Blake, Abby - Oracles' Light [PUP Squad Alpha 8] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Abby Blake

  * * * *

  Angus wasn’t certain his heart could take any more surprises.

  This morning he’d woken with his arms around an ordinary human. This afternoon he’d believed her dead, and now she was an Oracle’s receptacle, with skills never even heard of before, and a life expectancy that could very well match his own.

  It seemed that his whole world had changed in the blink of an eye.

  But then Kristen moved into his arms and he realized that on the important subjects he was still very certain. He loved this woman with all his heart.

  “Take me home,” she said tiredly. “I think we’ve all had enough fun for one day.”

  “Fun?” Dyson asked incredulously. “You think today was fun?”

  He sounded so affronted that Angus couldn’t help but smile.

  “What would you call it?” Kristen challenged. “At the end of a PUP squad assignment, when you’ve caught the bad guys, averted discovery of paranormals by humans, and nobody got injured, what would you call it?”

  Nearly every person in the room laughed quietly. Every member of PUP Squad Alpha and Deeks Security knew the emotional high of a successfully completed mission.

  “I wouldn’t exactly call it fun,” Dyson admitted grudgingly, “but I suppose I can understand the sentiment.”

  “Good,” she said with a sharp nod, as if that somehow ended the discussion.

  They bid farewell to the others, watched as most of them left via blink travel, and then turned to Kristen. Despite the fact that slip travel made Kristen violently ill—or at least that had been true this morning—with the town relocated and probably switched around they had no idea where home actually was.

  Angus raised an eyebrow, waiting for Kristen to blink them home.

  She shrugged. “I thought it would be nice to walk.”

  “But then it’s just that much longer before we make it to our bedroom,” he said in a voice that he hoped suggested endless pleasure was in their near future.

  “True,” she said with a laugh. “In that case, I think we better run.”

  She took off out the door, leaving both Dyson and Angus staring after her.

  “Life is never going to be dull,” Dyson said, shaking his head and laughing softly. A moment later, they both started running after her.

  As they managed to catch her not far from headquarters—proving that even in times of great commotion some things stayed the same—Angus realized that it didn’t matter what changes had come or what challenges the future might bring. What mattered most was that they truly loved each other.

  A long paranormal lifetime filled with happiness and laughter, change and compromise, hope and love—that was the greatest adventure anyone could ever ask for.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Angus couldn’t help but smile as he stepped into the front foyer of their home. Five months ago, when the Oracle’s receptacles had moved the town, they’d renamed it Sugarville so that it wouldn’t be confused by passing warlocks with the town that had supposedly been destroyed. Somehow the Oracle’s receptacles had managed to alter every human record of the building, planning, layout, and historical ownership of the houses that they’d moved from their original location. Only someone very familiar with the homes in Sugarvale would recognize the buildings, and since they were all laid out differently and on official records were credited to the same builders, it would not have mattered if they had. Officially speaking, Sugarville had been here all along. It even showed up on historical satellite images.

  If nothing else, it proved how truly powerful the Oracle’s receptacles had become.

  “Honey, I’m home,” he yelled as he stepped in the door. Thanks to his demon senses, he already knew where his wife was, but it was very gratifying that she blinked to his location and stepped into his arms every time. Of course, “stepped into” was a relative term since her belly had swollen to huge proportions thanks to her unexpected, but joyfully accepted, pregnancy.

  “How are my favorite people doing today?”

  “You mean apart from the fact that the triplets seem to have taken up professional wrestling?”

  He smiled as he felt one of the babies roll in her belly. “Yes, I mean apart from that?”

  “In that case, just peachy,” she said with a genuine smile. It was obvious that the pregnancy was tiring her out, but it was also plain to see that she was enjoying every moment of it. Demon pregnancies usually only lasted four months, but as with the other Oracle’s receptacles and their pregnancies, no one really knew what to expect. Although, considering how large Kristen’s belly had grown, both he and Dyson were hoping that their children would be born very soon.

  “Is Dyson around?” Angus asked.

  “Of course I am,” Dyson said as he stepped from out of the kitchen. They were currently using Kristen’s pregnancy as an excuse not to leave her alone, but even after the babies were born, they’d arranged to continue job sharing for Deeks Security. That way they got to enjoy the best of both worlds, still doing the work they both loved and able to live with and love the woman who made life worthwhile. “How did it go?”

  “As well as can be expected. You would have quite liked it, I think.”

  Dyson grimaced. “I don’t know. Attending a memorial for my own death in the line of duty doesn’t sound like something I would enjoy.”

  “Maybe not,” Angus said as he tried to hide how much the ceremony had affected him. Essentially, Benjamin, Samuel, Thomas, Adam, and Jason, as the only known surviving members of PUP Squad Alpha, had been forced to sit through a symbolic retirement of the “Alpha” title. Angus, as an independent contractor, had been invited as a courtesy.

  With Jason the only operative to remain with the PUP squads—everyone else now worked for Deeks Security, including those the Ruling Body thought were dead—retiring the “Alpha” title had been a gesture of respect from the Ruling Body. Never again would the name “PUP Squad Alpha” be used for any other PUP team.

  “How’s Jason doing?” Dyson asked. It was obvious that Dyson still wondered if he could have done more to protect his former squad partner from Victoria’s machinations. Fortunately, the answer to Dyson’s question was good news.

  “Really well,” Angus answered with a smile. “He’s been transferred to PUP Squad Echo and seems to be really happy.”

  Fortunately, Jason had been cleared of all charges once the full story of Victoria’s involvement had come to light. But even before that, Benjamin had trusted Dyson’s judgment enough to urgently track Jason down and recall him from Victoria’s phony assignment.

  Jason knew they were all alive, but had decided to stay away from Sugarville for the time being. After the accusations of being a traitor, he didn’t want to accidentally give the impression he had something to hide. It was a rather ironic outcome considering everything that had happened to the man.

  “Was Cassandra okay?” Kristen asked, showing again just what an incredible woman she was.

  Angus nodded. “She resigned with dignity, her head held high, despite what was essentially a complete failure of her supervision. I’m glad that she doesn’t know everyone survived. She never seemed capable of keeping a secret.”

  “Did she say what she’s going to do now?”

  “She refused the offer of getting her old job back and has decided to move on. I’m not sure what her plans are, but I got the impression she was going to be okay.”

  Kristen hugged him tighter, staying quiet, obviously understanding his and Dyson’s need to take a moment to let the significance of the day sink in. It was more of a political stunt than any real acknowledgement of the achievements PUP Squad Alpha had made over the years, but it was still nice to be recognized as having contributed something worth remembering.

  “Any news on Victoria?” Dyson finally asked.

  “Actually, yes.” It was such a relief to be able to close this case that a part of him didn’t want to answer any more questions. Dyson and Kristen wouldn’t
let him get away with anything less than a full explanation so he guided their wife onto the sofa, and held her close as Dyson lifted her legs onto his lap and started massaging her feet gently.

  “So?” Kristen asked encouragingly. Once they’d transferred the Oracle’s flow of information into the fountain, Kristen only retained the memories she’d specifically thought of that day. Essentially, she had memories of the memories she’d used, but no further details. In an emergency, she could recall details from the fountain, but with Victoria in custody and their unexpected family on the way, Kristen and the other Oracle’s receptacles had decided to try and do at least some things the “human” way.

  Since the Ruling Body believed all of the Oracle’s receptacles deceased, they wouldn’t have been able to do much with the information anyway. They weren’t going to risk exposing their survival—at least not yet.

  As it was, he was now faced with a woman who always wanted to know all about his day. In fact, her enthusiasm made it quite nice to come home.

  “It turns out that Tory’s grandmother was an Oracle. She spent most of her life concentrating on the images inside her head so her own children felt like they never knew her. When Tory’s mother realized that her only daughter was an Oracle and likely to end up as distracted and as disconnected as her own mother, she performed a spell to strip her of the Oracle’s gift.” Angus shook his head sadly as the worst of the story replayed in his mind. He understood a parent trying to protect their children, but what Tory’s mother had done when the spell didn’t work as expected still confused him. “Anyway, the spell ended up splitting the four-year-old Tory into two people. Tory’s mother locked Victoria away and then pretty much ignored her existence and never actually told anyone about her, not even Tory.”

  “So Victoria was old enough to know her mother’s love, only to have it withdrawn when she became the Oracle half of the original Tory?” Tears were already rolling down Kristen’s face. “That’s truly horrible. How could anyone do that to an innocent child?”

  “I don’t know, baby,” Angus said, hugging her closer. “I can only promise you that all of our children will be loved by all of their parents.” She nodded, wiping at her eyes as she smiled at him and Dyson. “According to what we’ve been able to piece together, Victoria watched from afar as Tory succeeded in everything, eventually becoming a Judiciary and winning more of her mother’s love and devotion. Somehow, in her twisted mind, Victoria decided that if Tory were an Oracle as well, that their mother would have to love them equally. She identified the fire demon, Prianna, as an Oracle simply because she had no knowledge of her.”

  “That makes sense,” Dyson said quietly. “With Victoria holding the history of both pixies and demons it would have been easy for her to identify Prianna and Emmallina as Oracles.”

  “Exactly. Twenty-seven years ago, Victoria basically whispered in the right warlock ears and created enough hysteria for them to hire the PLA to kill Prianna. When the pixie king refused the contract, she impersonated Tory and overruled him. She knew that Connistanterina was a professional assassin who wouldn’t kill the woman slowly enough for her to pass her Oracle gift to the closest paranormal, so she drugged her and gave her explicit instructions on how to do it. We believe that Victoria chose the location for Prianna’s murder because Tory was the only paranormal in the area at the time.”

  “But she wasn’t expecting Prianna to be able to pass the information to human babies,” Kristen finished for him. “And when the assassin realized what had happened, she tried to clean up the mess without Victoria knowing about it.”

  “Except that being the Oracle for pixies and demons, Victoria knew what was happening the moment the assassin did.”

  Angus nodded. “We believe that she’d already begun planning for Emmallina’s murder. Dex DeKardoin suspects Higgins getting caught was a part of that.” He smiled as if a thought had just occurred to him. “Considering that he has an accurate source of vampire information I’m fairly confident that translates to he knows Higgins didn’t send the email. We’re not really sure what Victoria intended to do to Emmallina at that point. We think she changed her plans when she discovered the Oracle’s receptacles existed. With Higgins dead and PUP Squad Alpha on leave, it was pretty easy to move Cassandra into the administrative supervisor’s position. It meant that Victoria could follow everything that PUP Squad Alpha did. We already know she arranged Jason’s assignment to make him look like a traitor so that she could follow everything happening inside the warlocks’ council.”

  “Does Victoria realize now that it’s impossible to steal an Oracle’s knowledge?” Kristen asked quietly. “It’s a gift freely given.”

  “I really don’t know if she understands anything. She is blinded by her need to make Tory like her. I don’t think she even comprehends that what she’s done is wrong,” Angus said honestly. “The Ruling Body has her in custody, but they’re still deciding on what to do. We’ve discovered that Tory and Victoria are symbiotic. If one dies so does the other. Thankfully, the Judiciaries are hesitating on an execution order because it will also kill Tory. She’s essentially an innocent in all of this.” He gave them both a crooked frown. “It was suggested that the two halves be integrated back into one whole, but Tory is understandably uncomfortable with absorbing the memories and behaviors of a conscienceless murderer.”

  “God, that must be so hard for her.”

  “It is,” Angus agreed. He knew Tory was feeling responsible for something she’d had absolutely no control over. The Ruling Body was looking to punish Tory and Victoria’s mother, not only for the spell she’d performed but also for the way she’d raised Victoria. By her actions she’d essentially created a serial killer.

  At least Victoria knew nothing of the Oracle’s receptacles’ survival, and thankfully nothing about the demons or pixies that knew them. According to all records held by the Ruling Body, the death of the Oracle’s receptacles was now merely a footnote in history, a situation they were relieved not to be called on to deal with. Officially, they condemned the warlocks for their actions. Privately, they agreed with the outcome.

  The only people who knew the Oracle’s receptacles still existed lived in this tiny little town called Sugarville. And quite frankly it suited the residents just fine. The Oracle’s receptacles had shared their skills with the humans in their group, extending their life expectancies considerably in the process. Everyone living here was now expected to live a very long paranormal lifetime.

  “So what should we do now?” Dyson asked.

  “Um…” Kristen said as she wriggled to get to a more comfortable position. She went to say something but all that came out was a deep groan. Angus froze as he waited for his wife to tell them what was happening. Dyson slid onto the floor in front of her, kneeling at her feet as he watched her face.

  “What is it, sweetheart?” he asked, sounding way calmer than Angus felt.

  “That question you asked. The one about what we should do now…” She took a deep breath, relaxing a little as she let it out slowly. “I think the babies just made the decision for us.”

  Epilogue

  Emmallina sat on the covered veranda of Jennifer, Thomas, and Adam’s home and watched her grandchildren play with the offspring of the Oracle’s receptacles. There had been so many new additions to the group in the past ten years that Emmallina could barely keep up. The backyard was filled with children’s laughter, the happy sound floating through the air as the adults stood in groups talking.

  In what Emmallina had always thought of as typically human behavior, the men had gathered around the barbecue talking and laughing as they swapped stories of the biggest fish they’d ever caught. Emmallina smiled at the ever-increasing size of the fish that supposedly got away.

  Benjamin and Samuel held Skye between them, laughing as the stories got more and more outrageous. Eventually, the conversation turned to the matter at hand as Alex and Brody argued over the best way to cook steaks. Ronan and Natha
n watched, occasionally throwing in a comment to egg on the good-natured argument. Thomas and Adam played tag with the older kids, their wolf forms and doggy antics eliciting shrieks of laughter. Jennifer watched indulgently as she cuddled their newborn son.

  Devlin chuckled softly at the chorus of disappointed young voices when he finally landed on solid ground and let his wings disappear. He’d taken every child in the yard flying twice today, much to the delight of his adoring fans. What was it about flying that fascinated paranormal children? Perhaps it was just a skill different to the ones they knew. Devlin grinned widely as Angus handed him an ice-cold beer and dragged him back to the barbecue for some grown-up time.

  Brody laughed as the children turned to him in the hopes of getting a ride on the dragon. As always, he declined. He’d once confided that with his scales so slippery he didn’t feel comfortable taking on passengers. He’d only made one exception—when he’d saved his wife and her other husband from a burning building. Jed smiled as their attention inevitably turned to him. He used his magic to manipulate and animate the paper cups and plates, his puppet-style rendition of “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” capturing the children’s attention for a little while.

  Kristen sat with her youngest daughter asleep on her lap. Her triplets—all boys—were still climbing all over the gym equipment. Dyson stepped through a slip path just in time to catch their youngest son as he fell trying to keep up with his brothers.

  West, Eric, and Hannah came into the yard carrying enough fruit salad to feed a small army. Considering how bear-shifters felt about fresh fruit, it wasn’t really surprising. But as always, Eric saw Emmallina, excused himself, and came to check how Connistanterina was doing. Emmallina knew that her daughter was doing as well as could be expected under the circumstances. Even after ten years she still blamed herself for what had happened. It was unlikely that she would ever feel differently, but the fact that she’d been cleared of any wrongdoing by three different investigative committees would hopefully one day help her come to terms with having so many years of her life stolen from her. Thankfully, Eric had found a way to permanently remove the “fireweed” markers that Victoria had inserted into many of the PLA operatives’ DNA. All of the miniaturized pixies had been cured thanks to the information they’d found in Bethany’s journal.