Bayou Shadow Protector

by Debbie Herbert

  “I...suppose.” He was instantly on the defensive, wanting to believe her, but prepared to catch her in a lie. Apparently, that was their nature.

  “Excellent.”

  She stared at him and he was mesmerized by the blue-purple pupils. So vivid, he felt as if he could step into an indigo-tinted world. A sense of calm, comfort and peace rushed over his body in wave after wave of pleasure. All was well. All was easy and effortless.

  The constant tension Chulah held in the middle of his back released, his brow smoothed, and he breathed deeply. The scent of decomposing leaves and salt and pine underpinned by April’s violet-and-vanilla-and-moss fragrance. All his muscles loosened and his bones became weighted in a delightful lethargy. Better, his heart was full of appreciation for being alive on this October morning.

  “Feeling good?” she breathed. “Relaxed and happy?”

  “How do you do it? Must be some kind of fairy magic.” He should be angry at the manipulation, but he couldn’t summon the energy or desire.

  “It’s called an enchantment,” April explained. “And there’s varying degrees of it. Can you recall a time in your life when you really needed this and peace mysteriously appeared in the midst of anguish?”

  Chulah inhaled sharply. Of course. “After my father died. You were there...in the woods.” Heat spread down his neck. He’d broken down the day his dad died and he’d left the house to be alone in the woods with his grief. It was the first and only time in his life he’d ever shed tears. And April had witnessed this.

  “I couldn’t bear to see you so unhappy. I sent you the strongest enchantment I could.”

  “It worked.” Not that he hadn’t been sad, but he’d gathered enough emotional support to handle all the funeral arrangements and take care of his houseful of half siblings and stepmother, who depended on him as the new man in the house. “Thank you,” he ground out grudgingly.

  April stroked his cheeks and lips with a gentleness he’d never experienced.

  He’d better watch it with this one. She knew him too well. Knew what he craved at the same instant he did. Knew how to soothe him—and inflame him with desire.

  But April had performed a kindness without an apparent ulterior motive and his mind was settled.

  At least temporarily.

  “I’ve never turned my back on a challenge and I won’t now,” Chulah declared. “I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt.”

  “So you’ll help me—I mean, you’ll help the Fae?” She hurried to add, “And it’s in your own interest as well.”

  “I will do what I can.”

  She clasped her hands in front of her. “Wait until I tell Steven and the others!”

  Ah, so the short dude was one of them. “Steven’s a fairy. Should have known.”

  “He’s my guardian fairy while I’m in human form.”

  “Why do you need a guardian?”

  “To help me in case I give a clue about the fairy realm. He set up the shop and the apartment so that I would have a reason to fit in Bayou La Siryna.”

  “I could tell the shop meant nothing to you. And your apartment was downright bleak.”

  April shrugged. “The figurines were pretty enough, but I prefer real flowers and real creatures. Not some fake imitation.”

  “I need to go home and eat and strategize.” Chulah kicked dirt on the smoldering coals.

  “Will you call Tombi and the others to your cabin today?”

  He nodded, taking down the tent poles. “Better hope they trust us enough to agree to work with the Fae.”

  “But if you do, surely they will?”

  “Probably.” Hard to imagine Tombi wouldn’t trust his judgment in the matter. They had always worked as a team. All the shadow hunters cooperated with one another, even if they split off separately to hunt shadows when the full moon reigned over the forest.

  “Can I be with you when you talk to them?”

  “Okay. But don’t try to pull any of that enchantment stuff on my friends. They’ll see it as manipulation.”

  “I wouldn’t do that.” Her long eyelashes lowered. “You’re the only man I’ve ever enchanted.”

  Chulah frowned at the words. They made him sound weak, a slave to a Fae spell. “Because I let you,” he said curtly. “Tonight, anyway. If I want to stop it, I can.”

  He hoped. Best not to let April think she could put the whammy on him whenever she wanted to get her way. He was the one in charge here.

  “Of course you can,” she purred.

  He kicked more dirt on the smoldering sticks.

  “I’ll take care of this while you pack up your tent.” April waved a hand over his campfire, and the hot gray sticks cooled at once and the tendrils of smoke ceased spiraling upward in the dawn air.

  “Nice trick,” he said drily. Did she have the ability to wiggle her nose and take care of everything like Samantha on the old TV show Bewitched? If so, she probably secretly laughed at him performing mundane human chores.

  Chulah couldn’t blame her if she did.

  * * *

  “You’re doing what?” Tombi roared.

  The other shadow hunters glanced at one another uneasily. This was why he’d decided April shouldn’t be present when he broke the news. It would only antagonize the men more. Chulah dug his heels in and raised his chin. “I’ve committed to help April and the Fae. They need us, and we need them if Hoklonote has plans to release Nalusa Falaya.”

  “If. A mighty big if.”

  “A possibility we can’t ignore,” Chulah insisted. “I caught the barest whiff of Hoklonote when I saw April in the woods. Being around a fairy heightens my hunting senses even more than usual. It gives us an edge we’ve never had before. Plus, they can kill wisps like us. It’s more dangerous for them, though, because they have to be closer to their target than us.”

  “Or it could be April tricked you into imagining you smelled Ole Hokie,” Tombi argued. Chulah recognized the obstinate expression on Tombi’s face. Fine—he could be equally stubborn.

  This was not going well. And he hadn’t even told them the worst yet.

  “There’s something else all of you should know,” he began, grudgingly. Tombi had already heard it, but now everyone needed the same information. “The Fae seek the soul of an elder in their Council that’s trapped by a will-o’-the-wisp. This elder is revealing information that jeopardizes their secret world.”

  “We can’t identify the individual spirit that’s released, like they can, when a wisp is killed,” Tombi said, brow furrowed. “Well, Annie did once with Bo, but that was an exception.”

  Chulah’s gaze involuntarily darted toward Tallulah where she stood in a corner, arms folded across her chest, full lips tugged down in a frown. This must be gut-wrenching for her. Bo, as he’d painfully discovered, was still the love of her life.

  “True. We can’t, but the Fae can. Which could also prove useful for us,” Chulah argued. How he hated bringing up the next point. “But there is one hitch.” He paused, took a deep breath and rushed on. “When they find the elder’s spirit, they intend to bind it.”

  “No way—”

  “Oh, hell no—”

  “It’s wrong—”

  Tombi spoke up over the roar of disapproval. “Told you that would be the reaction. Released spirits are sacred. We have no right to judge them or keep them from the After Life. It’s not our place.”

  Chulah held up a hand. “I’ve thought about this long and hard. Look at it this way. Is it any different than us trapping Nalusa in our sacred tree? We did what had to be done in order to protect our world from his evil. The Fae are doing the same. This elder betrayed them to Hoklonote and they have to silence him to save their own world.”

  Silence settled in the room as the men weighed his words.

  “I don’t like it. Especially helping them catch a spirit in order to kill it,” Poloma broke in.

  Chulah’s hopes sank. Poloma was influential and usually reflected what his fellow hunt
ers believed. “Bind it,” he corrected, “not kill.”

  “Why the rush to help the Fae?” Poloma continued. “You could have waited until we all had time to investigate the woman’s claims.”

  Murmurs of agreement greeted the hunter’s words among the dozen hunters crammed in Tombi’s cabin.

  Chulah pinched his lips together, refusing to repeat himself about the danger from Hoklonote. He’d anticipated a bit of resistance, but not to this degree.

  “This April must have some special means of persuasion,” Shikoba, a fellow hunter, said drily. “Don’t let your dick rule your head.”

  Tombi patted him on the back. “Understandable that she turned your head. April’s a beautiful woman...or fairy...or whatever the hell she calls herself. Just tell her we all need time before we agree to jump into a possible trap.”

  “I’ve already promised my assistance. You don’t have to join me.”

  “I’m not saying we will or we won’t,” Tombi said. “I’m saying we need time to study the situation.”

  “Study all you want. I begin the hunt with her tonight.”

  “C’mon, dude. Don’t be that way,” Poloma murmured. “We’re like family.”

  The others would back Tombi all the way. Chulah tamped down the bubble of hurt clogging his chest. What had he expected? He’d never been more than second-or third-in-command. He was alone and on the outside.

  Tallulah pushed her way to the front of the group and Chulah stiffened. Judging from the fire in her eyes, she’d be piling onto the other’s objections.

  “I spoke to your April at her shop. There’s another side to her you haven’t seen. She may be all sweetness and light around you, but she showed her ass to me. The bitch...wrongfully accused me of some hard things.”

  That was a surprise. “Like what?” he asked.

  “Not important.”

  “Yes. It is. You put her down in front of everyone and then refuse to go into the details?”

  “April is jealous of me. Okay?”

  The buzz in the room stilled and Chulah was conscious of everyone listening and watching. Could it get any more embarrassing?

  “Seems she overheard your proposal and—”

  Yep, question answered. It could definitely get more embarrassing.

  “Enough,” he interrupted quickly. “Female emotions have nothing to do with our decision on a Fae alliance.”

  “That’s the most sexist, outrageous...” Tallulah sputtered to a stop, hands on hips.

  Damn if she didn’t act like a spoiled younger sister. A romance between them would never work. He accepted that now.

  Chulah looked past Tallulah to the faces of his closest friends. Friends who shared his supernatural gifts. Friends he had joined in battle and he’d known all his life. Friends who were closer to him than family.

  He knew the risk he took. That his way of life hinged in the moment like a fragile piece of crystal on the edge of a table with a twitchy-tailed cat on the prowl. He had never broken from the tribe before, had always followed the majority-rules principle. Known as a man of few words who solidly backed Tombi and their friends. A way of existing where he’d been, if not joyous, comfortable and mostly contented. Doing his duty, doing the right thing. Good Ole Chulah, who could always be depended upon.

  To hell with that.

  “Do what you have to do,” he said stiffly. “And I’ll do as I believe right. If you change your minds, you know where to find me.”

  Jaws slackened, eyes widened, and the hunters eyed one another with raised brows.

  Except Tallulah. Her face still held its familiar scowl, but her eyes had softened and he could sense her respect, if not approval.

  Chulah turned his back on the lot of them.

  “Wait. Where are you going?”

  He recognized Tombi’s voice but kept walking. Why couldn’t they—this once—trust his judgment? Follow his lead?

  If April was a mere trickster, he’d discover it for himself—and pay the price.

  * * *

  He chose me over his friends. Me!

  April couldn’t stop stealing sideways glances at the tall warrior by her side. He packed camping supplies—rope, canteen, food and tent—efficiently and with clipped, precise movements.

  “Are you sure you aren’t upset with me?”

  “Stop asking. I told you I wasn’t.”

  He lied. His face was stoic and the suspicion in his eyes was more intense than ever. Heck, she didn’t even have to look in his eyes to see the resentment; it radiated from every cell in his body.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Stop apologizing. You’ve done nothing wrong.” He paused from the tent-folding and stared her way, brown eyes with copper flecks glinting with intensity. “Have you?”

  “No.”

  The Fae did need his help to capture Hoklonote. The elder was captured. And if working with Chulah suited her own secret agenda to restore her name and find true love, so much the better.

  “I can’t believe none of your friends would come with us. Not even one.”

  “We’ll do what we can together.”

  She should be disappointed that he was the only hunter willing to help them. Steven and the Council hadn’t been pleased a bit at the news. “It’s a start,” she had told them. Secretly, she was pleased. No—ecstatic. She would be alone with the man she loved. It couldn’t have worked out any better. With time and close proximity, he would grow to love her, too. Soon, she hoped. April fought her impatience. She’d known him for years; he’d known her for only a week.

  “April? Did you hear me?”

  “Huh? What?” she asked.

  He gave a lopsided grin. “Stupid question. Do you want a tent for tonight? I have an extra.”

  “I was hoping to share your tent.”

  Chulah’s eyes darkened. “That would work,” he drawled slowly.

  His words sounded thick, as if his tongue were swollen in his mouth. Her own throat went dry and she licked her lips. Everything was right here, right now, within her grasp. All the lonely, outcast, invisible years were history.

  She nodded her head toward the back porch. “Let’s go.” She almost winced at the eagerness in her voice. Would he think she was...immoral? A loose woman?

  Together they left his cabin and entered the woods.

  Inhabiting a human body was strange. In the Fae kingdom, she flew or glided from flower to flower without much thought. But here, her body felt plodding, heavy—leaving footprints in sandy soil, evidence that she had trod this land. The solidity of human weight, tied to the earth by gravity, left April feeling powerful instead of cumbersome.

  “Why do you keep looking at the ground?”

  April started at the sound of his voice. “Watching my footprints,” she admitted sheepishly.

  His brow furrowed and then cleared. “I take it you’ve never shifted to human form before.”

  “Not much,” she hedged, tamping down the memory of the disaster of her youth. “I like having a human body. Especially when you kiss me.”

  “I imagine you have something similar in your...um...other form?”

  “Nothing that compares to naked human touch,” she assured him.

  Leaves crunched as they proceeded deeper into the woods. April thrilled at the sound her feet produced.

  “Tell me,” Chulah said at last, “what’s it like in your fairyland? I imagine it’s all sweetness and light. All of you flitting about like tiny glowworms without many cares.”

  “It’s no paradise. The other fairies don’t trust me.”

  Chulah raised a brow and she sighed.

  “Long story short—my mother committed the ultimate sin in forsaking the Fae realm for a human lover.”

  “Doesn’t sound like such a big deal.”

  “That’s because you don’t understand their—I mean our—vanity. They consider themselves superior in every way to land-tied humans.”

  “I take it you don’t share that opinion.�
�

  If she did, she wouldn’t be in love with Earthbound ones. “I don’t.”

  Chulah pointed to a log. “Rest your legs.”

  Gratefully, she hurried to the log and sat, Chulah seating himself beside her, his thigh brushing against hers. April’s pulse accelerated, the way it always did at his touch.

  “So you’re an outcast of sorts,” he said, direct as always.

  Not for long. Not if she got him or the other shadow hunters to take care of Hoklonote. “I am. I’ve always envied the closeness of you and your friends.”

  Chulah’s face tightened and she bit her lip. Way to remind him of his friends’ refusal to cooperate in the hunt. She rushed to divert his attention. “My own kind look down on me.”

  “Then why did they send you on a mission to save their world?”

  Unease rumbled in her stomach. “I begged them. And they were aware how much I watched humans—particularly you. They figured their best success lay with me.”

  He appeared doubtful and April couldn’t blame him. She’d been so excited to be chosen, she hadn’t examined the Fae reasoning too closely. It had to have been her desperation that made them conclude she was the right one for the job.

  “We should stop talking,” he said, surveying the darkness. “If we don’t, we’ll have no luck spotting anything. The sound will warn them of our presence.”

  “There’s an easier way. We don’t have to wait for them to come to us.”

  His gaze locked on hers. “Go on.”

  “I can revert to Fae form and sing. That’ll draw the wisps close.”

  “We don’t want too many at once.”

  “Of course. I can find a stray loner and shepherd it to you.”

  He nodded. “I can see how the Fae and the hunters were once powerful allies. Our skills complement each other.”

  April stood and withdrew, touching the fairy cross crystal pendant at her throat.

  By air, at night.

  My wings take flight.

  A whirring dizziness cycloned through her brain, and the ponderous heaviness of bone and muscle dissolved to a glowing lightness of being.

  Chulah shook his head, as if stunned. “Not sure I’ll ever get used to that.”