LIAM (The Rylee Adamson Epilogues, Book 2)

by Shannon Mayer

  I did a quick spin around, seeing some of the animals who’d fought at my side creeping back in. But it was Lion I pointed at. “We need a way to cross the Veil. Now.”

  He put a splayed hand to his chest. “Why the hell are you pointing at me?”

  “Because I think that’s how you came to Seattle from wherever you’re from. You jumped the Veil using an entrance,” I said.

  He shook his head, then sighed and nodded. “It’s at the top of the Space Needle. Which is currently closed to the public. And I don’t mean with yellow tape and an overweight, old security guard we can offer a donut to so we can slip by.”

  I leaned back, remembering Lion running away in the zoo rather than try and take us out as everyone said he should have. “Couldn’t get in the other night, could you?”

  He shook his head. “No. It was guarded with ogres as well as cops. I think it’s their out, escape plan B if you will.”

  Mai nodded slowly. “I remember Pic talking about an exit strategy. I bet that was it.”

  The it being a doorway through the Veil. I was betting it would take us to the castle, a center point in the Veil that led to a multitude of places. Including the North Dakota badlands which were a short distance from home. Or at least, I was hoping the cut in the Veil would bring us to the castle. Taking the doorway, wherever it led, was our only chance, a gamble I was willing to throw all my chips on.

  “Priority number one is getting Mai to Rylee,” I said.

  Pamela nodded. “Marco, how many of us can you carry that short distance?”

  Marco looked over us. “All but one, I think. Two on my back, two in my claws is going to max me out.”

  Lion shrugged. “I’ll meet you at the Space Needle. I can go on foot and make it in no time.”

  I nodded. “I’ll go with Lion. We’ll meet the rest of you at the base of the Needle. Don’t stop for anything, Pam.”

  She gave me a grin, a flash of humor on her lips. “I never do. I did learn from Rylee, remember?”

  I snorted as I shifted into my wolf, Lion following me a split second later. I motioned for him to lead, seeing as he knew exactly where we were going. Marco lifted off as we leapt forward, Mai and Pamela on his back, and Levi held tightly in the clutches of one talon. The last thing I saw was Levi clinging to Marco, the kid’s eyes clamped shut. I wanted to tell him to take in the view, but then I recalled the flight on Ophelia. Perhaps it was best he just kept his head down.

  Lion and I raced through the streets of Seattle with more than one car hitting the brakes as we ducked and dived between them. There was only so much of the supernatural the humans could deny. A wolf the size of a small pony and a lion running down the center line of traffic? Yeah, too much for even the biggest disbelievers.

  The Space Needle was easy to see once I looked for it. Even without Lion, I’d have found my way to it as it rose above the city, easily recognizable. As we approached, I tensed, fully expecting the place to be crawling with ogres as they made a run from the disaster of their tribe.

  There were yellow tape lines and a few police officers, but no ogres, neither in sight or in scent. I glanced at Lion, but he just shrugged as we slowed and shifted between one stride and the next into human form. “Maybe they figure they can’t leave without Pic?”

  That didn’t make any sense. I frowned and looked up at the sky as Marco dropped from the top of the Needle in a straight dive. He swept his wings outward at the last second, stopping the headlong rush. Mai and Pamela jumped off his back, and Marco released Levi. The kid stumbled, his face green and his knees weak. Pamela steadied him with a hand. I saw the bright flush on his face as he pulled away from her.

  Helped by a girl . . . he was going to have to get used to that. The reality in our lives was that the women were powerhouses in their own right.

  And as liable to pull our asses out of the fire as we were to save them. Strike that, Rylee had saved me far more times than I’d saved her. I shook my head and strode toward the main entrance.

  A guard stepped up, a city cop with him.

  “Move,” I said, the word growling from my lips. The guard moved back, but the cop went for his gun. I was on him in a flash. I snapped his arm and took both weapons. The guard beside him stuttered, went white, and fell backward in a dead faint. I motioned for the others to go through the doors.

  I paused and looked back at the male Harpy. “Marco . . .”

  “No worries, Liam. I’ll meet you at home.” He bobbed his head once and then launched into the sky, turning east and disappearing in a low bank of clouds. He was one of the few males of his species left after the battle, and one of only two or three males in my pack. I needed to spend more time with him. We were lost in a sea of women with only each other to commiserate with. I smiled to myself at the image as he winged away.

  “Let’s move,” I said. “We’re about to have more company.” Already sirens blasted behind us, coming from all directions. And probably with them, the remainder of the ogre mob.

  We raced up the stairs, moving as only supernaturals could with speed and stealth unmatched. Even Pamela kept up, all her physical training holding her in good stead. Levi, on the other hand . . . he glanced up at me as the sweat ran down his face. I didn’t ask, I just picked him up and threw him over my shoulder. “No, I’m fine,” he said, the horror in his voice thick. Of course, I was making him look bad in front of a pretty girl not much younger than him. I shook my head.

  “Injuries being healed can take a lot out of you,” I said, and he relaxed and let me carry him to the top.

  We stopped at the top floor that led out to the viewing platform and restaurant. “No, we have to go higher,” Mai said.

  From the other side of the door came the pounding of feet and the grunts of ogres. I shared a glance with Lion, but he hadn’t heard them yet if his blank stare was any indication.

  “Go, all of you!” I pushed them toward the door that led to the mechanical rooms, and I could only pray a door led into the castle on the other side of the Veil.

  The door behind me rattled and I grabbed the knob as it turned, forcing it to stay shut. I had to slow the cops and ogres down, to give the rest a head start. Maybe even get Pamela and Mai through the Veil. Because I had no doubt the door to the castle would not keep us safe, and I wasn’t about to lead the cops and ogres to Rylee and the babies.

  That thought seared through me like a bolt of lightning. I lifted one of the guns I’d taken off the cop from downstairs and held it ready. I flung the door open before they could push their way through. The surprise move caught them off guard, and I was able to grab the cop in the lead by the arm. I dragged him backward and used him as a shield as I sighted down the gun over his shoulder. There were four cops and three ogres. I put the biggest of the ogres into my crosshairs. “You call them all off, or you’re going to die and I’ll ask your buddy to the right and see if he’s smarter than you.”

  The ogre snarled, showing his teeth. “You killed my brother. I will hunt you down, Wolf.”

  “Call them off, and you’ll get the chance to do that; don’t, and . . . well, I think you know how this will end.” The thing was, the weight of the gun in my hand told me all I needed to know. It was traditional, with ammo that wouldn’t act as it was supposed to. In other words, it wasn’t a gun I could depend on, but the ogre in front of me didn’t know that.

  “I am Vam. I will come for you. I promise you that.” He thumped his chest a single time with one fist, and I gave him a nod as I dragged the cop back with me.

  “Then I will watch for you, Vam. And you and I can discuss what we’re going to do about what happened here and which one of us is going to die as a result of it.”

  He snarled, but didn’t press forward. He wasn’t bold like his brother. His brother had been the leader for a reason. Hell, I didn’t even remember seeing or smelling Vam in the mob. Those who’d hurt me, those I’d fought, their scents were imprinted in my brain. None of the ogres in the Space Needle
had been in the fights.

  I backed to the next door, and it yanked open. Lion grabbed me and I shoved the cop toward the ogres and other cops trying to file into the tiny space between doors. They went down in a tangled heap of limbs and curses.

  We slammed the door shut behind us and it rattled with the sounds of multiple bullets rocketing into it. Lion and I raced up the final tiny set of stairs to a door that was barely five feet high, and opened into . . . nothing. I peered out and down. There was a slice in the air about twenty feet below the door, a glimmer of light coming through it. A single slice barely big enough for a man to fall through.

  I glanced at him, saw the grin on his face as he pushed me. “Shit!”

  I fell through the open air and twisted around as the slice in the Veil rushed up to greet me. I blinked, and was through before I truly had time to think about how bad of an idea it was. I landed with a hard thud on the rock of the castle floor in the main courtyard and didn’t move fast enough to avoid Lion. He landed on top of me, knocking the wind out of my lungs. I pushed him off and rolled to my feet. Above me, the slice in the Veil was visible, about fifteen feet in the air. High enough to stay out of the way, but if you knew where it was and could leap, you could use it.

  Pamela, Levi, and Mai stood to one side.

  And Doran strolled up behind them, a grin on his face. The piercing in his bottom lip glinted. “Well, looks like Rylee isn’t the only one bringing home new faces.”

  Mai and Levi spun, but Pamela didn’t even flinch. She was used to Doran sneaking up on us when we least expected it. Being a shaman he often had insider information as to what was going to happen. I had no doubt he’d had a vision, or whatever shit he saw when he half closed his eyes to see the future, of us landing in the castle.

  “You have a car waiting on the other side?” I asked.

  “Better, I have Ophelia. She felt bad leaving you in Seattle,” Doran said with a shrug.

  Pamela shook her head. “Then why are we standing here?”

  I pointed to the slice in the sky above us. “Because there are ogres waiting to come through there and they will follow us home like a stray dog looking for a meal.”

  She snorted and glanced at Mai. “You said ogres are afraid of heights?”

  Mai gave a tight nod. “Yes.”

  Pamela looked at me. “I had to push her through.”

  I imagined that didn’t go over well. “Then we leave it for now.”

  “Actually,” Lion drawled, his white teeth flashing. “I’d like to sit here and wait on a few of them to come through. Give them a little welcoming party, if you don’t mind.”

  I held a hand out to him and he took it. We hung onto each other, long enough to give each other a nod. I let go and turned my back on him. “Time to go, then.”

  CHAPTER 12

  THE TRIP THROUGH the castle and the mine shaft on the other side was fast with no problems for once. Ophelia took all of us to Bismarck, dropping us off in the backyard of my house.

  I hope we are not too late. Ophelia’s words were soft inside my head, and full of worry.

  “We are not too late,” I said, needing to believe the words.

  Mai ran ahead without asking, and through the door into the house like she owned the place.

  I followed, but Pamela didn’t. I paused and looked back at her, but she shook her head. “Go on. I’ll come in, in a bit. I want to talk to Marco.”

  Marco would be hours away, but if she didn’t want to talk, that was okay. I suspected her last run looking for supernaturals who’d survived the battle and the pandemic that had swept through both humans and supernaturals had not gone as well as she’d hoped.

  Hope was a good thing until it got crushed over and over.

  I found myself reluctant to hurry inside the house. Levi shuffled his feet and I understood. We were down to the wire. The chances of all three triplets surviving . . . it was not good. And I knew it. No matter that I chose to believe we still had time.

  But I was their father, the only father they knew, and I wasn’t going to be a coward now. I made myself walk inside. The back of the house was a mud room/laundry room and I stripped off my clothes and grabbed fresh ones from the laundry basket on top of the dryer.

  The smell of sickness permeated everything in the house, from the clean laundry, to the walls as I walked between the doors.

  A bustle of activity covered the true desperation of the scene in front of me. Louisa was pouring something into a cup and Mai slammed it back like a shot. Twice more she downed the liquid.

  Rylee held Kav in her arms, his skin pale, so very pale. Her eyes lifted to mine. Strain, fear, and fatigue etched into the lines around them. The lack of sleep every mother knew when their child was sick. I walked in and wrapped my arms around them both, holding them up. Giving them what I could in that moment of uncertainty.

  Mai held out her hands. “Give him to me. It will help the milk come faster if I hold him.”

  I released Rylee, but she stood, staring at Mai. I could guess at her thoughts, hell, they were written plainly to see in her eyes. “She’s with us, Rylee. I trust her.”

  “He’s my boy,” she whispered.

  Mai nodded, her eyes filling with tears. “I know. But maybe . . . he can be lucky enough to have two mothers who love him?”

  With a hiccup, Rylee handed Kav to Mai. The ogre sat in a kitchen chair and tucked him under her shirt so his face was still visible, but he was against her bare skin. He made a soft fluttering motion with his eyelids and rooted around. She shifted so he could nurse and the little monster . . . he latched on with a ferocity that made Mai wince.

  “That’s going to hurt when his teeth come in,” she said. She stroked his head as his eyelids fluttered open. Rylee sucked in a sharp breath.

  “That’s the first time he’s opened his eyes.” Rylee bolted from the room as she spoke, her vampire speed taking her in a flash. She was back before I could respond. Bam was in her arms, as listless as Kav had been only moments before.

  She and Mai traded babies, and I took Kav from Rylee. Mai set Bam to her other breast, and he did the same as Kav, latching on in seconds and pulling in the life-giving milk. Kav stared up at me, his color not quite back to normal, but his eyes were bright. He seemed to wink at me and I winked back, finally letting my guard down. I put my head to his and closed my eyes as I breathed him in. One of my boys.

  And he was going to live.

  Rylee had Rut and again she and Mai did a switch. Mai smiled up her as she took Rut. “They’re strong little buggers, aren’t they?”

  Rylee laughed, but there was a hitch in there. “Yeah, they are.” She sat by Mai and stroked Rut’s head while he nursed. Bam reached up and touched Rylee’s face and the fear that had been holding us all hostage slowly bled away. Like an abscess lanced, the healing could truly start now.

  Kav blinked both eyes, yawned, and stretched before snuggling into my arms. I wasn’t worried, though; his heart beat strong, stronger than before I’d left. I held him tightly and sat on the other side of Mai.

  She and Rylee were speaking softly, their heads almost touching as they discussed the boys and a nursing schedule. Mai took Kav from me and latched him on to her breast so she was nursing two boys at once. I stood, put a hand on her shoulder, and gave her a squeeze.

  “Welcome to the pack, Mai.”

  Her eyes shot to mine, filling with tears. “Thank you. This . . . this feels like home.”

  Rylee grinned, her eyes suspiciously wet. “That’s because it damn well is. And don’t you forget it.”

  I left them to see Marcella and Zane. Zane saw me first and let out a squeal. I scooped him up and tossed him into the air. His green eyes flashed with nothing short of pure joy and I brought him in close for a hug. He tugged on my hair and tried to jam a finger in my mouth. I laughed and crouched down to Marcella who sat on the floor, Nigel beside her.

  She held up her arms, but there was no squeal from her. Just a full cer
tainty that I was there to hold her. I scooped her up in the other arm and kissed her soft cheek.

  Rylee was right, again. This was home. This was my pack.

  And I was the Wolf.

  CHAPTER 13

  I LEFT THE BABIES in the house, watched over by Rylee’s grandparents. There were still a few things that needed dealing with—for one, Levi.

  I beckoned for Nigel—the elemental familiar—to follow me out back. Levi still stood outside, as if he didn’t dare come in. His eyes shot to mine.

  “Are the babies . . . going to make it?”

  I clapped my hands onto his shoulders. “We did it. They’re going to survive.”

  He slumped under my hands, and it was only then that I realized how much stock he’d put into coming with me. I tightened my hold on him, just a little. “Thank you, Levi. I could not have survived without you at my side.”

  He lifted his head slowly. “Really?”

  “Really.” I let him go. “But I think you should talk to Nigel about what you should be able to do, and what you might have yet to learn about your bloodline. Maybe go inside and you can talk to your sister, too.”

  He nodded and Nigel grunted. “They’re part-bloods, different than half-breeds, Wolf. What do you expect they can do?”

  I lifted an eyebrow at Levi and he flicked his hands at the jackal. Water exploded up from under the smaller canine, throwing him into the air. He yelped as he twisted twenty feet up.

  “Okay, okay! I get the point, you’re stronger than we thought. Shit, what is the mother goddess up to now?”

  Levi lowered him with a grin, and a not so subtle look over his shoulder to where Pamela sat in the vine-covered gazebo. She wasn’t watching him, much to his obvious disappointment as his shoulders slumped. Pamela’s eyes were on the sky, searching for something. Presumably Marco, but I thought now that perhaps that was just a ruse.

  “Go on.” I pushed Levi gently toward the house. He and Nigel disappeared inside and the last thing I heard was Nigel grumping.