by Gray Holborn
Soren cleared his throat and turned back towards the stove, readying his and El’s plates. Both were piled absurdly high with bacon.
El walked out with her hair wrapped tight in a towel, wordlessly grabbed a plate from Soren, and sat down on my other side. “So, what’s the plan for today?”
Her question pulled me from my embarrassment and I shoved my empty plate a few feet in front of me. “Have you guys heard from Sage or Dex this morning?” My workout, bath, and breakfast helped me feel less anxious about yesterday’s turn of events, but nothing could make me stop worrying about Sam and Luis.
Jax shook his head, his mouth full.
I hopped off the stool and began washing some of the dishes Soren used.
“Hey, don’t worry Dess. No news is good news. They’ve been in Seattle for less than a day and if something happened to Sam, we’d know about it by now.” El’s words calmed the bubble of fear that was brewing in my gut.
I nodded my head without looking at them and went back to cleaning while everyone ate their food. “Okay, so what do we do today then? I mean do we have a plan? We should have a plan, right? They always have a plan in novels and movies.”
When I turned back around, Jax was watching me with amusement in his eyes. “The Nervous Desi Babble makes its first morning appearance. I’m growing quite fond of that coping mechanism, to be honest.”
Soren’s brows came together in thought. He looked over at Jax. “I’ve been thinking. We should try to find Raifus.”
The humor melted off of Jax’s face. “Raifus?” His voice was squeakier than usual. “Man, that guy gives me the creeps.”
“He might be able to help us figure out how to track down Michael or Charlotte. Maybe even offer some insight on whatever it is Black can see and why it doesn’t always work.” Soren filled his mouth with bacon and scratched at his shadow of a beard, the hairs significantly darker than the ones on his head.
“Who’s Raifus?” El asked the question I’d been thinking. It was nice to not be the only one in the dark, for once.
“Someone who is really good at energy-seeking. Sometimes, he’s able to locate someone’s signature.” Jax paused and a dark look washed over his face. “Dude’s completely crazy though. I met him once years ago and I have no desire to repeat the encounter.”
Soren nodded towards the black ring on El’s finger. “He’s the one who made your jewelry set. The one that allowed me to track you. It works through his gift.”
“Is he a feeder or a manipulator?” My eyes scrunched as I tried to think about how he might be able to locate someone’s energy. It sounded more like witchcraft than a specific energy-focused ability.
“No one really has a clue. As far as I know, he’s the only one of his kind. Most people in the Veil don’t know about him and I only met him in a chance encounter years ago. He found me.” Soren’s words were quiet, like he was hesitant to voice them.
“Alright, when do we go? Do you know where he lives?” El hopped off the stool, ready to leave as soon as she uttered the sentence.
“Not we, El.” Soren looked up at her, his fingers curling over the rim of the table. “I don’t want you near Raifus. He’s too much of a wild card and we have no idea where his loyalties are.”
“But—”
“There’s no wiggle room on this one, El. We go without you or we don’t go at all. Those are the only two options.” Soren met her glare for a moment but went back to eating as it fizzled out into compliance.
“Well, if this guy is as shifty as you say, I don’t want you going alone either Soren. You’re not completely invincible, you know. Take Jax at least.” El picked at invisible threads in her shirt.
“Jax will stay with you, keep an eye on things. I don’t want you left without one of us by your side at all times.” Soren tilted his head in my direction without looking at me. “She can go with me.”
“You think that’s a good idea, Soren?” Jax’s jaw tensed, his usually friendly demeanor suddenly harsh. “Raifus could eat her alive. And that’s only if he’s feeling nice.”
Soren shrugged. Shrugged.
My stomach dropped down to my feet. If this guy scared even Jax, what chance would I have? Still, if this Raifus character gave us a clue to find Michael or Charlotte, I’d have to buck up. I wanted us safe and home with the whole family as soon as possible.
I cleared my throat in an attempt to rattle out any vestiges of fear. “I’ll do it.”
“Why do we even need to find Michael, aren’t we currently running from him anyway?” El’s eyes travelled between Soren and me, her face etched in worry. “On what planet is this a good idea?”
“Because we want to know where he is. Raifus might be able to lead us to whoever Michael is working with. At the very least, he could help us locate Charlotte and potentially shed some light on whatever the hell’s going on. He’s perceptive. He knows more about how our worlds work and weave together than anyone I’ve ever met, but he’ll only tell us what he wants to tell us. If I’ve learned one thing from my dealings with him, it’s that.” Soren stood up and took his plate to the sink. After a quick look at me, he turned and walk towards his bedroom. “We’ll leave in an hour.”
✽✽✽
One hour later, down to the minute, I found myself staring at the black curves of Soren’s motorcycle. He was already straddling it, his hand impatiently wavering as he held out the second helmet.
“You’re late, let’s go Black.”
“Do we really need to take this? Can’t we take the van?” I took a step back, just to make it clear I was uncomfortable with the bike if it wasn’t already glaringly obvious. It was one thing to take Michael’s bike a couple of blocks, it was another thing altogether to travel on one for hours with someone who drove like a maniac. “I mean, I’ve broken a bone by simply walking before. On a flat surface. Let’s not tempt the fates by putting me on one of these things.”
The dark visor made it almost impossible to see his eyes, but somehow I knew they would be rolling. “Black, get on. Raifus lives far, it’ll be easier and faster to get there on the bike in case there’s traffic we need to weave through.” He shoved the helmet into my stomach, not relenting until I grabbed it from him. “Plus, there’s no way in hell I’m going to drive a mom van.”
“Did you say weave through? We will not be weaving through cars like psychopaths, Soren Tesker.” I said, my voice shrill even to my own ears. I pushed the helmet firmly on my head, aware that my hair would be a disaster when I finally lifted it back off. “I’m just warning you. I bring bad luck. So don’t blame me if something disastrous happens.”
“Noted. Besides, I heal quickly so it won’t really matter. Now get on and stop stalling.” He patted the back half of the seat behind him.
I gulped. Like one of those can’t-be-real, cartoon-style gulps. Soren made me uncomfortable when he was a room away—clutching onto him for dear life would no doubt give me an anxiety attack. “Are you sure? I mean I could drive the mom van if you don’t want to.”
“Black. On. Now.” He revved the engine and faced forward, making it clear that I either hopped on now or I would be left out of the one opportunity I’d been given to do something that could be even mildly construed as helping.
“Fine.” I mumbled a few creative curse words under my breath as I straddled the bike. Whether my stomach was flipping from my fear of the trip or from Soren’s close presence, I wasn’t sure.
“Hold on.” The growl of his voice reached my ears, even with the loud sound of the engine trying to swallow it up. The thought of gripping onto Soren made me blush, so I lightly grabbed onto the extra material of his zip-up hoodie. As soon as he pulled away from the cabin though, the force of the acceleration drove away my inhibitions and I threw my arms around his torso, clinging desperately to him like a baby monkey. I pressed my face firmly into his back, trying to drown out the speeding landscapes and regain my equilibrium. The lilting chuckle spread from Soren’s body and drumme
d into my own.
He was laughing at me. Laughing. I clenched my jaw and loosened my hold lightly, pulling my head to the side so that one of my eyes could slowly open and take in the ride. I refused to be the incompetent human Soren seemed eager to label me as.
My pulse was ringing in my ears and after several calming deep breaths, a skill I picked up thanks to Jax, my body started to relax and fold less desperately around Soren’s. The ends of my braid slapped against my back as I greedily soaked in the beautiful trees surrounding us as we sped by. Soren’s cabin was secluded enough that after several miles, we still hadn’t encountered another soul on the road. I knew he was going way beyond any legal speed limit, but I crossed my fingers in hope that his supernatural abilities would give him enough balance to maneuver us safely around once we did begin to encounter traffic. Then again, maybe this was part of his elaborate plan to get me out of the picture permanently. It’d be pretty hard for El to keep me around if I was spread like a pancake against the pavement.
After two hours of riding, I was no longer afraid of the speed or the bike; instead I found myself noticing other things. Like how good the fresh scent of Soren smelled as the wind whipped it around my face. Or how hard his muscles were against my chest and fingers. At one point I found myself secretly hoping my fear would come back, if only to knock some sense into me.
Eventually, Soren pulled into a secluded, woody area and brought his bike to a stop. He parked it behind a tree, grabbed a bag from under the seat, and tossed some branches on top of it once I clumsily hopped off.
“What are you doing that for?” I tugged the helmet off and self-consciously patted down my hair. The smirk on Soren’s face confirmed my suspicions that my attempts were useless.
“Hiding the bike. I doubt we’ll encounter anyone out here, but it’s best to be prepared anyway.” He stretched his muscles out after the long trip and I had to turn away to stop myself from staring at the patch of skin that emerged between his jeans and shirt.
“Never would have pegged you as a boy scout, Soren.” I turned around, taking in the tall trees surrounding us. We spent most of the trip driving southeast, so I knew we weren’t anywhere close to Seattle. Still, I couldn’t help but hope that Sam or Luis would casually drive by to greet us. And the fact that I was missing them both after a day did nothing but highlight my unhealthy dependency issues. “What do we do now? I don’t see a house.”
“You won’t see a house unless Raifus wants you to.” He turned away from me and started walking into the forest. “For now, we walk.”
Soren spent the next twenty minutes in silence, casually sniffing and tracking as we made our way through the invisible paths. I wasn’t sure what he was looking for, but his focus and concentration made it clear he didn’t want to be interrupted with questions or conversation. Even though he was silent, he managed to stop me from falling twice without even casting a glance in my direction. I wasn’t much of a hiker.
“You need to work on your balance, Black. No wonder it was so easy for me to continuously toss you into the lake.” His fingers slid along some bark before he directed his strides a bit to the left.
I flipped him off from behind, his inability to see me infusing me with enough courage for that temporary rebellion. When I opened my mouth to respond, my face slammed into his back, the impact hard enough to land me on my ass. Whatever I was about to say was lost when I took in the open field in front of us. Too bad too, because it was totally going to be a witty and snarky comeback. Probably.
“Is this where Raifus lives?” I pushed myself up and walked into the beautiful field, the grass long and wild, but still flattened down like it had been tamed.
“No. This is where we wait.” He rifled through the bag hanging off of his arm and tossed me a water bottle before taking one for himself.
“What do you mean wait? Is Raifus even here? How will he know we are waiting to see him?” I chugged down half the bottle, surprised by my own thirst.
“He won’t be seen unless he wants to be seen. This was the last place I met him and he told me to return here if I ever needed to get ahold of him again. It’s entirely possible he won’t meet us today.” Soren dropped his bag on the ground and surveyed the land.
“So what do we now then? Do we leave and come back?” The frustration in my voice was clear, but there was no hiding it. After speeding on a bike for two hours and trying to keep up with Soren’s long legs as we hiked through a freaking forest, I was exhausted and ready for some answers.
“We train. We’ll wait a few hours while we work on your combat skills.” He paused, his gray eyes landing on me with hint of amusement. “Don’t whine, Black,” he said, cutting me off before I had a chance to say anything. “You were the one who wanted to be included on the first stealth mission. Well, sometimes stealth is boring. And I would have made you train more this afternoon anyway, so it doesn’t really matter where we do it.”
I chugged the rest of my water and squared my shoulders. “Fine, but if you work me too hard, you’re carrying me back.”
Chapter Sixteen
The next two weeks continued in a similar fashion. I woke up early, trained, and traveled to the forest to wait out Raifus and train some more. And the only thing we really had to show for it was that my ass was slowly getting accustomed to riding on the back of a bike for extended periods of time. That, and I could sort of fend off an attacker, if he was having a really, really, really off day. My descents into the lake went from occuring every time I sparred with Soren, to occurring most of the time I sparred with Soren. Jax got in on the fun too, and between training with both of them, I had little to no time or energy to worry too much about Michael and whoever else might be after us. More importantly, we hadn’t heard any bad news from Dex or Sage.
Preparing for another day of sore muscles and aches in places I didn’t even know could ache, I woke up with the sunrise ready to start with some yoga. The stretching and morning meditation was becoming my favorite part of the day. After brushing my teeth and changing into some leggings, I made my way into the living room to find Soren and Jax propping up a very tired looking El.
“What’s going on?” Usually, I was the first one up—which alone was a sign that the apocalypse was coming. I leaned against the couch and covered a laugh with a cough when I caught the glower El shot at her brother. That look was definitely genetic. Something about the identical anger in the blue and gray eyes had my lips twitching up—a rare feat this early, especially pre-coffee.
“Soren’s making me workout too.” She walked into the kitchen to start a fresh pot of coffee. “I’m not doing anything without some caffeine first though.” El rarely needed coffee, so I could tell that the sleeping beauty was affected by her lack of purpose since leaving home. Soren was probably right, training would be good for her—I kind of missed the crazy, high energy El.
“Don’t be mad, Ellie,” Jax coaxed. “It’ll be good for you to brush up on your moves. It’s not like you’ve been practicing your fighting skills the last six years. And if you have, let’s be honest, sparring with a human wouldn’t be much practice for you.” Jax turned to me with a silent apology and I tried not to take any offense. If there was a human out there who could take on an angry El, let alone a panther-shifted El, I wanted to meet them.
“I turn into a panther, Jax. Fighting skills are encoded in my DNA,” she deadpanned.
“Still, it will be good for you to work out with us anyway. Plus it will be helpful for Black to spar with a shifter to see how different abilities require different techniques.” Soren opened the door and walked outside, ready to start even if we weren’t.
“I could just spar with him though, right? I mean, El you could go back to bed if you want. Or at least give yourself some time to wake up.” El was almost as allergic to exercising as I was. I reached for the cup as she poured herself one.
El and Jax looked at each other, their eyes speaking a language I wasn’t picking up on. “Soren prefer
s not to shift around people, especially when it comes to training,” she said, mumbling over the lip of her cup.
“Why? If I turned into a badass jungle cat, I’d be showing myself off at every opportunity. Unless, and please tell me this is it, Soren turns into an embarrassingly tiny panther? Like mouse-size? In which case, the ego hit could be good for him.” I took a sip, happy that El remembered to add a ton of ice to mine. Even when she was tired, the girl nailed the friend thing.
El smiled at me before shaking her head softly and dropping eye contact. “Soren’s just,” she paused, blowing on her own coffee and taking a few cautious sips. “He’s a bit different than me. When I shift, I’m usually still myself. With Soren, the animal kind of takes control. His instincts are hyper amplified. They’re still his instincts, mind you, but if he’s sparring with someone and suddenly drops on all fours, it’s not always easy for the primitive side of his brain to distinguish between play fighting and real fighting. Rationality and empathy sort of disappear,” she looked at me with a grin, “not that there’s a whole lot of that when he’s in human form.”
“Trust me, Desi-girl, it’s something more than one of us has learned the hard way over the years. He prefers to utilize the added strength, speed, and sense perception when he’s in human form. The animal only comes out during the real ‘oh shit’ moments.” Jax nodded his head and left to find Soren and prep for our training. “Meet us outside when you finish your coffee. I’ll try to distract him long enough to give you a chance to take a few gulps.”
“Well, that explains a lot.” I smirked over at El.
“What?” One of her perfectly-groomed eyebrows arched up.
“Your obsession with meat. Soren’s too. Plus I always knew your balance was way too perfect. All this time, you’ve been making me feel like I’m clumsy, when really, you’ve had the balance of a cat the whole time. Even when you’re in your pixie-person form.”
