried to stay away, but reminders of her were everywhere. Especially at home, where Sheridan’s cousin now lived with her Lycan mate.
They were closer now, and both of them were covered in the fresh snowfall that had started as he arrived. Outwardly she was exactly what Raj said she was. Stronger. More capable. She was practically carrying Kyle and she wasn’t even out of breath. But Finn knew better. The New Year had come and gone, and life in the last three and a half months had moved forward…but for Sheridan Kelly, time might as well have been standing still.
Behind the Veil: 3 (Temptation Unveiled) Page 2
