by Brandi Bell
"I can't wait to do things to you. This will all settle down soon, and I'll keep my promise," he whispers.
My stomach clinches with those words. I've been so wrapped up in the stress and running from the guys, that I've been ignoring my feelings. Grady is going to keep reminding me I think.
The brownies have saddled the pookas so we climb on and ride to the portal. I wonder how much time has passed in the other realm while we were here this time. I'm sad my mom and dad are staying behind, but happy that he is awake at least.
"Earth to, Jade," Elias says waving his hand in front of my face.
We're stopped at the portal already. I had been really spaced out.
"Sorry, I was just thinking," I say.
"You've always been able to lose yourself to your thoughts," my dad says wistfully.
"Are you guys ready?" Beck asks.
The three pookas that my mom, dad, and Beck were riding just stand around. Zeus, Harley, and Zombie take their dog form, determined to come with us.
"I'll try not to leave you in the storage room this time," I tell Zeus.
He leans on me, his tail wagging. Beck walks up to the stone wall, chants, and the door appears. We gather hands and walk through. This time it seems a lot shorter to get to the other side. Beck opens the door, and we are back in the storeroom. We quickly change into the clothes for the human realm. Eunice sticks her head in through the doorway.
"Everything ok? I thought you were heading back to the castle," she says confused.
"We did, but we have to find one more person, then we'll go back again," I tell her.
"Good thing you came back seconds after you left then. The car's still here," she replies.
The pookas follow us through the store this time. Eunice raises an eyebrow, but says nothing.
Beck goes for the driver’s door, so the rest of us load up in the back of the limo. He lowers the glass between the front and back.
"Where to first?" he asks.
"Take us home first, please," my mom requests.
"On it, ma'am," Beck answers.
Zeus sits on the seat next to me, happy as can be. I'm secretly happy they can come with us. He's become an awesome security blanket in the past few days. We arrive at my parents’ house before I'm ready. I don't really want to meet another man I'm supposed to have a bond with. I get out to give hugs and kisses. We say our goodbyes too fast, then I'm back in the car on my way to meet my fourth mate.
"What can you tell me about your family?" I ask Elias.
"Well, my younger brother Mica, and sister Okami live at home with my parents," he says. "My older brother Foster shares an apartment with me. That's where we're headed."
Foster, I think. It's a different name. I wonder if he's anything like Elias. I hope he's not a jerk.
"We're here," Elias says, pulling me out of my thoughts.
I get out of the car, Zeus glued to my side. I follow Elias up to the apartment building. We stay on the first floor, then he opens the third door. My heart is pounding out of my chest, palms are sweating, and my stomach is in my throat. I can feel the pull from here, it makes me want to run the opposite way.
"Jade, I can smell your fear from here. I promise he's a nice guy," Elias tries to comfort me.
Elias walks in the apartment and I follow closely. Zeus leans into me trying to comfort me again. I scratch behind his ears, absentmindedly.
"Foster, get out here," he hollers.
"What do you want?" Foster replies.
"Why don't you come see," Elias says with a grin.
"Werewolves recognize their mates when they first see them," Grady whispers in my ear.
Foster walks out of the bedroom and stops the instant he sees me. I hold my breath, he is hot, and not wearing a shirt. His pants are riding low showing his V. I pull my eyes up, he has a hairy chest, which I oddly find sexy. He has black hair and gorgeous blue eyes. His facial hair is trimmed close, but still a full beard.
"What are you doing with my mate," Foster growls at Elias.
"It's a long story, bro, put a shirt on. We have things to do and not enough time to do it. I'll explain on the way," he tells Foster.
"What's your name?" Foster asks me.
"Jade," I reply.
"Nice to finally meet you, Jade," he says, staring at me. It feels like he's trying to see into my soul.
"Why are there gold colored cords coming out of you?" he asks his eyebrows lifted in surprise.
"Um that's a long story, but they are connected to all of my mates," I say, shyly.
"Let me get a shirt on so we can go," he says then walks back in the bedroom.
A minute later, he walks back out pulling a tight black t-shirt over his head. We go out to the car where Beck and Grady are waiting.
"What's with all the huge dogs?" Foster asks.
"That's part of what we need to explain," I tell him. "So you recognized I was your mate the second you laid eyes on me, I have three other mates. My sister Ruby has three mates of her own."
"Oh, I know about Ruby, she's Elias's mate," he pauses, "but how can a witch and a vampire be sisters?"
"Our parents did a spell to have a baby together and we are the result. What you don't know is Ruby and I share a body. I'm in charge during the day, she's in charge at night," I explain.
"That's a lot to process," he says, a baffled look on his face.
"Right?" Elias chimes in.
"Anyways we had to go to this other realm called Caestia, to find someone to cure my dad when he was cursed. While we were there we learned we were all part of a prophecy. Ruby and I can get our own bodies, but we need all of our mates there for it to happen," I tell him.
"So we're going to travel to another realm where they are going to magically separate you, if all of your mates are there," he repeats skeptically.
"Oh, and these big dogs are actually pookas, they can change into horses, or rabbits. These three here, chose the three of us, so they follow us everywhere," I tell him.
"Ok, it all sounds insane, but if my brother's going, I'll go too," he says.
We arrive at the tea shop to go back. Eunice opens the door, smiling.
"I'm just heading out for lunch, you have good timing," she says.
We enter the shop and she locks the door behind us. We make our way to the storeroom. We promptly start undressing to put on the clothes for Caestia.
"Why the hell are you all undressing," Foster yells.
"Oh, yeah, you need to change into these," Elias says handing him clothes.
"This day just keeps getting weirder," Foster mumbles, "If this is an elaborate prank, I'm going to skin you alive."
"It's not a prank, but I know how weird all of this sounds," I tell him.
"I'm following you, I think I've lost my mind, I don't know why, but I am," he says.
Beck steps up to the door and starts chanting. He opens the door to the portal and holds out his hand and Elias grabs it.
"We all have to hold hands until we are out the other side to be safe," I tell Foster.
He grabs Elias's hand, I grab his, and Grady brings up the rear. We head through the portal, it seems to take forever this time. We finally come out the other side. I'm shocked to see everyone we left behind standing there.
"What's going on?" I ask
"You guys left two weeks ago," Seamus says, scooping me up in a hug.
I freeze, not used to him trying to show affection. He lets go and steps back.
"We knew it was the portal, but these four were driving us nuts, so we came to wait for you guys," Flynn says, rolling his eyes.
I laugh at that. I could picture the four guys bugging them every five minutes.
"How long have you been waiting?" I ask.
"We just arrived," Talia answers.
"Let me introduce you, everyone this is Foster. Foster, this is everyone," Elias says smirking.
"I'm Talia, you'll learn everyone's names by the end of this I'm sure," she says. "Let's get back
to the castle so we can update them on what we've learned."
The pookas transform back into their horse form and I start saddling Zeus. I look over at Foster and the pooka my parents rode out here is following him around. He looks scared of it.
"Awe, Foster, that pooka is trying to choose you. Don't run away from her," I say.
"She's going to go everywhere with me like yours does?" he asks.
"Yup, and it's actually pretty nice," Grady answers.
"Ok, I'll ride you," he says to the pooka. "I'm not used to horses not running from me."
We make our way back to the castle. I keep sneaking glances at all four men. How am I going to juggle relationships with all of them? I don't know how Ruby does it with three. I decide to pull up my big girl panties and just throw myself into it and see what happens.
We arrive at the castle, the brownies are waiting to take care of the pookas. They get the saddles off and nine of the pookas transform to dogs. My jaw drops.
"Oh yeah, Liam and I had pookas choose us today," Felix says chuckling.
"Stupid newcomers get pookas," Flynn mutters quietly. I laugh, and his face turns bright red.
We go inside the castle, I follow the group to the library. I somehow manage to stay focused, and sit at the table across from Dorian.
"We've worked on decoding the rest of the book. There is more to it than just gathering royals from the four kingdoms," Dorian explains. "There are specific plants, and stones native to each kingdom that must be collected for the spell."
"So you're saying we have to travel through all four kingdoms again?" I ask.
"Do you like to state the obvious?" Flynn asks, in a sarcastic tone.
"Do you like to ask rhetorical questions?" Foster shoots back at him.
"Quit being childish, all of you," Talia demands.
"Actually, no, Jade, each royal that is coming has agreed to bring them when they come. You only need to go get the Summer flower and stone," she tells me.
"Who all is coming with me?" I say looking around at the men.
"We all are," Grady says confidently.
"Hate to break it to you, but Talia doesn't have time for all this nonsense. You will be on your own," Flynn growls at us.
"Enough! What is your problem, Flynn?" Talia shouts at him.
"It's all about what these guys want lately," he growls at her.
"Not getting laid lately?" Felix taunts him.
Flynn lunges for Felix, Dorian catches him, while Beck steps between the two men.
"Stop acting childish," Dorian booms at Flynn.
"You quit taunting him," Talia says pointing at Felix.
"Yes, ma'am," Felix says looking ashamed.
"This isn't about them, Flynn, it's about saving Caestia from shrinking further, and opening the portals to the other worlds," she tells him. "Why are you acting like this?"
"I don't know. I'm just angry," he says, then storms out of the room.
Beck starts to follow him, "Leave him be," Talia tells him.
"Let's get back down to business," Dorian speaks up. "Like I was saying, you need a specific flower and stone from each kingdom. Since you only need to get Summer I’ve made a list of where to find them.”
"Does your list include descriptions?" I ask, worried that I won't know what to look for.
"Yes, as best as I could describe them at least," he replies.
"Thank you for that," I say, reaching for the paper he holds up for me.
"You should get going," he tells us.
"Sounds good to me. Let's get going so we can get back," I say.
"Keep your contact stone on you, and contact me if you need any help," Talia says as she pulls me into a hug.
"I will," I reply, smiling.
We leave the library, the hallway is busy. It grows silent and everyone stares at us. I forgot that seeing this many pookas following people around must be very strange for them to see. We go outside, and there is a group of brownies ready to saddle our pookas for us. Zeus transforms, along with all our other pookas, they get saddles on, and we head to find the stone and flower.
I take the list out of my pocket, the flower is a dahlia. I know what this is, I get excited. The stone is Sugilite, which I've never heard of. It says it's purple so hopefully it's not too hard to find.
"It says here the stone is Sugilite and can be found in the hills to the north. It's purple, so hopefully the raw stones aren't hard to find," I tell the group.
"Actually, my dear, gemstones in Caestia look like polished stones in the human realm," Antoine explains.
"Well hopefully we won't have to dig long to find them then," I say.
"Oh no, we don't dig into the land here!" Antoine exclaims. "We use what we find. It could be laying in the water, or just on the ground."
"Oh, sorry," I reply.
"Let's get going so we can get this over with," Foster says.
"Impatient new guy?" Felix asks him.
"This is all a bit weird," Foster answers.
"That is an understatement," Liam chimes in.
"Let's go get this stone so we can find the flower next," I say.
"What flower is it, lass?” Seamus asks.
"A dahlia," I answer.
"At least it's something I've heard of," Grady says.
We continue riding in silence, or I was silent and lost in thought. I went through everything that has happened recently, and it was really hard to believe. Zeus stops moving, we are at a creek near the hills.
"Is the stone purple?" Felix asks.
"We already went over this earlier, it is," Foster says rolling his eyes.
"No need to be nasty," I tell him.
"Yes, sweetie," he replies, with a lopsided grin.
"If you are done making googly eyes at each other, look what I found," Felix says.
"Oh, I hope it's the right stone," I say excitedly.
"It fits the description. Let's go find some dahlias now," Antoine replies.
I look at the map, the dahlias grow in three places near the castle. The closest is near a town called Summervale. I wonder if it matters what color we get.
"I'm going to contact Dorian really quick," I tell the group.
"Why?" Grady asks.
"I want to make sure the dahlia color doesn't matter," I answer.
"That is good thinking," Liam says.
I pull out the contact stone, hold it in my hand, and think of Dorian. I show up in the room with him.
"It's very odd for you to be riding a pooka while we talk," he says.
"I just have a quick question," I tell him.
"Proceed," he replies.
"Does it say anything about the color of the dahlia?" I ask.
"That's a good question, let me double check," he answers.
He walks over to a desk and sits down with the book and mirror. I wait while he reads.
"It says nothing about any flower colors," he confirms.
"Great, thanks. We'll be back as soon as we get the dahlia," I tell him.
"Good, only you and Akashka are missing now." he says.
I put the contact stone away. Everyone was staring at me.
"Color doesn't matter, just Akashka and us need to get to the castle now," I repeat from Dorian.
"Let's go to Summervale, then we'll be back to the castle just after dark," Antoine speaks up.
We head in the direction shown on the map. I decided to check in on Akashka, worried she might not make it, with who her dad is. I grab the contact stone again and picture her face.
"Dorian is right, it is weird talking to someone riding a pooka," I say, watching her sway back and forth.
"How is everything going? Do you need something?" Akashka asks me.
"No, I was just checking on you. We're getting the Summer flower then heading back to the castle. How are things going for you?" I ask.
"Good, we just entered Summer, so we should be at the castle in a few hours," she says with a smile.
"Great, I'
ll see you then," I reply with a smile.
I place the contact stone back in my pocket. We’re heading south to Summervale, and I get a strange feeling up my spine. The pookas feel it too, they all stop.
“What’s that?” I ask Antoine.
“The queen just passed succession to Talia and returned to the land fully,” he said in awe.
“I need to contact Talia and make sure she’s ok,” I say, panicking.
“She’s fine, my dear,” Antoine says.
“Her mother is not dead, but rather has chosen to keep her consciousness with the land,” he explains. “It’s not a bad thing with a fae as old as she.”
“I’m still going to contact Talia,” I say stubbornly.
“Tell her I say congratulations on becoming queen,” he replies.
I pull the contact stone out of my pocket and concentrate on Talia.
“Hi, Jade. I’m guessing you felt my mother take to the land?” she asks.
“I did. Antoine says congratulations on becoming queen,” I reply.
“Tell him thank you. It’s a good thing, Jade, it will strengthen the kingdom this way,” she tells me.
“As long as you’re ok,” I reply.
“I am. Are you close to returning?” she asks.
“We’re heading to Summervale to get the dahlia, then we’ll be back,” I tell her.
“We’ll see you then,” she says with a smile.
I break contact with the stone, and place it back in my pocket. I feel a lot better hearing Talia is ok with how things are going.
“She says thank you,” I tell Antoine.
“I know it’s different than how things work where you were raised,” he replies.
“I see a town ahead, is that Summervale?” Elias interrupts.
“It is, we’re close,” Antoine answers.
“Thank the goddess,” Grady says, “My ass can’t handle much more time in the saddle.”
“You didn’t complain when we were looking for someone to cure my dad,” I tease him.
“I didn’t want to upset you,” he says seriously.
“Gag me, can you two quit until after this stuff is done?” Felix says, “She’s like Ruby, but sweet and innocent.”
“It won’t be long and they’ll be in two bodies, hopefully,” Seamus replies.
We run into a field full of dahlias, right before the town. I get excited, looking for a purple one to match the stone. I know Dorian says it doesn’t matter, but it seems right to match them.
