“We told you before, boy, if you were to come back here, there would be consequences,” the bearded man says. “What do you have to say to that?”
Jacob, seeing the danger he’s in, still can’t help but hold back a smirk. “I was told I was not welcome in the lands near the loch. I wouldn’t say I am. I’m clearly at least a half-hour’s walk from the shores. More, if we go by your pace.”
Angus’s face reddens, and he nods to his clansmen . . . I guess my clansmen as well. “Take him. We’ll teach him a lesson he won’t forget before letting him loose.”
“No!” I yell as the other five men surround Jacob, one of them kicking him hard in the chin and sending him tumbling. Jacob’s Fae protection doesn’t prevent him from getting a massive beating, and when I try to intervene, one of the clansmen slings me away to tumble to the ground.
“Stop, Moyna!” Angus hisses. “What would your father and mother say, being caught with this, this . . . boy?”
The beating stops, and the Highlanders pick up Jacob’s limp body, his head hanging and dripping sheets of blood from pulped-up lips and more. “Angus . . .”
The chieftain looks down at Jacob, who raises his head painfully and grins. “You know what they’ll say?”
“What, boy?”
“Probably the same thing they’ll say about you when they find out what you do with your sheep.”
This time, Angus kicks Jacob clean under the chin, snapping his head back. I hurl myself at his attackers, but a hard hand catches me in the side of the face and . . .
Shift.
I wake up to see Jacob, older and smiling, standing at my window. It’s dark outside, and my body aches in that pleasant way that tells me what we’ve been up to. I wish I’d gotten into this body just a few minutes earlier.
“Mmm, do you have to leave?” I ask, reaching down and rubbing my sore ass. “You know how to make it feel amazing. I need more.”
“Aye, my sweet girl, but even if you have an ass that could raise a dead man, if your father catches me in your room, I would certainly be putting that theory to the test.”
I chuckle and watch as Jacob glances out the window again, going to raise it before stopping. “Wait . . . who’s that?”
I get out of bed and look down to smile as I see the fourth face that means so much to me in the garden below, reading a book by candlelight. “Tyler.”
“Ah, your little brother,” Jacob says, smirking. “The book lover.”
“Hey,” I protest, and Jacob laughs quietly.
“Apologies, sweet girl, but your sister did say she had a book-loving younger brother. She didn’t mention you, but probably because she knew if I’d heard of your beauty, I would have just brought my little human realm gift directly to you.”
I laugh and turn his face to mine, kissing him. “He’s smart, Jacob. Not a book lover.”
“Hmph,” Jacob says but pulls away when his ears detect movement outside the room. “In either case, sweet girl, I must be going. I shall see you again, I hope.”
In a flash, Jacob opens the window and leaps out, but just as he does, the toe of his boot catches on the window sash. It doesn’t throw him off a lot, but it’s enough to send him tumbling to the uneven ground outside. He rolls nimbly but creates enough of a racket that Tyler is up, and when Jacob gets to his feet, Tyler’s there to tackle him.
“What are you—”
Jacob’s answer is a wicked elbow to Tyler’s cheekbone that snaps his head back, but Tyler hangs on doggedly until a deep voice booms out, “Halt!”
I look up to see a man, obviously Tyler’s father, by the look of his face, but with shoulders nearly as broad as Cole’s, staring down at the two of them. He’s armed, a beautiful sword drawn and resting against Jacob’s neck, but I can see the pain in his movements, the results of old, traumatic battle wounds. “Now, I don’t know who you are or why my son and you are fighting, but you are in my back yard at night. I think I’m owed an explanation.”
“This man came tumbling out of the window, and I thought he might have robbed us, so—”
“Father!” I call out from the window, waving. “Apologies. Jacob was here to see our sister and wanted to be romantic. Unfortunately for him, he picked the wrong window and found himself making a hasty exit.”
Jacob looks at me with grateful eyes while Tyler looks at him with newfound respect. “You . . . were here to see my sister?”
“Aye, but I made a mistake. I apologize for the elbow,” he says, relief evident in his voice as the sword’s lifted from his neck. “Now, if you don’t mind, I think—”
“You might need to compensate us for breaking in and injuring my son,” our father says, looking Jacob over. “Come with me, young man. I may just have a proposal you’ll find . . . bearable. Unless you’d like me to escort you to the Guard station?”
Jacob shakes his head, following our father inside. I hurry downstairs and meet Tyler, who looks ashamed. “I’m sorry, Teagan. If I’d known—”
“You did the right thing, Tyler,” I reply, looking at his cheek. “Come on, we’ll get that taken care of.”
I turn to go, but Tyler stops, his shoulders shaking as I realize he’s starting to cry. It’s not just pain. He’s ashamed of crying in front of his sister and it probably just makes it worse. Instead of saying anything harsh, which he’s probably expecting, I gather him in tightly, marveling at how for once, he doesn’t tower over me. “Shh . . . it’s okay.”
“I–I’m such a baby,” he sobs, touching his face and hissing where Jacob split him open. “And after what Father’s been through—”
“He loves you, Tyler. As do I,” I tell him softly. “You are wonderful and beautiful, complete on your own.”
Tyler shakes his head, tears falling. “I wish . . . I want to be a man you can be proud to call your brother. I’ve seen the way you don’t really talk about me when your friends are around.”
I swallow the lump in my throat, wishing I could explain to him that his sister probably does love him, but big sisters are almost universally mean to little brothers. “Tyler, look at me. I love you. I don’t say it enough, but you’re a fine man on your own. But if you want to . . . I think I have an idea. I’ll talk with Father about it, but that man, Jacob . . .”
“Yes?”
I smile, stroking Tyler’s cheek. “I think you two might get to know each other very well. Just promise me one thing? No matter what, keep being the sweet little brother with a goopy romantic heart for me?”
Tyler nods, taking my hand. “I promise. I love you, Teagan.”
“And I love you. Now, let’s—”
Shift.
Chapter 34
Eve
The squeal of my boots on the ground sounds different, and when I open my eyes again, I’m in a place that I’ve never seen before. Everything’s twisted, not dead, per se, but like reality was grabbed and given just a little yank to the side before someone took the laws of optics and tossed them in Salvador Dali’s blender. It’s disturbing because I can’t quite put a finger on it. There are millions of little offenses to my senses that make my Fae side want to blanch.
It’s in the way that the grass seems to be just the wrong shade of green, and the trees are all twisted into shapes that look like they’re screaming. Of course, a lot of it could be the steam that isn’t quite steam that drifts from the ground in a constant haze but doesn’t seem to make the air anything but bone-dry.
“Well, I’ve been worse places.”
I look to see Jacob, my Jacob, standing next to me, Tyler next to him while Cole and Noah are on my other side. All of them are still close, and I feel tears spring to my eyes, grateful for the lens I’ve been granted into their lives.
“How so?” I ask, my voice hoarse.
“I’ve been to Detroit,” Jacob quips, grinning before seeing me. “Eve? What’s wrong?”
I shake my head, wiping at my tears. “Nothing. I just . . . the dark gave me a little gift before it dropped me
here with you guys. I’m grateful, that’s all.”
“Oh?” Noah asks curiously. “What gift?”
I think about lying or about deflecting things, but there’s been too much of that recently. “I got to see you through the eyes of another. L’Sandrya’s. Gwyn’s. Moyna’s. Teagan’s.”
The names impact with each of my Guardians, and Cole blinks, wiping at his eye. “Gwyn . . . my first lover.”
“I’m not jealous,” I whisper, hugging him. “It let me see you in another time, another you. It . . . I thank the Dark for that gift. It spoke with me, and I think it wants to help us.”
Noah lifts an eyebrow, and I’m reminded of the image from my visions. “Trust me, Noah. You guys are my heart, but I’m also yours. Isn’t that how it works?”
Noah nods and hums. “Then, what now?”
“Now?” I ask, looking around. In the distance, I see dust rising and point. “Now, it looks like we get to chase.”
“I’ll scout,” Tyler says quickly, shifting and vaulting into the air. He quickly returns, changing and putting his clothes on. “The Dark Rider, he’s mounted with the emperor. It looks like he’s on a demon or something.”
“Well, then,” I reply, flexing my fingers and hoping the dark really is on my side. “Let’s see how my powers work around here.”
If the feeling of my powers flowing through me when I unleashed everything on the Dark Rider in the Vale felt good, this is like the intensity of my first orgasm as I rise into the air, my Guardians with me. I can feel the fire rising from the corners of my eyes as we fly, my hair standing out and purplish-green crackles of fire sparking from the tips to create a halo around my head.
“Whoa,” Tyler whispers as he glances over. “You look like you’ve got wings coming out of your back, Eve.”
“Dark Angel it is then . . . Angel for short. Instead of Princess,” I growl, watching as we close the distance with the Dark Rider. He glances over his shoulder, and I swear I can read the grin on his face as he urges the demon he’s riding faster. In the distance, I can see a tower rising out of the twisted landscape, and I unleash a bolt of lightning after him. It smacks into the ground in front of him, and the Dark Rider stops, dismounting while holding the struggling Kaelen.
I can’t hear what he says to the demon, but it turns and launches itself into the sky at us while the Dark Rider grabs Kaelen and flies away on his own power, green fire lighting his path through the sky.
“Demon Lord!” Cole calls as the creature closes, fire erupting from its throat. We’re engulfed, fire wrapping around the bubble I’ve formed for flying and driving us to the ground as I have to divert my attention to protecting us from being demonically barbecued.
The ground comes up hard, and we bounce before I can control us, my field becoming a dome that protects us. Unfortunately, I can’t see out because of the green flames obliterating everything. “You didn’t tell me these fuckers could spit fire!”
“Uhm, he is a demon lord?” Tyler asks as he draws his bow. He’s only got one shot left, but he’s ready to take it as soon as he has a chance.
“If anyone’s got ideas, now’s the time!” Jacob grunts, kneeling. I know what he means. My field might be preventing the fire from reaching our skin, but it isn’t stopping the heat from seeping in or the air getting sucked out. My chest starts to ache, and I reach down deep inside me.
“Be gone!” I bellow, my power flying out in the direction that I think the enemy is. It erupts, a brilliant greenish-white ball of power that streaks out, clipping the demon lord’s wing and sending it cartwheeling into the ground, screaming. “Cole, now!”
Cole’s already read my mind, leaping through the air and burying his huge sword between the demon’s eyes. It screams once, a piercing wail that makes me want to cover my ears before shuddering once and flopping over.
In the silence that follows, Cole leaps free of the body, flicking the blood and gore off his sword before turning to the rest of us. “Remember, Eve, we have our Link again.”
Oh, yeah.
Suddenly, Jacob shoves Cole out of the way before rolling below a massive claw and burying his knife hilt-deep in the demon’s chest and running it down to its hind legs, spilling demonic entrails stinking and steaming onto the ground.
“Thanks,” Cole says as Jacob wipes his blades clear on his trousers before sheathing them again. I send another blast of fire into the carcass, and it erupts into greenish flames, rancid smoke spewing into the sky.
Jacob nods, clasping forearms with Cole and chuckling. “I keep telling you, it’s not the size of your blade. It’s how you use it that counts.”
“I think everyone’s going to have a chance to use whatever they have before this is all over,” I reply, looking toward the tower in the distance. The Dark Rider and Kaelen have shrunk, but I can see them clearly enough as they rise higher and higher before disappearing inside, and a greenish field springs to life around the tower. “Now the hard part starts.”
Chapter 35
Eve
Getting through the Dark Rider’s field is actually a lot easier than I thought it’d be. After bonking off it twice, I lower us to the ground, and the five of us look at the greenish dome. “Well, I did say this is the hard part.”
“You know, we could go back,” Jacob says. “It’s not like Lightwing’s that important.”
“Except that we’re in Hell, inside a time loop that’s inside the Moonstone,” Cole points out. “If we’re going to get out of the Moonstone, we’re probably going to need him.”
“And I’m not going to pass up a chance to put this in the Dark Rider’s chest,” I add, holding up my Star Stone dagger. “It might not kill him, but it’ll make him have a really bad day.”
“That’s all well and good, but if all we can do is stand here,” Tyler says, picking a rock up off the ground, “we might as well be throwing—”
He chucks the rock at the field, and all of us gape as the rock sails through, arcing calmly through the air to bounce off the side of the tower we’re facing. We sort of look at each other for a moment, and Tyler reaches out, pausing before pushing his hand through the field like it’s not even there.
“Hard part, huh?” Tyler asks wryly, looking over his shoulder. “Not so bad, it seems.”
“It makes me even more worried,” I reply, looking up and down at the massive tower. “He’s powerful enough to keep us out totally if he wants. That he isn’t worried if we enter . . . that’s enough to give me a serious case of the willies.”
We look at each other, and it’s somehow reassuring that I see the worry and fear dawn in their faces. It’s the same look that I saw in the eyes of good cops before going into a bad situation. It’s the look that keeps cops alive because their heads are on swivels.
It’s the good fear.
“So, what’s the plan?” Noah asks after a moment. “Charging in like we did in China seems to not be the best idea.”
“Stay together, stay Arctic, and we’ll get through this,” I reply. “And if need be, I’ll barbecue whatever we find. In our other trips into the Moonstone, when one of us gets killed, they get snapped out of the stone. Maybe this time too.”
“I don’t know about that,” Jacob says. “Not with who all’s involved. Too many cross-powers involved, too much magic for my mind to fathom.”
“It’s a last-ditch idea.”
We walk through the Dark Rider’s field as one, and when we’re inside, it gets surreal. Everything outside the field looks swirling, like oil on a soap bubble. I focus on the tower, though, trying to form my own flying bubble but failing. “Guess we walk.”
There’s a door at the base of the tower, unlocked, of course, and I ponder just how arrogant the Dark Rider is. He must have something waiting for us inside.
It’s a maze from our first step inside the tower. There’s no way to see how we’re climbing, just twists and turns in the labyrinth. Hellish lights dot the walls, creating pools of illumination and darkness
that we have to walk through.
Jacob takes the lead, Tyler the rear with his single remaining arrow nocked and ready. I’m in the middle behind Cole, his sword held ready to thrust forward if need be.
“Really, really wish that I had my staff,” Noah murmurs as he tries to adjust his grip around Jacob’s backup knife. “I feel like I’m going to war with a butter knife.”
A deep growl fills the air ahead of us, and from the dark pool up ahead a slouched, hulking dog emerges. It has teeth the size of my thumb and claws that leave smoking trails on the ground in its wake. “What the hell is that?”
“Demon dog . . . don’t worry, they’re easy,” Jacob says, darting forward. The dog leaps, but Jacob somehow changes his momentum mid-stride, running up the side of the wall and burying his knife into the dog’s neck. It howls, and a moment later, Cole’s sword thrusts forward, the blade so thick that it decapitates the beast with one strike.
“Told you,” Jacob says as he wipes his knife clean. “They’re easy.”
“Yeah but . . . where are Tyler and Noah?” Cole asks, glancing back. I turn, and a stone wall has silently risen behind me, separating us in the momentary distraction.
Tyler? Noah? I ask over our Link, searching with my mind. Where are you?
Here, Eve, Tyler immediately replies. The wall . . . it’s not a wall. I can see you.
It’s a one-way field, Noah adds in a second later, his thoughts laced with pain. And don’t try to kick it.
I look at Jacob and Cole, and Cole strokes his chin, scratching lightly. Are you injured, Noah?
Nothing that a good night’s sleep won’t cure, Noah replies. But this maze . . . it’s shifting on us. And I thought the one in Solaria was frustrating.
Then if you can, get out, Cole says. Get outside and see if there’s another way to get up the tower.
Great . . . I get to play Batman, Tyler grumbles, and Jacob laughs. Wall crawling.
Guardians of Moonlight: A Reverse Harem Fantasy Romance (Guardians of the Fae Book 3) Page 21
