The Faerie Glen

by A. B Lee

  “That’s not…” Bree bit down on her annoyance.

  “Not so much fun now that the shoe is on the other foot, is it?” I asked.

  “I don’t wear shoes!” Bree snapped back.

  “You’re going to be human for a lot of your time now that you have a human mate, better get used to them.” I teased.

  “I hate you,” she growled out, “and this time I really mean I hate you!”

  “Well, I love you, and you love Robert.” I teased again to a dark glare that came from her. “Or you will…” I gave her a big grin.

  “I need chocolate.” She grumbled as she reached out and shoved Piper off of her.

  “Hey, don’t take your mating woes out on me.” Piper grumbled back.

  “Oh no!” Dougal exclaimed from somewhere up above us- before he swooped down and hovered beside me, staring at Bree’s rainbow wings. “Not another one!” He looked at me like it was an accusation and I opened my mouth to reply, but what was the point?

  I pulled back my fist and got him right in the kisser. Mated or not- I still hadn’t lost my touch or my temper.

  ~

  ~

  ~

  With all of the kerfuffle over Bree finding her mate- I found that time had slipped away from me. I had planned to go to Seth, to either tell him of our mating or to mate with him, but that wasn’t to be. It was time to prepare for the arrival of the vampires.

  The elders and children were taken to a place where they couldn’t be easily found- deep within the woods at the furthest end of our realm- where the caves sat nestled inside the deep bushes that hide them from view.

  Wild lavender and Sage had been allowed to grow in abundance to mask any scent that the vampires might have been able to pick up on, and the waterfall nearby would cover the sound of a bairn crying should the need arise.

  I once asked why, we as a community, didn’t hide out there as one, and the reply was pretty simple, we were the bait to keep the others from harm- the oldest, wisest among us, and the children would survive, even if we fell.

  With us as fodder, easy to pick off, the vampires had no need to scour the realm looking for more. We were expendable so that our people would go on- and even as I worked to help the others into their hiding place, my mind turned to thoughts of Seth.

  I knew that the pack were beginning to gather at the edge of our realm, Mirahbel had placed lookouts all along the line and word spread at how many wolves were in attendance, and they were wolves, having shifted into their beasts- ready and waiting for the sun to set on another day.

  But this wasn’t just any day, this was a solstice, and I tried to shake the new feeling of dread and doom that had replaced the old one, but it wasn’t working out so well for me.

  “Bree, go to the shelter.” I called to her from across the pond, but she just shook off my words. I could see that she had a sheathed dagger hanging from her belt, and I had to wonder what she was playing at.

  I handed the small child that I’d carried into the arms of her waiting mother, and turned to fly back towards Bree, but she was already gone.

  “Piper, what’s Bree doing with a dagger, does she mean to fight?” I demanded as I flew up beside her and scowled in my annoyance.

  “She said it was about time she grew a pair… sounds like you might have rubbed off on her after all.” Piper shrugged.

  “What’s she planning on doing, talking them to death?” I ground out, not waiting for an answer as I flew away in search of Bree.

  Night was coming to claim the day and everyone needed to be in place with all signs of the entrance to the caves looking as undisturbed as possible before the sun took flight.

  I zoomed around, flitting from one person to the next, asking if they’d seen Bree, when I came face to face with Mirahbel.

  I told her what was worrying me and she looked thoughtful, sympathetic even, but she shook her head all the same.

  “It’s too late now anyway, the doorway is about to open to the realm- anyone still out of the caves must stay until morning, we can’t risk it, Jasmine.”

  I didn’t like that answer. I didn’t like any of this. It usually felt awful, but this solstice felt worse than all of the others that I could remember combined. Maybe because I had so much more to lose this time.

  CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

  ~

  SETH

  I stood waiting, the suspense eating away at me like a hungry bear. The thought of seeing the Faeries realm, seeing my mate’s home, was like a fantasy within a dream.

  As the sun started to set and the moon took its place in the sky above us- so the veil between our world and the realm started to drop.

  There in the distance, shimmering in the last rays of the sun, their village started to appear as if through the mists of time and space, reaching out to me, beckoning me a welcome that I couldn’t ignore.

  My beast growled at the sight of the Fae that had been hovering around us the whole time as they slowly came down to land, their feet touching the earth of their own realm, and yet, they still became human- Jasmine…

  I had to see her. I had to be near to her, to protect her from the vampires that would soon be upon us, but also from herself. I knew that she would fight- it was what she was trained for, but Jasmine’s temperament would place her in harm’s way, front and centre in every battle, of that I was sure.

  I didn’t wait for the order to go up from my alpha to advance. Finlay would understand my urgency, my need to be with my mate at this time. I started running on fast paws across the land and felt Robert at my side.

  ‘Eager, brother?’ I teased him and got a heartfelt growl back as my reward.

  ‘Like you’re not.’ We raced together across the land. The shimmering, shiny tops of the buildings calling to us, our mates waited there- human now, of that I was sure.

  Behind us; I heard the many paws of my fellow wolves and were grateful for the pack turning out in such numbers to assist us in defence of the Fae realm. Finlay hadn’t made it an order, and of that I was grateful too. The wolves in attendance had all chosen to be there and that meant more to me than they would ever know.

  Out of the corner of my eye I saw Jacob- I almost lost my step as his eyes flicked towards mine. The man was running hard and fast beside us, almost leading the charge, and yet he held back, allowing Robert and I to lead the way.

  ‘What’s Jacob doing here, Fin?’ I growled into the link.

  ‘There was some snarky comment about us needing his help.’ The alpha offered back with a snort of contempt for that idea.

  ‘Do the Fae know he’s coming?’

  ‘Ha! No, should prove interesting…’ The alpha said no more.

  I reached the edge of their dwellings and sniffed the air for Jasmine’s scent. Letting my wolf lead me right to her- and as she sensed us coming, and turned towards me- she looked every inch the warrior as her queen beside her did.

  My heart lurched in my chest. My palms would have been sweaty at the sight of her, if I’d had hands instead of paws, and all I wanted to do was let my beast take her down to the ground beneath us, shift into my human form, and mate her there and then…

  Thankfully, I held myself back.

  I slowed as I neared her… but the sound of a deathly scream turned her head as she pulled her eyes from mine, and she was off on fast feet towards that scream, just as I was- clipping a damn rock with my paw as I went, not looking where I was going, but following my mate out of instinct.

  She was putting herself in harm’s way and I needed to get there first. For a human, she was fast, but I was faster.

  My beast growled and grunted its way out in front, my eyes locked with that of an attacking vampire, and the prize that he held in his arms… Bree.

  ‘Robert, your mate is in danger…’ I put my body between my mate and the bloodsucker.

  Bree held a dagger in her hand, hilt towards her and blade pointing backwards down her arm, and I knew what she was going to do before she did.

/>   Bree lifted her arm and swung her hand backwards. I didn’t follow the knife’s path as it embedded into the vampire’s side, instead I watched Bree’s eyes as she felt the blade enter another’s flesh.

  The sound of the roar of anger that left his lips was nothing compared to the roar that came from Robert’s beast as it rushed up behind me on fast paws.

  To my left; Jasmine started forward, a small sword in one hand and a dagger in the other- to my right; Robert gained on me- I was already pushing off, heading for Bree…

  Just before I got to her, another vampire swooped in from above and stole her away. The dagger dropped to the floor from her hand, and she let out another bloodcurdling scream- as the first vampire came at me, fangs and claws out, ready for the fight.

  ‘Go after your mate!’ I growled to Robert, who duly changed course and followed her screams.

  I could do nothing about Jasmine staying the course with me, although, better that than for her to take off as well where I couldn’t hope to protect her.

  The thing with vampires was- they healed too quickly for my liking. I had to take advantage of his wound, and now, before his blood healed him.

  I took the bloodsucker down under the weight of my beast, felt his claws in my flesh, ripping down the length of my sides… I opened my jaws and my wolf snapped at his throat, just as he twisted and moved to the side…

  With a flash of moonlight on the blade of Jasmine’s sword alerting me to what came next; I snatched my head back in time to open up his neck to the downward motion of her anger, and watched her end him beyond even his own bloods ability to heal him.

  “Bree!” She bit out, turning fast, and running off after Robert. I pushed up away from the corpse and moved on fast paws with her.

  In no time I was at her side, matching her step for step as she ran fast and hard. I could hear her breathing matching the pounding of her feet on the ground, and I scented the air as we went to track Robert’s path.

  Why the hell anyone would let Bree loose to fight vampires was beyond me, and yet in her eyes I had seen a warrior spirit as she had plunged her blade into the vampire’s body. I could only hope that the woman could put up a good fight without the help of her dagger- which lay behind us on the ground and not in her hand.

  ‘Robert, I’m coming up behind you, what do you see?’

  It felt like an eternity lost in silence before he spoke to me.

  ‘She’s- just gone, Seth. I can’t track the scent of her or the damn vampire. I can’t see her. I can’t hear her… she’s gone.’ I heard the desperation within his voice, the lost hope, and it tore me up inside.

  I got in front of Jasmine and slowed her down by easing back myself.

  “Seth… move…” She tried to dodge me, get around my wolf, but I kept heading her off. I wished that I could have shifted, but I needed to slow her down first.

  “Seth… damn it, move…” she was angrier this time, but she was slowing. I had half an eye on her and half on our surroundings looking for any attack that might come our way.

  I shifted back to human, almost human, I kept my claws and my fangs out, and I guess the sight of me in all my glory, naked to boot, made her slow, pull up…

  “Get out of the way…” She caught herself and tried to go around me. I reached out, snagged her around the waist and brought her back into my arms, her back against my chest. “Seth…?” I heard the uncertainty in her voice, the catch in her throat. Her body tensed against mine.

  “Bree’s vanished, gone.” I breathed out against her ear and felt her whole weight sag into me. I kept her upright while her mind spun and her footing was the last thing on her mind.

  “No…” Her breath caught in her throat, her eyes half closed, and then every inch of her snapped back to attention, and damn was she pissed.

  CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

  ~

  JAZZ

  It took me by surprise- the loss. Up until that one moment in time I had always had hope that those around me, the closest to me, would never come to harm. Not real harm- not the kind that Bree was about to endure.

  I felt my legs give way and my mind shut down from trying to do anything that needed to be done- those things that we took for granted- like breathing, and standing upright- I guess in that one moment of pure life altering grief- my mind had other things to consider.

  I felt Seth all around me- doing what I couldn’t and holding me upright- but in that one grief stricken moment, I didn’t care if I was standing, breathing- I didn’t care that grass was green that the Lochs were crystal blue- or that heaven and hell were playing a screwed up game of chess with our lives four times a year and using this realm as its battlefield-

  I wanted to curl up and die. I wanted to never see the majesty of another sunrise. How could fate be so damn cruel…?

  No. I wouldn’t lie down quietly and die. I would see the glory in another sunrise, because I was the worthy- it was those bloodsuckers that would die… all of them, every single one, by my hand… but first…

  “We need to take as many of these bloodsuckers alive as possible… I want to know what they know about where they take the Fae.”

  I knocked Seth’s hands from my body. Rising up with every last ounce of strength within me- not the physical, but the determination that this would end here tonight… they had Bree- I was going to take her back.

  “Jasmine…” Seth questioned me as I started back towards my village and the fight.

  “Tell the pack to wound, maim, but not to kill. We need them alive, Seth. Alive.” I called back over my shoulder.

  I couldn’t turn to look at him. I couldn’t risk staining his beauty with the hate that filled my mind, my eyes, and my heart.

  This night wasn’t over yet. The war was still raging in my home. By morning the realm would be veiled once more, but my fight would not be over until I found Bree and brought her home or died trying…

  ~

  ~

  ~

  “What are you doing, Jazz?” Piper practically questioned my sanity as she hovered, not in a faerie flying kind of way, but in an- ‘I don’t know what to do with this’- kind of way.

  “I need to be with the pack now, Piper.” I stalked towards the edge of the realm, once again shrouded by daylight and magic to the outside world, needing the feel of the earth beneath my feet before I spent any length of time outside my world.

  “I know you, Jazz. You’ll move heaven and hell if you can to go after Bree…”

  “I’d do it for you too.”

  “I should come with you.” Piper sighed.

  “Wouldn’t want you to chip a nail.” I shot back without thinking, but the sound of her hiss made me pull up short and turn towards her. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

  “Bree’s my friend too.”

  “I know, but I need to stay with the pack. They have prisoners…”

  “Listen to yourself, Jazz. You’re a damn Fae, not a warrior, not a wolf…”

  “I have magic, Piper, and with the flag that we gave to the pack…”

  “Do you really think the pack will waste that flag going after Bree?”

  “Yes. I do. She’s Robert’s mate.” I knew it. I felt it in every inch of my bones.

  Piper sighed again. She chewed that thought over and then nodded.

  “I want to help…”

  “With the queen injured in battle, the best thing you can do around here is to hold things together, keep Sybal and her like from getting a foothold with the elders.” I didn’t even want to consider what life would be like under Sybal’s rein if it came to pass.

  I started off again and left her behind.

  “Bring her home, Jazz.” Piper called and I gave her a backwards wave, acknowledging that I’d heard her.

  ~

  ~

  ~

  “Jasmine.” I felt Seth’s presence before he even spoke a word. My body hummed from head to human toes.

  “Have the vampires said anything?” I know i
t shouldn’t have been the first words from my lips, but I needed to know.

  “Jacob’s with them now…”

  “Jacob!” I didn’t think that was a wise decision. He might have fought with us last night, but he was still one of them.

  “Fin says if there’s any chance of getting them to talk, Jacob will do it. Fin’s with him.” Seth went to reach out to touch me but I pulled away.

  “I want to be there.”

  “No.” Seth’s answer was succinct, I had to give him that.

  “She’s my friend, my people…”

  “And a part of our pack now…”

  “Has Robert come back yet?” Seth shook his head solemnly.

  “We have people out looking for him.”

  I didn’t want to think on what they might find. The man had been in his wolf form when he’d left- so even if he wanted to shift back into his human form he wouldn’t have any clothes, money…

  “If he’s alive, he’ll be tracking his mate. We need to get back in case there’s word.” I nodded. He pointed towards a vehicle and I scoffed.

  “Err…” I frowned hard at the thought of being inside one of those beasts.

  “Have you ever ridden in one?” Seth’s hand wrapped around my arm and started to lead me towards it.

  “I’m usually swerving out of the way of the damn glass bit on the front.” I scowled at it.

  “It’ll be fine,” he assured me, but I wasn’t in the right frame of mind for all this other worldly stuff.

  “Sure, what could go wrong?” I muttered. “Why don’t you go in there and I’ll shift into my wings and…”

  “Come on, Jazz. I watched you take on vampires last night. This will be an eye opener for you.”

  “Certainly an eye opener when you’re flying and one of these things appears in front of you.” I muttered again.