Fury Rising (Fury Unbound Book 1)

by Yasmine Galenorn

  “Don’t joke. You may know your history, but do you truly realize just how much power the Greenlings possess? They tore the cities to rubble when Gaia woke up and brought her wrath to bear. They’re living extensions of the planet. They aren’t mere plant spirits or walking shrubs or talking carrots. They source their power directly from Gaia.” He paused, leaning forward till he was staring at me nose to nose. “Tomorrow, you had better show respect or you’ll find yourself out on your ear, and Hecate will whip your ass. And that whip you wear on your leg is nothing compared to hers, I’ll wager.”

  I straightened my shoulders. “Tam, chill. I have no intention of being rude or snarky to Jerako. I don’t know what you think I do when I’m out on a case, but trust me, I always take my assignments seriously.”

  Tam’s eyes sparkled with magic as he muttered something and slid back in his chair. “I’m sorry. I just… You’re one of the Theosians and sometimes the minor gods take themselves all too seriously. I know you aren’t like that…it’s just… Fury, I don’t think you realize just who you are going to be facing. I’m trying to save you some trouble.”

  “We’re all a little on edge,” Shevron said, interrupting. She opened the box of pastries. “Which is why I brought these. They won’t solve anything, but let’s take a moment to breathe and eat. Jason, you too—even though you may not feel hungry, you need the energy.” She held out an éclair—one of his favorites—and he silently accepted it.

  Tam and I stared at one another for a moment before he offered me a tentative smile and reached out. I took his hand and the tension began to evaporate as he entwined his fingers through mine. A warm glow began to infuse my hand and I realized he was playing fast and loose with his energy. I gently squeezed his palm, then let go. Tam was a sensuous, passionate man, but I knew better than get mixed up with the Fae. Especially the Bonny Fae.

  “I want a muffin,” I said, glancing over at Shevron.

  She handed me one. Hans asked for a doughnut, and Tam, a cinnamon roll. We sat there in silence, eating and breathing. After another moment, I yawned. It was barely three p.m., yet I felt like I had been up for hours.

  The sugar took the edge off my temper. “Tam, I’m going to call Hecate and ask if you can come with me. You’re right. It would be good to have someone there who understands the Greenlings better than I do.” With that, I offered the peace branch, and Tam accepted it gracefully. I moved away from the group, popping the last bite of the muffin in my mouth before I dialed Hecate. As usual, I had to leave a message for her—the gods didn’t spend most of their time in the temple.

  “How are you, really?” Shevron was holding Jason’s hand when I returned. When they were sitting together, it was easier to see the family resemblance.

  “My fiancée is dead. How should I be? My heart feels like it’s been stabbed through. I need to visit her parents. I’ll call them tonight. The Cast will gather later for her memorial.”

  A group of hawks was called a Cast, and so were a group of hawk-shifters. Eileen had belonged to the same Cast as Jason and Shevron. The pair had been engaged for twenty years. Hawk-shifters weren’t impulsive like werewolves or big cat-shifters. And none of them were affected by the moon’s phases, unlike lycanthropes, who were extremely dangerous and a whole different breed. Over the years, growing up with Jason and Shevron, I had gained a sizable insight into the world of hawk-shifters, and it was both intimidating and impressive. They valued intellect over emotion, and tended to take the long view. But I had never seen them deal with the death of another Cast member.

  “What do you want us to do about the shop?” Tam finally asked.

  Jason shrugged. “Nothing will bring her back. Open as usual tomorrow, I suppose.” He looked over at Shevron for confirmation.

  She nodded. “Keeping busy is best.”

  My phone rang and I glanced at the screen. Hecate. I moved off to the side to take the call. After quickly explaining what had happened to Eileen, I asked, “So, can Tam come with me to meet Jerako?”

  “We’ll talk about that in a moment. I’m sorry about Jason’s loss. But have you seen the news?”

  “No, we’ve mostly been focusing on Eileen’s death.”

  “A massive tornado hit Bend two hours ago. The town hasn’t weathered a tornado since the World Shift—it’s not usual weather around here. An eerie green glow was spotted in the area where it originated. A farmer saw it about thirty minutes before the storm struck. I had a talk with the Fates and they concur. This is no ordinary tornado. A member of Lightning Strikes will meet you tonight—I need you over in Bend in three hours. She will meet you at the Casa Café Shop. Her name is Tigra, and she’s the one I talked to about the weather disk. She’ll be able to ascertain whether weather magic was used to raise the storm. She’s a weretiger, so walk softly.”

  I blinked. “Weretigers are volatile, aren’t they?”

  “Yes, so watch your step. And take someone with you. I don’t want you going alone. But we have another issue. An informant relayed the information to me that an Abomination was spotted over on the south side of town, down in the Bogs. So I’m afraid it’s going to be a late night for you. Please check out the report after you talk to Tigra. You should be able to pull the Abom up on your inner Trace.”

  “What about Tam? Can I take him with me tomorrow?”

  “Yes, that’s actually a good idea. Jerako might respond better if he’s along. I didn’t even think about the fact that you work with one of the Bonny Fae.” With that, she signed off.

  I closed my eyes, suddenly feeling overwhelmed. As I tried to steady my breathing, Tam slipped up behind me and placed his hands on my shoulders. I leaned into his touch as he slowly began to siphon off some of the tension.

  “You don’t have to do that, you know,” I murmured.

  “It gives me pleasure,” he whispered back. “I’m sorry you felt shut out today. Jason was ready to lose it, and he didn’t want to break down in front of you.”

  “I just wish he hadn’t made it sound like I wasn’t welcome.”

  “You could never be unwelcome around him…or me,” Tam murmured as he brushed his hand over the back of my neck and another knot eased. “Was that Hecate?”

  “Yes. She gave permission for you to go with me. But there’s another problem.” I returned to the group. “Bad news comes in threes. Two more issues have come up.” I told them about the tornado and the Abomination. “Hecate’s ordered me out to Bend to meet with a member of Lightning Strikes tonight. I need a ride—I don’t have a car. Hecate wants me to take someone with me. Then, after I return, I have to go after the Abomination in the Bogs.”

  Shevron was about to say something, but Jason cut her off. “Don’t even think it. You have Leonard to think about.”

  Leonard was Shevron’s fifteen-year-old son. I had been living with Jason and Shevron two years when she gave birth to him. Len’s father had run off shortly after Shevron announced she was pregnant. Since he wasn’t a hawk-shifter, the Cast had pretty much ignored him. Instead, they focused their attention on helping Shevron open her bakery and looked after Len until she could find a good nanny. But being a single mother was hard, no matter how much help you had.

  “I’ll go with you,” Jason added. “I could use a chance to get out of the city. A trip out into the country might do me some good, let me clear my head. Let me wash up and we’ll head out.”

  I glanced over at Shevron, and she nodded her encouragement. I gathered my things.

  Tam touched me on the elbow. “Are you all right?” His voice was soft and washed over me like a calming breeze. He was draining off more of my fear and worry, and I didn’t have the strength to protest.

  “Yeah. Thanks, by the way. I know what you’re doing, and I don’t understand how you can take on so much pain and manage to remain so calm.”

  “It’s my nature. We can feed on pain and transform it into something delicious.”

  That was a new
one to me and sounded almost vampiric, but I let it go. Some things were better left untouched.

  “Listen, can you do some digging while we’re in Bend? Check the net. See if anybody in the UnderCult has been in the market for weather magic gadgets. I want to get an idea of what might be going on among the arcane magicians, especially those who refuse to register with the Guild.”

  The Seattle Magician’s Guild required membership of every magus and witch who lived within the city limits. Not everyone joined—since I was running off-grid, I hadn’t, and luckily, nobody who hired my services had asked to see my membership card. But most who declined were penny-ante hucksters, and the city turned a blind eye on them. The guild was primarily focused on restraining the magicians who could cause a lot of trouble—the ones who had real power and few ethics.

  “I’ve got some contacts in the Junk Yard. I’ll work through them. Easiest that way.” Tam motioned to Shevron. She approached, a wary look on her face. I knew she didn’t trust the Fae in general, but she was always polite to Tam.

  “I drew a lot of the initial pain off of your brother, but it will return. He has to walk through it in order to heal, but at least the shock is tempered for now.”

  She inclined her head, touching the center point of her brow with her index finger, a sign of gratitude among the Cast. “It’s true, we hawk-shifters are more analytical than most other shifters, but we aren’t immune to emotion. I thank you for helping.” She stopped as Jason entered the room again. He had brushed his hair and put on a clean shirt.

  I gathered my things and grabbed the box of chocolates out of the bag, stopping suddenly as I found an envelope beneath them. I opened it to find myself staring at a cash card marked for three hundred cash. Hecate. She had overheard me talking to Queet.

  Suddenly, I felt a wash of gratitude that I was under her yoke. Feeling a little better, I pocketed the money. Calling out, “Queet? You there? Let’s go. We’re heading to Bend,” I popped another chocolate in my mouth. We headed to the parking garage down the street where Jason kept his car. I had a feeling by the end of the day, the candy box was going to be empty. It was just that kind of a day.

  Jason’s car was a spiffy low-rider wonder, a self-driving model with a manual override option. When the gas and oil crises got too bad, the manufacturers had finally moved beyond electric models, which had proven untenable for the long run, and instead developed a sustainable form of fuel and non-toxic batteries.

  Unfortunately, even though agroline was affordable, the government stacked on so many taxes that it was difficult for the average commuter to own a car. Add to that, parking costs were at such a premium that most people just gave up and used mass transit. The Monotrain was the easiest and swiftest way to get around the city.

  As we sped along the freeway, I tried to think of something to say. I wasn’t sure if Jason even wanted to talk. I glanced over him, trying to gauge his expression, but hawk-shifters were cagey and hard to read. Finally, I decided that he could start the conversation when he was ready. I leaned back in my seat and stared out the window. I thought about trying to pinpoint the Abom on my inner Trace, but we were rapidly moving away from Seattle and he’d be out of range entirely soon.

  Seattle sat on the edge of the Pacific Sound. Bend was about an hour inland, southeast of the city, deep into the Wild Wood. In the distant past, the suburbs had sprawled for miles outside of the cities, but eventually both small towns and big cities had became localized, and the natural world was allowed to reclaim the space between metropolis areas.

  Lining both sides of the freeway was a thick wall of fir and cedar, interspersed with oak and birch and aspen. The undergrowth was made up of vast copses of fern and huckleberry, stinging nettle and skunk cabbage and all manner of wildflowers and shrubs. Small streams trickled through the foliage, reinforced from the glaciers that rose, icy and sparkling in the western Cascades and their foothills. The water moistened the forest floor, creating ravines and gullies and meadows in the resurgence of the natural world that had taken hold since the World Shift.

  The ravines were deep and dangerous, filled with wildlife. Most of the animals would run if you came at them, but the cougars and bears usually held their ground. Hunting was illegal, save for in certain areas that were strictly bordered. Given all the Weres who had appeared when the doors on the World Tree opened, hunting had to be regulated. As a result, the ecosystem had a thriving array of predators and prey.

  Dusk was falling. Outside the city, the air cooled quickly, given the absence of concrete, and before long, the evening mist would rise thick and soupy, to drift over the roads.

  It’d been a while since I’ve been away from Seattle and I found myself sinking into a state of relaxation that I seldom was able to manage in the city.

  “My family comes out to the woods every week or so, so we can fly.” Jason’s voice startled me, I had been so wrapped up in watching the miles pass by. “Eileen never could wait, though. She had to fly every day or she was unhappy.”

  I lazily rolled my head to look at him. He had switched over to manual driving and was focused on the road, but he looked calmer. Cities weren’t a natural element for most shifters.

  “When was the first time you took wing? I don’t think I ever asked you.” I figured that if I overstepped my boundaries, he would tell me.

  “I was five years old when I learned to fly. I first shifted when I was four. Most hawk-shifters take wing between five and six years old. It’s a scary time, and even more frightening for the parents. So much can go wrong when a shifter first learns to transform. That’s pretty much across the board for all Weres and shifters.”

  “I thought puberty was the trouble-time.”

  “Oh, it’s also a bad time. The same hormones that drive human teenagers nuts are even more problematic when you add in shifter DNA. There have been cases when a shifter or a Were went into a hormonal crisis in the middle of transformation and got stuck.”

  I had never even thought of such a thing happening. “What do you do?”

  “It’s an incredibly painful situation, and the majority of cases end in death. Usually, the Alpha Mother of the Cast or Pack ends up putting the victim down. No matter how it ends, it’s traumatic for the entire extended family unit. The few who survive never forget, and some of them are so traumatized they lose their ability to shift.”

  “What happens to them?”

  He didn’t answer for a moment, then said, “They’re exiled from the Cast. They wouldn’t be able to handle life among those who make the transition successfully. They’re usually sent to work among humans who live in the Wild Wood. We place them in low-risk, low-stress occupations.”

  “Never seeing their family again? Harsh.”

  “Sometimes being harsh is the best love you can give someone.”

  “Given how much can go wrong, I must have been easy to handle then, when I showed up on your doorstep.” I gave him a sideways glance.

  Jason snorted. “Are you kidding? A Theosian yoked to Hecate? I was constantly terrified I’d do something wrong and have the Dark One on my back. Or that the government would come hunting for you.”

  “Well, Tam took care of the latter, at least. Though I wouldn’t take a chance on trying to live outside of Darktown, Portside, or the Trips, even though I’m off-grid. It’s too easy to draw attention from the sky-eyes when I’m out on the hunt.”

  The government not only insisted on chipping all the Theosians to keep tabs on us, they also restricted where we could live. Croix, North Shore, and Uptown were off limits, reserved for human and Were inhabitation only, though allowances were made for the Theosians who rose to stardom because of their powers. Briarwood was mostly inhabited by the Fae. Theosians could live out on the Tremble, but that was just asking for trouble. The NW Quarters gangs hated us, though technically, the Corp-Rats didn’t care if we lived there. So we mainly congregated in Darktown, the Trips, and Portside.

  Occas
ionally, a Theosian would turn up missing, and nobody would ever find out what happened to them, but we all knew what happened. If the Conglomerate found out that one of us had any strong bent for telepathy or bilocation, the potential for spying on other countries was too great of a temptation. More than one of my kind had disappeared when their powers grew too noticeable. When Tam helped me go off-grid, Hecate applauded the move. I just had to watch myself when I was hunting, and stay away from the sky-eyes when I wasn’t in the thick of a crowd.

  “The Corp-Rats are always looking for how they can make use of my kind. At least they tend to leave the Weres and shifters alone.”

  “That’s because they haven’t found effective ways of taking us down. Theosians tend to be much more pliable than Weres and the Fae, because you began life as human while first in the womb. But back to your question, do you really think you were easy to handle? If it hadn’t been for Shevron, I would have gone crazy trying to figure out what to do with you. I’m just glad I found you before some bogey did.”

  I nodded solemnly. “I’m not sure why I ended up on your doorstep. I think I knew my mother trusted you. I had no idea that I could transport myself like that—I’ve never been able to do it again without help from Hecate.”

  “Your sense of self-preservation kicked in. You had just witnessed one of the most horrific things I can think of and you knew you were next. My theory is that you used every ounce of magical energy you had to propel yourself out of the situation. And since your subconscious knew that your mother trusted me, that’s probably why you ended up on my doorstep.”

  I stared out into the approaching dusk. “Do you ever regret taking me in?” It was a question I had never asked, but sometimes wondered.