I knew from experience that we all had that dark presence inside us. We’d had it since our caveman days. You could take a man out of the cave, but you couldn’t take the cave out of the man. Hell, we even called our basements man caves. Preach.
The only way out was to become like the Fae. That was why Talon and Carl had adapted so easily. They were already at peace with their wild sides. The Huntress as well.
It was my turn. But first, I needed my key. The third key Oberon had mentioned. Because although it had all been a game, where he would win both ways, he had wanted to be fair, giving me the answers before I had the question.
He had told me that my quest was to find three things. But I was now confident that those three things had been the keys to our freedom, because the heels and the Huntress had been two of the tasks…
And two of the keys home.
He had upheld the letter of the law, pretending to help, while holding us back. He had even prevented Talon from helping. Just like he hadn’t told us he would be actively trying to stop us. And he got to stick one to the Queens in the process. Overall, he was one clever son of a bitch. But he was greedy, wanting to get the power for his world, and to beat me at the same time, so he’d made it as hard as he possibly could.
“Greedy, greedy, greedy king,” I chastised.
Oberon growled, but before he could do anything, I yanked Alex – the third key – over to me with an extension of power, right as a goblin reached to grab him. Alex squawked in alarm, breathing heavily as he tried to stare in every direction. I snapped my fingers with a whisper from Wylde’s magic, and Talon and Barbie disappeared in puffs of smoke, back where they belonged.
Oberon actually snarled in fury. “Never has pride tasted so bitter. I’ll admit I dreamt about your failure, but it seems you mastered the Fae inside you. Or adopted it,” he added begrudgingly. “Either way, I won.”
“I know,” I said, bowing with respect. He seemed taken aback by that. “But I’ll be back,” I promised. “I have a game for you, too.” I used his confusion to take one last look at this horrible place. The place Wylde called home. My eyes briefly caught on a familiar face in the distance. A man standing at the back of the second group of goblins. It was Robin Goodfellow.
And I suddenly remembered what had been bothering me. Robin Goodfellow was sometimes referred to as Pan. Or at least, so similar it didn’t matter. He grinned, tipping an imaginary hat. Looking a whole helluva lot like a younger Mallory. A thought hit me as I turned away.
“I heard a fable about a white island,” I said idly, turning back to Oberon.
He tensed. “And?” he asked, cautiously.
I shrugged. “Just an interesting story. Maybe someone could take care of it for you…”
He nodded, as if seeing me in a new light. “That would be… very considerate.”
I snorted. “I don’t do considerate. You’ll pay, and pay well. Or else…” I warned him. “Until next time, Obie,” I muttered.
“Be careful with Wylde,” the king warned. But I was already stepping out of the Land of the Fae, clutching Alex’s hand, ready to impale Mallory with one of his curly horns.
Chapter 40
We stepped back into our world with water suddenly crashing over our shoulders, soaking us to the bone. We jumped away instinctively, shivering and gasping. Tory and Ashley were there in a heartbeat, wrapping us up in towels and blankets as they sobbed, laughed, squeezed and hugged us to death. I was sure to keep a hold of Alex’s hand, squeezing it reassuringly as these strangers bombarded us, because he didn’t yet know they were the same he had met in the Land of the Fae.
I blinked to find Carl lying naked, ass-end up, on the Round Table, which was fully raised for some reason, hovering above the floor. He dipped a claw into the flowing stream of metal, grunted, and then withdrew it, watching the liquid metal drip back into the stream, obviously not burning him, even though it was molten metal. And he still had his crest, which was currently folded back against his neck.
A giant goat grabbed me by the shoulders, bleating, and cheering. I released Alex’s hand, reared back, and punched him straight in the nose. The goat flew across the room, shattering one of the marble statues perched in an alcove. The room quieted. Well, Carl roared with laughter, propping himself on an elbow to watch, flashing us with his shiny, scaly ass.
I let out a sniff at the goat, and then encouraged Alex to submit himself into Tory and Ashley’s tender loving care. But he shied away from the strange women, stumbling up to the Huntress instead – who was standing before the fire, eyes far away. Alex stared at her back, and then wrapped his arms around her, hugging her hard.
She tensed, lifting up her hands as if allergic to the creature. “Why is it doing this?”
Without missing a beat, Alex’s muffled voice said, “Because it likes you. And thanks you.”
Tory’s heart seemed to melt as she smiled at them. She had a soft spot for kids. And bad girls.
“It’s been hours,” a familiar voice complained. “I thought you weren’t going to see what was right in front of you. Again.” I turned cold eyes to find Talon the Devourer – not a cat – staring at me from a few feet away. Rather than offering an apology, he dipped his head, and waited.
I stared at him, a torrent of conflicting emotions raging through me.
Nate Temple, the Manling wizard, wanted to kill him. Slowly.
But Wylde? That crazy son of a bitch understood. Completely.
And he loved Talon for his noble actions.
So, I nodded at him. “That was a tough position to maintain. But in the end, you proved your loyalty to all parties.” He nodded carefully, as if waiting for Nate Temple to rear his head. The man of absolution. Who never ignored a slight, and repaid it tenfold. At least. “Prior obligation?” I asked. Again, he nodded. “That’s why you left the Land of the Fae in the first place…” A proud grin split his cheeks, and he began to purr in approval.
I abruptly scooped up the furry bastard in a big hug, spinning him in a slow circle, enjoying the horrified look on his face.
I finally set him down, enjoying his drunken stumble as he tried to regain his balance.
My friends stared at me, frowning.
None of them, other than Talon, looked as they had in the Fae World. Tory and Ashley both appeared as the day I had met them. Except for their eyes. They twinkled in the corners. Like a hair trigger on a gun.
Ashley nodded, smirking. “I’ve still got it, Temple. Watch your ass. Especially if you get any ideas about sharing too many stories,” she warned playfully, meaning her kiss in the palace.
I belted out laughing, holding up my hands in surrender. “What happens in Fae stays in Fae.” The Huntress was actually speaking to Alex in low tones, now, crouched down before the fire. I let them be, but I needed to find a way to get him back home. Pan watched me from the alcove, not bothering to stand as he waited his turn. He knew he was on my shit list.
I continued to ignore him, and turned to Carl. “Dude, put on some clothes. And get your snake off my sacred magical table. I don’t want your scales getting in my mystical pool of liquid metal.” He grunted, climbing off the table, his manhood catching everyone’s attention.
He scowled at the women. “I liked you all a lot better in the other place,” he hissed, and then walked over to his pile of leathers to begin tugging them on.
I didn’t direct my question to anyone in particular. “Why is my sacred, magical table up?”
Because before my trip, the table had only lifted from the ground when I approached it. No one else. I wasn’t sure if that was something to do with the round table or if the house had placed its version of a security system on it, allowing only the Master Temple to use the sacred table.
“It lifted up about five minutes before you stepped through the waterfall. It’s what let us assume you had succeeded,” Talon said.
I sighed, feeling a bit better to hear it hadn’t been up when they arrived. I glanced at Ta
lon. “It only used to rise up when I was right next to it. Not across the room near the waterfall. Any ideas?” He grew very silent, basically refusing to tell me what he obviously knew, or else he would have simply said no. “Later, then.” He nodded in relief. I studied the table and the chairs around it, thinking. Then I turned back to him. “Hey, is this your new look? Or do I still have to deal with your litter box? Because if you can walk, you can damned well use the toilet like everyone else. Anyone on two legs is in charge of their own bathroom duties.”
Ashley chuckled.
“It feels nice to be back in my own skin,” he said, rolling his shoulders. “But when the need arises, I can become the elegant Sir Muffle Paws.”
That could be useful. “What’s up with your spear? It took me a while, but I finally picked up on you not using it against the Royals.”
He nodded, holding up his hands helplessly. “Part of the obligation,” he admitted. Then he snapped the pads of his paw – I had no idea how – and his spear was suddenly in his fist. Tory clapped as he made it disappear again.
I rolled my eyes. “Okay. We need to gather everyone. Figure out what’s happened while we were gone. I know it’s only been a few days, but I managed to piss off a few of the Greeks before I left. And I have some things I need to take care of before we face them.” A lot of things, actually.
“You going to shave first? Maybe shower?” Carl asked, sounding amused.
I turned to look at him, frowning. He pointed at my chin and I reached up. My hand froze. I had a beard. A real one. Longer than it had been last time I checked over there. “Why do I still have this thing?” I said, racing over to the nearby desk that had belonged to the previous Master Temple – the Mad Hatter, Matthias Temple. I yanked open a drawer and pulled out a small mirror I knew was tucked away. I opened it to look at my face and stiffened. War paint covered my face. I moved the mirror down to study my beard.
And for the first time I realized that I still had my coat, but no shirt beneath. Which made the tribal whorls of blue blood on my furred chest very apparent. And savage. My jeans were ripped, too. I turned to the others, frowning. Their clothes seemed the same as the day we had left, but… something was different about them, too, and not just their eyes. Their hair… was longer.
“It’s been seven weeks since we last saw you,” Pan said in a very careful tone.
I dropped the mirror, shattering glass all over the floor.
“Fuck me…” I whispered.
Chapter 41
Talon sighed, staring down at the ground. “I had hoped it wasn’t nearly that bad.”
I groaned, wanting to yell at someone, anyone, but I simply couldn’t. It wouldn’t solve anything, and I had known time was skewed between our worlds. I just hadn’t thought it would be anything like this. We had only seen one night and one day. I mentally shook myself.
“Alright. War Council. I need to know what’s happened in our absence. Pan, gather my captains and have them meet me in my office in one hour. For your sake,” I leaned forward, menacingly, “do it efficiently and expediently, Robin.”
Then I turned my back on him, satisfied to hear his sudden intake of breath. Everyone else took it as me teasing him – the Robin to my Batman – which was intentional. But I wanted Pan to know that I knew about Robin Goodfellow, and that I appreciated his… help. Because even though I didn’t know the true depth of Robin’s actions in the Fae World, what I had seen had led me to believe that I might have had an unknown ally working in my favor over there. Against Oberon. That didn’t appease my anger, but it needed to be acknowledged. He left very quietly.
I faced my Band—
A brief flicker of hesitation flashed across my face, but I banished it before anyone seemed to notice. Friends, not Band. “I’m very proud of you all. You went through hell and back to help me…” I admitted, throat tightening. “Now, go get cleaned up, and meet me in my office,” I told them with mock harshness.
“Nailed it,” Tory teased.
“Meh,” Ashley said, shrugging as she grinned at me.
I rolled my eyes as they began to trickle out. I pointed at Talon. “Get Callie. I need to speak with her. Right now.”
“What makes you thi—”
“Don’t start, Puss in Boots. I don’t have time to skin a cat right now.”
Carl burst out laughing. I rounded on him. “Don’t start, crossdressing, lizard boy. I saw your eyes when you held those heels,” I growled. This time, Talon burst out laughing, and Carl’s face grimaced. I waved my hand, letting him know I was only teasing. “Where are the heels, anyway?”
“They disappeared right after we returned,” he said regretfully.
I nodded, having figured that to be the case. That they would return to the Land of the Fae. Still, it was nice to be sure. “Hey, is Barbie here?” I asked Talon.
He shook his head. “I think we both went home,” he said, enunciating the word. So, she was still in the Land of the Fae. I was sure I would hear from her in the future.
I turned to the Elder. “Run the perimeter of Chateau Falco, Carl. Get a personal read on things. I don’t want to be swayed by captains exhausted from fighting. I need fresh, objective… wild eyes,” I said, turning the command into a compliment.
He hissed, looking grateful as he fingered an ivory blade on his hip. “Permission to kill?”
“Don’t draw it out. Kill the enemy if necessary, but I don’t need you making a scene. Talk to none of our people. Just observe. I don’t want your observations tainted by their emotions.”
Carl stared at me for a long moment, and I saw Talon doing the same. Then they both nodded approval, but still looked curious about which Nate they were currently listening to.
“I’m Nate fucking Temple, not Wylde,” I snapped. “You have your orders. Move.”
They left. Very quickly.
Which left me alone to think. I needed to talk to Callie. Right now. Because I needed her help. Before anything else happened. If war with the Greeks was already here, I needed to check on the Armory, to see what we were dealing with.
And now that I was back, I could sense the drain on my power. It was a lot more noticeable. The unfulfilled promise becoming a genuine handicap. Because it had been two months.
But another nagging thought kept taunting me. My conversation with War, and him telling me that this fight was not mine. Well, I had done a great job of listening to that advice, even though it was a result of an unintentional two-month-Walkabout in the Land of the Fae. But did that mean that even now I should be keeping my nose out of things?
No harm in at least getting an update. But the real shitty part? My friends would likely be excited to finally see me back, hoping that I could now help. And… I might have to tell them that I couldn’t.
I ran a hand through my longer hair in frustration, turning around, and almost jumped as I saw the Huntress and Alex standing there, watching me.
“Hey,” I said, calming my suddenly racing heart. “I thought you left with the others.”
“Alex refuses to leave your side.”
I turned to him, smiling reassuringly to appease the anxiety he was barely keeping in check. Then I squatted down, resting my butt on my heels as I balanced on the balls of my feet. “Alex, I won’t let anything happen to you. Things here are worse than I had hoped,” I said honestly. He continued to stare at me, no emotion in those haunted eyes. Just nightmares. “But it’s still a sight better than those sons of goats back there,” I pointed a thumb over my shoulder at the waterfall.
Alex let slip a very small laugh, eyes darting to the waterfall as if expecting an invasion.
I held out a hand. “Don’t worry. It’s not an open door. Trust me,” I told him, hoping I wasn’t lying. He let out a long, nervous breath, as if trying to regain his confidence and abandon his fear. I let my thoughts focus on the waterfall. Why had I returned there? Why had any of us returned that way, rather than at Stonehenge?
This fucking house sc
ared the jeepers out of me sometimes. Every time I found out another secret I wanted to simply burn the place to the ground. What if I had decided to jump into the waterfall one day, and unwittingly found myself surrounded by trolls?
“I have to take care of a few things,” I told him, giving him my full attention. “But I trust the Huntress with my life. She’s kind of grouchy at times, but she’s pretty cool. Maybe she’ll show you how to use a bow or knife if you listen to her.”
“I want to stay close to you,” he whispered.
I held out a hand, intending to placate his anxiety, that I wasn’t going anywhere.
Alex bolted into my chest, knocking me on my ass as he hugged me for dear life. The Huntress had tensed, as if expecting an assassination. She actually had a bow aimed at the back of the kid’s head.
Then she heard it.
He was crying into my shoulder, and squeezing my neck. “Please don’t leave me alone again…” he said, over and over again, voice cracking with fear and laced with sobs and sniffles into my coat. The Huntress withdrew her bow with a guilty look.
I placed one hand on the back of his head, and the other on his back, trying to impart a sense of comfort to him, because I wasn’t too familiar with these mysterious non-adults.
But Wylde was. He roared up like a bonfire inside of me, guiding me, empowering me, letting me understand this moment on a level that I hadn’t ever considered.
I didn’t change anything physically, but my hug was entirely different all of a sudden. I squeezed him, the motion telling him he was safe, that I would protect him, that he never had anything to fear ever again…
That.
He.
Was.
Mine.
The tension in Alex’s shoulders washed away, and he was suddenly a limp noodle, still clutching at me, but no longer rigid. As if he had read my bodily cues. In that moment, I realized that Wylde was an okay dude, taking Alex’s fear out back behind the shed where he proceeded to beat it into a bloody pulp to show the kid what happened to stupid bastards like fear. And to tell Alex that if he ever found he couldn’t do it himself…
Wild Side: A Nate Temple Supernatural Thriller Book 7 (The Temple Chronicles) Page 23
