by JF Holland
L uc stood in the back garden, annoyed and upset, not that anyone could tell. Sophia had been to see him to tell him she was going to try to help the rogue. He stood here like the bloody statue he presently was, unable to move or communicate as she went off into danger. For the first time in years, he truly hated his curse.
Nathan and Adam had come by to pick her up, another thing he was unhappy about. The grizzlies were male sluts, and Sophia was a beautiful, single woman; or so she thought and he’d not even been able to argue with her about leaving. There he’d stood, silently cursing up a storm in his head as she walked away. He’d stood there, frozen into his cursed form, threatening everybody and his dog over what would happen to them if they didn’t keep her safe. God help them if she was hurt on their watch because there would be hell to pay if a hair on her head was out of place when he finally got to her. He’d planned on talking to her about helping him once the sun had set, but that could wait. Right now, he was more interested in her wellbeing than his curse. It was going to be a long afternoon.
Sophia, entered, what she was informed was Balin’s own home. It was larger than the houses they were currently staying in, and further out of town, more greenbelt land attached to the property. It had the look and feel of a typical country estate built at the turn of the century, although it had been modernised if the central heating and double glazing were anything to go by. She wondered why they hadn’t all moved into this property instead of being split between the two houses they presently used, but after having a quick nosey while she’d looked for a suitable room to place Davion, she’d soon figured it out. The house may be bigger, and offer them more anonymity; due to location, but it only had four bedrooms. Plus, it was further out of town, so left them out of the loop with the others. Yes, originally, they’d been using the café; Beans and Books, that Balin and Sam owned and run – to meet and share information, but after Balin’s abduction, that had all gone out of the window. And now, obviously, they refused to be too far away from him while he healed - which he was still not doing as quickly as was expected.
The grizzly twins placed the badly hurt man down on a double bed, in a spare bedroom at the back of the property. Lara stood in the doorway, biting her thumb nail; which meant she was worried. It was a habit that all the women of her family shared, blood related or not, and was a true indicator on their mental state at any given time.
“Lara, can you grab my bag please,” Sophia spoke softly and Lara blinked before straightening up from where she was leaning against the door frame staring at Davion.
“Do you think you can help him?” she asked as she picked up the bag and brought it to her, looking down at her deathly pale mate, who lay bloody and motionless on the bed.
“I don’t know, but I’ll do everything in my power,” she told her kindly, not willing to offer her false hope. She did not lie to her family. At first, she’d hated this man as much as the others, she’d seen first-hand what he’d put both Lara and Lana through. I mean, she’d raised both Lana and Maya herself after Lara and Helena had been killed by their mates. Luckily, being phoenix, they’d risen from the ashes, but it had taken them years to figure out who they were and find their way back. A phoenix never rises in the same place of her death, she also has a form of amnesia, probably a coping mechanism to allow them to cope with their new transformation before they become bombarded with everything else.
Immortals could take a lot of damage and repair themselves. Although phoenix were human, and stayed that way unless they bound to their mate. Once the binding ceremony took place they could take on their mate’s animal form. Their immortality doesn’t kick in until their death, and then only if the body is burned. Luckily for them, both Davion and Adrian; their mates, had no idea that they were phoenix. Otherwise the fires may never have been set and they wouldn’t now be here. She herself was just a plain human, well, a witch, but still human. She had a human’s lifespan, and would die and keep coming back and living her life over again and again until her mate was found. Then too, her own immortality would kick in, but she’d given up hope at this point. She was tired of waiting, and frankly, would be happy to just step off this mortal coil and rest this time. A black haired, green eyed male came to mind, but she pushed the thought away. Her mind once again on the job at hand.
Again, she looked towards the man lay unconscious on the bed. And what she found strange about it was that he’d stayed in his human form when he’d collapsed; and he’d not had the necklace on. The necklace had been a present from Maisie, one she’d used to control him and his shifting abilities. Now it was gone, he should have reverted to his natural genetics. Which meant, that normally, when a shifter was hurt, they’d shift. The process was an unconscious part of them, and it helped heal the body when they in their human form were not able to. Well, apart from jackals, but they were the only anomaly to shifters.
The grizzly twins stood leaning against the far wall, watching, unwilling to leave the women on their own in the room with the shifter.
“It would have been better if Agatha could have been here,” Lara mumbled, brow creasing.
“She was already doing another healing session on Balin when we got the call. I was going to attempt a second healing later tonight as his healing isn’t going as quickly as we or he would like. We’d decided that maybe splitting the sessions to twice a day, would speed things along.”
“Tell me about it, I think Lana is ready to swing for him,” Lara smile, before her face one again dropped, worry taking its place.
“Agatha would have come, but she was already weakened from the little she’d done on Balin.”
“I know, and I don’t mean to sound ungrateful,” Lara sighed. “I’m just worried, that’s all.”
“I know. No need to apologise,” she smiled at her. “You know I’ll do my best, but don’t expect miracles, okay?” Lara once again looked down at her mate, and shaking her head at the mess he was in, nodded her understanding. She then began to pace, her thumb nail back in her mouth and being abused by her teeth.
Sophia, prepared herself for a trying afternoon. She was hoping that the little she could do would help him, but it was a long shot. She was also worried over him not shifting, there was obviously something they were missing, but what?
Sighing, she pulled out what she’d need to begin the ceremony, the white candles she preferred for healing, and her bag of herbs. She also pulled out a small bag of rune stones and stopped. Stones in hand, her eyes lifted to the grizzly twins as a thought hit.
“Will Thomas be stopping by?”
“I’ll ask,” Nathan replied, pulling his phone from out of his pocket and putting through a call to the house the others were staying at. “John and Edwin should be at the house helping to keep the others safe while Jaden and Douglas deal with the human police.” She nodded, and turned.
“Lara, can you go find me some cleaning supplies out of the bathroom. It’s probably better if we clean him up first so we can see what we’re dealing with.”
“Thomas is due back at the house later, John said he’ll send him on here once he’s finished.” Frowning, he watched Lara come out of the bathroom, juggling hand towels, wash cloths and a few other items. “What’s all that for?” he asked.
“I need to see what I’m working with, and to do that I need to try to clean him first,” Sophia replied.
“Adam, strip to your boxers, and I’ll start the shower.” Nathan said, heading into the en-suite bathroom, pulling his t-shirt over his head.
“What are you doing?” Lara asked, standing there arms full and mouth hanging open.
“Quickest way to clean him is to shower him.”
“Oh,” she closed her mouth and rolled her eyes, dropping the towels on the large set of drawers by the window.
“I never thought of that either,” Sophia mumbled, shaking her head. “Lara, do you want to help me set out the candles while the boys clean him up?”
“Yes, anything to give me something
to do,” she replied gratefully.
***
Luc felt the last of the rays of the sun sink. As if finally sunk, his curse lifted as he unfroze and stood to his full height. Stretching out his back after being in the lowered, prone position for so long. He didn’t have a clue why he always froze as if ready to lunge at someone; hands in a clawed positon with a snarl on his face. Probably because Maisie had found it funny to make his appearance as nightmare inducing as possible.
Mouth grim, he shook his head, extended his wings. He then crouched, pushing himself upwards as he took to the air, wings flapping. Jaden appeared at the back door, just as his feet left the floor, hands on hips as he looked up at him. He raised his right hand, thumb and little finger held to the side of his face and he nodded his understanding.
Yeah, he’d call him after he’d seen for himself that Sophia was safe. She was his first; and main priority.
Veering to the left above the trees, he took off at speed, heading towards Balin’s own home on the outskirts of town. He’d not stayed in his home for a while now, the jaguar family sticking together in the houses Balin owned and rented out in the town. They’d decided it was safer to stay in numbers, and that way the rest of the town could help with hunting down Maisie, the bitch. He’d like to get his hands on her himself, he should have taken a shot at her when he’d come face to face with her the night that Jaden and Maya had bound. Now there was at least two other couples waiting to perform the binding ceremony, but too much danger surrounding them. They needed her gone so that they could at least perform the ceremonies and finally settle their life partnerships.
The house came into view, and spotting the estate in the driveway, and not the 4x4 the grizzly twins drove, his shoulders relaxed. Its absence meant the grizzly twins had left, then he worried that perhaps they’d taken Sophia with them. The images that evoked had him swearing up a storm again in his head as he landed, wings folding and heading straight for the front door. He found it locked, so with a growl, pounded on the brass knocker to gain entrance.
“Hold your horses,” he heard through the door, just before the lock and bolt was turned and Edwin stood before him. “Come in, we were just trying to figure out what to do with Sophia to help her,” he sighed, tiredly.
“What’s wrong with Sophia?” Luc demanded, eyes flashing as he stepped over the threshold.
“She’s out like a light, and as magic isn’t our forte, we are unsure how to help her,” Edwin informed him as he led the way to the back of the property. Luc didn’t take note of the building as he moved down the hallway to the last door on the right. Inside, he spotted Sophia lay curled on the bed, hair fanned out around her head, dark circles beneath the fan of her lashes as her chest rose and fell in slumber.
“She needs crystals to help cleanse her, infused tea and candles, again lit with cleansing herbs sprinkled over the flame.”
“How do you know?” Edwin asked, scratching his head as he leaned against the door frame.
“Just because I’m not overly vocal, doesn’t mean I’m not observant,” he told him, going over to the bed. “How’s the rogue?”
“He’s not a rogue,” Edwin informed him. “Davion was a prisoner.” Luc’s brow rose at this with a ‘jury’s out on that one’ look on his face and Edwin sighed.
“Sophia said she wanted to speak to Thomas about something, but he was late arriving, held up at the hospital. By the time he got here, she’d already collapsed.”
“What did she need to talk to him about?” Luc asked bending down, and pushing her hair off her face, mouth grim when he saw how pale she was.
“We don’t know, he’s in there now, checking him over.” Luc nodded. “Watch her,” his chin dipped in Sophia’s direction as he left the room and headed across the hallway to the other room; where the rogue was.
“Luc, hi,” Lara smiled tiredly as he stepped into the room.
“How’s he doing?” he asked, watching the still, silent man in the bed suspiciously.
“He’s not gained consciousness yet,” Thomas informed him, removing the stethoscope from Davion’s chest as he stood up, mouth grim.
“What’s the verdict?” Luc asked, arms crossed as he stared at the doctor.
Thomas nodded towards the door, and Lara moved towards the bed, but John stepped before her.
“Lara, we don’t know how safe he is for you to be so close to.”
“He was a prisoner, he was held captive,” she told the tiger shifter.
“That may be, but Sam and Jaden gave me my orders. Yours and Sophia’s safety come first, and if that means saving you from yourselves, so be it.” He crossed his arms, blocking her and she growled, her hair crackling as she got in the shifters face. Luc was glad to hear that Jaden and Sam had taken the possible threat of the rogue seriously. He shook his head at the scene behind him, as he and Thomas left the room to talk. He wished John luck, because the phoenix seemed to have a fiery temperament to match their nature.
Once down the hallway, the lion shifter turned to him. “He’s not healing and he’s not shifting.”
“But he’s hurt,” Luc frowned, not understanding why his body hadn’t shifted. Even unconscious, that’s what normally happened as it was their best defence when weakened. It aided in their recovery.
“What’s going on?”
“I don’t know, but there’s something not right. Do you know what Sophia wanted to talk to me about?”
“No, the only thing I knew was that Sophia was coming to help. Unfortunately, during daylight hours I’m no good to anyone,” Luc told him with a shrug.
“Damn it, I’m missing something, I know I am. I need to know what Sophia wanted to tell me. It could be important,” he murmured, distracted as he ran a hand around the back of his neck. “I’ll set him up with a saline drip for now.”
“Blood transfusion?” Luc asked.
“No,” Thomas shook his head. “Until I know what I’m dealing with and how safe he is to be around I’m not willing to tie Lara to him. I could be courting trouble if I do.”
“Oui, I agree. I will take Sophia with me, and when she wakes, I’ll ask her why she wanted to talk to you about.”
“Thank you.”
Luc dipped his head slightly, then returned to the room opposite.
Scooping Sophia up, he said his goodbyes and walked out of with her on his arms. Remembering to grab the bag which contained her things - stuff he would require to aid her - and left the building.
Chapter Thirteen
S ophia woke, disorientated. She remembered helping to heal, or, at least attempting to heal Davion. Then, she must have passed out, because she had no idea how she’d gotten here – or even where here was for that matter.
Looking around, she took note of the Queen Anne furniture in the bedroom. The rich glossy mahogany of the wood, the delicate, but intricately carved legs on the pieces. Looking up she spotted the heavy, textured material over her, then to the side, the highly-polished posts of the four-poster bed she lay on. Tilting her head backwards on the pillow, she stared at the headboard. Her eyebrows rose on her forehead as she spotted the carved lovers entwined in different poses, like depictions of the Karma Sutra.
She was no longer at Balin’s, that was for sure. Neither was she in the little bedsit she’d lived in for the last few years; since she’d faked her own death. Nor was it one of the home’s where the rest of her family had been staying for the last few months for that matter.
So, the question now - where was she?
Shuffling sideways, she pushed herself up to sit of the side of the bed. Then, blinking; as a she felt a draft on her naked legs, she looked down at what she was wearing with a frown. Her clothes had been replaced with a black, oversized man’s shirt. It was button up above her cleavage, the sleeves turned up to her elbows and when she stood, it stopped just above her knees. Shrugging, because when she pulled the neckline away she found that her underwear was still on, she stood, and went looking for a bathroom.
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The call of nature first, then she’d figure out where she was.
The first door she opened, made her shut her eyes for a moment as she was dazzled by how startling and bright the white bathroom was. Locking the door behind her, she headed for the toilet. As she sat there taking care of business, she stared at the claw foot tub on one side of the room. Above the tub, was a brass rail with a white curtain, a huge flower shaped shower head visible above the curtain as it hung from the vaulted ceiling.
Flushing the toilet, she moved to the sink, staring at her reflection in the gilded mirror above. Her hair looked like she’d been dragged through a hedge backwards, wild and dishevelled. Then, she noticed that the silver strands threaded through her once long, thick auburn hair stood out like a beacon in this lighting. The crows’ feet beside her eyes looked deeper, more noticeable also, and she traced them with a fingertip and sighed. Mouth twisting, her hands dropped and she pulled her tongue out childishly at her tired reflection. Turning on the tap, she washed her hands and splashed cold water on her face, hoping to shift the last of sleeps hold. Then smacking her lips at the sour, bitter taste of morning breath, she looked towards the toothbrush holder. There was a new one there, still in the packaging, so opening it, she squeezed a small amount of toothpaste onto the firm bristles and brushed her teeth. Once her breath no longer tasted as if it could peel paint - or knock a grown man out from fifty-paces - she wiped her hands and face on a fluffy black towel. It was the only real splash of colour, in the bathroom, apart from the dull gilding of the mirror and taps.
She left the bathroom, and looking around the bedroom she’d woken in, found no clue as to her whereabouts. There were no knick-knacks or photographs, opening the tall wardrobe, the only thing inside was empty hangars, and she frowned at that, because this felt very must like a master bedroom. Closing the door, she looked around once more, but found nothing apart from the rumpled bedding from where she’d slept. At a loss, she shrugged, but just before as she opened the door she stopped, as she spotted one of her own worn-down candles on a corner set of drawers. Turning, she also found one of her crystals on the windowsill. Frowning, she made her way out of the bedroom and onto the surprising large landing. Looking around her, all she could see were closed doors. Then, through the arched, stained glass window at the head of the stairs; immediately before her, she saw that the sun was low in the sky. It was obviously a lot later than she’d originally thought.
