Forged from Flame

by Kasey Mackenzie

  He shook his head ruefully. “Must you make this so difficult, daughter? Your defiance is only going to delay the inevitable and lead to more people’s pain.”

  “And your insufferable thirst for power you do not deserve is only going to fuel our resolve to stop you. By whatever means necessary.”

  “Let me assure you that your little Clan lacks the means necessary. You cannot possibly conceive of the powers now backing me.”

  I pursed my lips. “Are you referring to your own, to those of my youngest baby brother—who I hear is following in your evil footsteps—or the Elemental minions you’ve figured out how to falsely and much more weakly liegebond?”

  His expression grew warier. “What do you know of—” Realization lit in his eyes. “So that is how you interfered with my own bond with Nicolas; and how you found the strength to forcibly evict me on the farm. You liegebonded him.”

  I gave a careless little shrug. “Couldn’t allow you to believe you can just send spies into the heart of my territory without repercussions. And I’m only going to warn you this once, Father. Leave my people alone or suffer the consequences.”

  Wariness became something that looked suspiciously like pride. It would have melted my heart if not for the whole he was an egomaniacal psychopath thing.

  “I suppose you bonded your sister and Dorian’s little throwaway Phoenix, too.”

  “Now why would I volunteer any more information than absolutely necessary?”

  He let out a laugh. “Perhaps you are starting to learn how this game is played, after all.” His eyes widened slightly, and his body grew more alert. “You are actually foolish enough to care about them, aren’t you? Despite the fact I let them escape so they would lead me to your new hideaway. Oh, daughter. That heart of yours is truly your weakness.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Yes, yes, I get it already. You only care about yourself and that makes you so much stronger than me. When really that is actually your greatest weakness. Nobody alive gives an actual shit whether you live or die.”

  “Oh, I can think of quite a few people who care about that very much, since they will be the first to die should I perish.”

  That had my brows furrow. Did his own twisted liegebond work like that? Hikaru had committed kamikaze to stop his mother without all his liegesworn dying, too. Otherwise Jake’s parents would not be here today. Jake wouldn’t be here today.

  I became distantly aware of Jake trying to shake me awake in the real world. “Sorry, Daddy Dearest, but our time is up. Too bad you failed to make an actual point.”

  He suddenly grabbed my wrists in a painful grip I couldn’t break. Bands of Spirit curled up from the ground and further solidified his hold upon me. “Let me be brief, then, since our time is short. I may not know where exactly you are, but I do know this. What you seek, you will not find. Garcia made sure of that.”

  My turn for wariness. Try as I might, I couldn’t pull away from Garret’s Spirit-enhanced grip, so I stopped struggling and frowned at him instead. “What do you mean?”

  A small smile—way too smug for my peace of mind—curved his lips upward. “Surely Bianca suspected that Dorian knew about the map and letters Colin Zi sent her.”

  “Of course. She’s not an idiot.”

  My impatient tone had his smile growing even more smug. “Perhaps not an idiot, but she is completely susceptible to Dorian’s and my mental control.”

  “You mean she was,” I corrected sweetly.

  His jaw tightened at the reminder I’d so easily claimed someone they’d considered their own. “Yes, well, Bianca’s memories of things are not fully dependable. She doesn’t even remember everything she told us before we let her go. Or the adjustments that Dorian made to that map before we allowed her to escape.”

  I forced my face to remain smooth and my voice serene. “This little attempt to deter us from our current course will not work. I assume you think to convince us our only choice is to send Bianca and the babies to return so you can force her into a Quatrain with someone else. Not gonna happen. You see, Bianca possessed the key to only half the clues we needed.”

  He shook his head with another small smile. “Fine, then, waste your efforts there while leaving me free to act against your Clan back home.”

  That had me laughing. “You think I didn’t take precautions before leaving?”

  His brows furrowed as if he were uncertain.

  “Go ahead, Daddy Dearest. Strike against the Clan in my absence. You’ll find so many traps and wards gift-wrapped in Spirit that you’ll do the job of thinning your minions’ numbers for us!”

  “That—that’s impossible. You haven’t had the time—you couldn’t possibly have had the energy—to layer enough wards across that large of an area to make a difference.”

  I leaned forward with a fierce expression. “Because you think you see all and know all? And you believe that my siblings and Bianca were my first liegesworn to offer expanded energy and abilities for me to pull from?” They were, but he didn’t need to know I was bluffing like hell. Insistent shaking of my physical body claimed my attention, beginning to counter the effects of Garrett’s use of Spirit in my dream. “I have to go for now, but I will say this. Go ahead and try me while I’m gone. See how many people you lose.”

  Just to demonstrate that he really should stop underestimating me, I unraveled the cords of Spirit he’d tethered to my arms, gave one last wolfish smile, and followed the siren’s call of Jake waking me in the real world…

  Chapter 13

  My eyes blinked open to the discovery that I had a terrible headache thanks to the rattling Jake was currently giving my body. The sheer panic in his eyes kept me from yelling at him to stop. Once my eyes fully opened, he did just that. His breath huffed out, and he gathered me in a crushing hold nothing like my father’s attempt to pinion me inside my own dream.

  “Jesus, sweetheart, you scared the shit out of me!”

  Those were quickly becoming the words he said to me most often next to I love you.

  “I’m sorry, Jake. My father was in a snit because he couldn’t stalk me in the waking world using Spirit like he did with Bianca. So he resorted to annoying me in sleep instead.”

  Jake’s expression as he began caressing my hair grew grim but not surprised. “I remember my grandmother telling me stories about Hikaru’s mother and the nightmares she would use to taunt her enemies. It’s why they called Yukari the Night Terror.”

  I let out a breath of my own. “Well, apparently Garrett is following in her sadistic footsteps. He tried to keep me there using Spirit, but the combination of you scrambling my brains and my unraveling his bindings ruined his fun.”

  Jake pressed a kiss on my forehead. “I’d apologize for shaking you so hard, but it took over five minutes to get you to wake. I wasn’t sure whether you were seriously sick or that asshole was attacking you somehow.”

  I wrinkled my nose and tilted my head. “Not attacking so much as fishing for information and trying to intimidate me. He said we wouldn’t find what we’re seeking here, and he mentioned Colin by name. He also claimed that Garcia had tampered with Bianca’s documents and her memories as well. He basically threatened to attack Greener Pastures if we didn’t return there.”

  Jake frowned, hand continuing to stroke my bedhead hair. “Do you think he’s bluffing?”

  I flashed a grin. “Funny you mention bluffing, because I lied through my teeth and told him I’d booby-trapped the whole farm with enough Spirit to decimate his forces if he did attack.”

  He gave a loud laugh, approval glinting in his eyes. “That’s my girl. Did he believe you?”

  I shrugged. “He didn’t want to for the very valid reasons that I haven’t had much time or energy to spare. But I hinted that I might have already taken other liegesworn before Bianca, Nic, and Dia.”

  The glint in his eyes grew, as did his smile. “Oh, I bet he loved that idea.”

  “About as much as you’d expect. He couldn’t tell
whether I was bluffing, so I hopefully bought us enough time to run this damn lead down. Either he is bluffing, and we’ll find Colin here. Or he’s not, and we’ll at least have narrowed down another possibility.”

  His disgruntled look left no question as to his thoughts on that eventuality. I reached out to stroke his check, projecting as much love and support through our bond as possible. “Hopefully, he is here. Don’t give up hope yet.”

  He sighed but leaned into my touch. “And if he’s not?”

  I reprised my wolfish smile from the dream. “Then you can thank me for my forethought in only killing Dorian temporarily, because that gives us the chance to abduct him like he did my mom and torture Colin’s whereabouts out of him.”

  Jake echoed my fierce smile with one of his own, claimed my lips for a long and toe-curling kiss, and then took a few minutes to show me just how much he approved of my forethought.

  We only had those few minutes to spare thanks to Garrett’s attempt to hold me inside my dream. Our brief but passionate make-out session left me just enough time to change clothes, messily braid my hair, brush my teeth, and slip back into my boots before joining everyone else in the dining room. Isaac, Liam, and Nic had volunteered for breakfast duty. My mouth began salivating at the aromas wafting from kitchen to dining table. Who would have guessed prickly Liam had something so mundane as culinary skills? But he was definitely the head chef, with Isaac and Nic serving as very capable sous chefs.

  Dia patted the seat next to her from the chair where she was currently scarfing scrambled eggs, biscuits, sausage gravy, hash browns, and bacon. Juicy, tantalizing bacon—one of those things that brought so much pleasure to so many people. Not counting vegetarians and vegans. I plopped down next to my sister, only to have Nic set a plate heaping with similar portions before me, along with a large glass of Dr. Pepper.

  “Bless you, brother!” I said before taking a huge slug of my caffeinated beverage of choice. I did have a fondness for gourmet tea, thanks to my former flipping business partner Mrs. Castanelli, but coffee did absolutely nothing for me.

  Nic rolled his eyes but seemed pleased to have me recognize his thoughtfulness. He of course played it off in true brotherly fashion. “Entirely self-preservation, Cass. No one wants to deal with you in the morning before you get your Dr. Pepper fix.”

  Chuckles broke out around the table—and from the other cooks in the kitchen—but I just shrugged and started stuffing my face. No sense in arguing with the truth. Si Si had once bought me pajamas that read, “Just pour the caffeine and back away slowly!”

  Thinking about Si Si had me swallowing a lump in my throat along with a bite of bacon. She’d wanted to come with us, but that just hadn’t made sense for several reasons. Not the least of which being that we hadn’t wanted to bring humans with us just in case we were attacked here, hours from Clan or Freeholder reinforcements. Si Si hadn’t been thrilled to stay behind, but she’d understood. I’d helped matters by asking Jake’s family to begin preparing Si Si and my family to defend themselves as best they could using martial arts and weapons training. They could potentially at least buy themselves enough time for someone else to come to their rescue if an enemy Elemental attacked. Wen and Shan had sworn they would teach them as well as they’d once taught Jake, who admittedly kicked a whole lot of ass.

  That wasn’t nearly good enough for my peace of mind, however. I was working on other ways to help protect them—or help them protect themselves. Nothing had quite panned out yet, but that didn’t mean something wouldn’t. And on this particular point, I would not give up. There had to be a way to protect humans from magical attacks. Too bad becoming an Elemental didn’t work like being bitten by a vampire or werewolf…

  I shook my head ruefully. No way would things ever be that simple. And I wasn’t sure my family would agree to give up their humanity even if that would work.

  Spirits remained high as we Elementals with overactive metabolisms made quick work of the spread set out for us. Our three cooks ate as they worked, and several of us began the cleanup process once stuffed to the point of near discomfort. We chased the cooks out of the kitchen so they could finish eating without being in our way. I kept news of my father’s dreamtime message quiet, not wanting to spoil everyone’s current optimism just yet. I also pointedly ignored the heated glances and accidental body brushes that Nic and Liam were giving each other every chance they got.

  A half-hour later, Liam and Nic assumed Bianca-sitting duties, along with Avani to finish off their quartet of Elementals. The rest of us filed into the SUVs and headed off to the nearest library to siphon some free WIFI for the property record research I wanted to conduct. Isaac and Rhianne, accompanied by Dia, headed over to the reference section to see if they could find any books containing info on the three lakes we were researching. Jake and I settled in with our laptops at a table, along with the remaining Freeholders who also pulled out their devices.

  An hour of quiet web browsing and occasional murmured exchanges passed. I could almost pretend we were any other library patrons doing perfectly mundane research—until thoughts of my father interceded. He was sadly never far from my mind these days. Now I apparently also had to worry about him hounding my dreams. The sadistic SOB.

  Isaac, Rhianne, and Dia returned an hour later, armed with pages photocopied from books they’d dug up. Jake and I waited until we’d packed up our laptops and were huddled around the SUVs before revealing the results of our own labor. Jake and I pinpointed one lake that stood out as the only practical option. The other two lakes were owned by very popular resorts that had nonstop activities going on in the water most of the year. Colin wouldn’t have chosen a location that would have been so likely to lead to his body being discovered.

  Jake leaned against our SUV and revealed just that. “The good news is that all of the land surrounding what we’ve been calling Dragon’s Rest Lake—and the lake itself—are owned by one group.”

  Isaac caught on to the unspoken insinuation. “And the bad news is?”

  I fielded that one. “The group is an organization running a large Buddhist monastery. Their grounds are in active use pretty much 24/7.”

  Recognition lit in his eyes. “So it won’t necessarily be as easy to sneak in and search without anyone catching us as we hoped.”

  I nodded. “They don’t allow the use of mechanized watercraft in their lake, which would have been a pretty attractive lure for Colin.”

  Rhianne tilted her head, her shoulder-length black hair (that had replaced her former short, spikey hairdo) stirring in the summer wind that hinted there’d soon be a thunderstorm. Which was just what we need when heading into unknown territory. “Does the monastery offer tours to the public?” she asked.

  “Great idea,” Jake praised but shook his head. “Unfortunately, no. In fact, they have a reputation for being surprisingly reclusive and in posting No Trespassing signs that they strictly enforce. They’ve prosecuted several groups who snuck their boats onto the lake after dark.”

  Isaac pursed his lips thoughtfully but didn’t appear overly worried. Then again, his Freeholders were known as solvers of pretty much any problem that arose. They had a ton of connections, resources, and useful skills. One reason it was imperative we got them firmly on our side before my father launched his master plan.

  “We found some more info on the history of all three lakes and identified their major geological features, depths, widths, etcetera. Considering what you found about the monastery, our best bet will be to slip in after dark.”

  Jake nodded and remarked dryly, “And do a better job than those groups of partiers who got arrested.”

  “Hey,” I said in my best perky cheerleader voice. “The papers only reported about the groups that got caught. Surely there were some the monks never found out about.”

  Dia gave a valiant nod, although I couldn’t tell whether it was sincere or feigned. “That’s true. And even if there weren’t any groups that escaped detection, I’m s
ure that none of them were Elementals. And I know for damned sure they didn’t have a Cassidy up their sleeves.”

  I blinked and tried to parse her meaning. “A Cassidy up their sleeves?”

  She waved her hands. “Yeah, you know. A Mindbending Phoenix who can help conceal us with Spirit. You’re like our secret weapon they’ll never see coming. Literally.”

  I forced a grin because she seemed to expect it, and she rewarded me with a wink.

  “If we’re going to depend on my fledgling concealment abilities, I recommend we keep the extraction team small. We can place everyone else near enough to back us up if necessary. I won’t have a large enough range to conceal everyone. I’m also not sure how long I’ll be able to maintain a concealment spell while we’re on the move. It takes a lot out of me.”

  Jake nodded. “Understood. I agree about splitting forces and having the others wait on the outskirts of the property.”

  Isaac echoed his nod. “I recommend we keep it down to Jake, Cass, Rhianne, Dia, and me. That’s both Selkies and one each of the other Elementals.”

  Micah, the second Clan Zi Gryphon we’d brought, tapped his toes against the parking lot asphalt. “We should head back to the house to rest and prepare portable refreshments if you’re going to have to use your concealment abilities. You don’t want to run out of energy at the wrong moment. Plus we have hours to kill if we’re waiting until dark to start.”

  “Good point,” I replied. “We need to change to all black clothes as well. The less reflective if I have to drop my spell, the better.”

  We piled into the SUV and headed out to make our preparations. Overall, I actually felt pretty good about our chances now that we had more information. True that the risk of discovery was higher with an inhabited monastic enclave than unoccupied summer homes. But the physical danger was definitely way lower than if we were storming Garrett’s headquarters. I mean, really, how dangerous could a bunch of peace-loving Buddhist monks be?