by Julia Mills
To think that her mate, the one person in all the world who was supposed to love her unconditionally, understand her better than anyone else, and always be by her side had snuck out like a thief in the night on a fool’s errand without even thinking to consult her was absolutely infuriating. She had half a mind to pack a bag and go back to the coven. “Let the old coot come home to an empty house and empty bed. Let’s see how he likes it,” she ranted to herself while continuing to pace and pointedly ignoring the shocked look on her sister’s face.
Out the corner of her eye, Calysta saw Kyra sit on the edge of her seat. It was obvious the younger witch had something important to tell her but the Priestess’ anger, combined with the pent up worry from the last three days, was reaching its breaking point. Calysta was thoroughly pissed. There was no two ways about it and she needed to get it out of her system or risk doing something incredibly stupid and potentially hazardous.
Repeating the calming mantra her mother had taught her at a young age, the Priestess felt like a fledgling still learning to control her magic but knew it was the only way to control her rage. I ask the wind to blow away my worries, the water to let my anxieties flow with their tides, the fire to burn away the anxiety of my heart, and the earth to ground me and keep me standing when my own strength fails. Thanks be to the Goddess for the gift of my life and my magic. Thanks be to the Universe for the gift of all that I am and all that I have.
On her fifth recitation of the mantra, her magic began to subside and her anger reduce to a slow simmer. Stopping beside Kyra’s chair, Calysta tried to smile and asked, “You have news?”
Looking through her eyelashes while failing miserably to keep from laughing, Kyra snickered, “Yes, but it’s only gonna make you go all ‘nuclear momma’ on us again.”
Her daughter always had been able to make a joke out of any situation. It was both infuriating and exasperating, but also very much needed in this situation. Calysta tried hard to give her giggling daughter and chuckling sister the evil eye but failed and actually ended up cracking her first real smile since she’d awoken to an empty bed seventy-two hours ago. Crossing the room and sitting on the arm of the couch, the Priestess motioned for her sister to join her, and once they were all seated together, nodded. “Go ahead and tell me. It can’t be any worse than what I’ve already imagined.”
Once again sitting back in her chair, Kyra explained, “Okay, here’s all I know because Maddox is still unconscious from silver poisoning.”
Kyra raised her hand as Calysta jumped to her feet and shouted, “WHAT?” The younger witch quickly added, “Rian has already applied the drawing poultice you and Kyndel concocted to all his wounds and the old butthead is healing nicely. So, chill, will ya? At least let me tell you what I found out.”
Nodding in pensive agreement, Calysta returned to her seat and tried to calm down enough to actually hear what her daughter was saying, finding it amazing that her mate could hold his mental shields even when unconscious.
Kyra went on, “Maddox called the guys to come help because he and Kyran were pinned down by a pack of hunters. Royce and his brothers got there only after the hunters had taken the black dragon and your old man was lying unconscious with silver arrows in his backside. After they removed the hardware and applied the poultice, they poked around the cave and found where Kyran has been hiding out.”
Kyra paused and a familiar look from her childhood crossed her face. Calysta knew immediately that her daughter was trying to decide what parts to tell her and what to leave out. Needing to know it all, no matter how bad it was, the Priestess shook her head and gave a half chuckle. “Out with it, all of it, Kyra. I’m going to find out anyway.”
Barking out a laugh, Kyra said, “Ha! So true, I never could hide anything from you.” She reached across and patted her mom’s hand then said, “From what they can figure out, and remember this is only the guys’ speculation, Kyran had Maddox strung up.” She paused and opened her eyes wide then said, “Like, you know, a hostage.”
Calysta laughed out loud and then laughed harder at the shocked looks on both her daughter’s and her sister’s face. The Priestess knew they were expecting her to blow a gasket. Hell, she was expecting to do it herself, but just the thought of her know-it-all, full-of-himself, blow-hard mate sneaking out to play Superman and save the day all by his lonesome and instead getting caught by one of his own kin then held against his will suddenly seemed hilarious, so the Priestess laughed until tears ran down her face.
Catching her breath but still chuckling, she snickered, “Serves the old coot right. Maybe next time he’ll take me with him.”
Della touched her shoulder and leaned closer before asking, “Are you okay, honey? Can I get you some tea?”
Her sister’s tone implied that she thought Calysta was ready for a straight-jacket and padded room, which only served to start the Priestess on a renewed round of laughter that ended with both Kyra and Della laughing along. Several minutes later, when their hilarity died down and they were all catching their breath, the Priestess asked, “Any idea when they’ll be back? The sun will be coming up soon and I’ll need to have a room at the clinic set up for Maddox so Niall can check him out.”
“Couldn’t you just do that here?” Della asked.
“Yeah, Mom, that grumpy old dragon is gonna throw a fit if he wakes up in the clinic.”
“Yeah, I know.” She giggled. “Isn’t it great.”
Laughing again, the three witches stood and headed into the kitchen. Della started the kettle for tea while Calysta made a pot of coffee and Kyra rooted through the refrigerator for something to make for breakfast. She answered Calysta’s question from before as she emerged with an armload of ingredients for omelets. “They’re waiting for Maddox to wake up but Roy says they should be here by noon. I guess the old man is already moving around and mumbling in his sleep.” She set the food on the counter, pulled out a cutting board and knife, and began chopping. “Rian and Rory are scouting the area to see which direction the hunters headed in with Kyran. They think it might be a splinter group of Tariq O’Baoill’s.”
Leaning against the counter as the smell of coffee brewing filled the kitchen, Calysta sighed. “I really hope not. The others have endured so much.” She turned and took down her favorite mug from the cabinet then checked the progress of her java before continuing, “There are still four refuges in the clinic who can’t call their beasts. Healing is a slow process without their magic. Poor little Annie, the bear shifter, is suffering from severe depression at the absence. Niall has asked Claire and Audrey to take her with them to the lake to see if being outside with all the girls will help lift her spirits and hopefully give her the strength to let her magic flow.”
“If anyone can help her, it’s those ladies. The healing power just rolls off of them,” Kyra agreed as she popped a cherry tomato into her mouth.
“What about the twins, the gargoyles, Daphne and Elizabeth... how are they doing? The last time I checked on them, they seemed better to me,” Della said as she got plates and silverware out for their meal.
“Yes, they’re doing much better. Still can’t call their beasts but they have each other, a true twin connection, that will get them through. But it’s Kristie I worry about. She’s the last chimera in existence. There were only five of them when the hunters raided their lair. The bastards took them all while they slept and killed the other four, not even knowing what they were. I fear she’ll never recover.” Calysta felt the tears well up in her eyes just as they did every time she thought about Kristie’s bleak future.
“Can she live without her magic?” Kyra asked, taking the pan from the stove and placing pieces of omelet on each of their plates.
Shaking her head, the Priestess had to admit, “I don’t know. I honestly didn’t think any chimera still existed. Our Elders and teachers said they’d been gone for centuries so we never really studied them. I’m going to have to have Jodie bring me some books from the coven’s library to see w
hat I can find out. I had hoped Kristie would be well by now, but…”
The rest of her sentence died in her throat as Royce said, “Calysta, you there?”
“I’m here,” she quickly answered, looking at Kyra to see if she would hear him too. It was a beautiful thing that because of her familial bond with her daughter and now Maddox and Royce’s to the same two people, all four could speak over long distances. At first, the Priestess had thought it a hindrance, but now thanked the Goddess.
As Kyra nodded, Royce continued, “I’m guessing Kyra told you everything we know so far?”
“Yes, she did.”
“Well, I don’t have much else to report other than Maddox has still not awakened. From what I can tell, the silver is all but gone from his system, which is good. I think his dragon has forced a healing sleep so the old cuss could be out for about another day or so. We’re gonna rig up a stretcher and bring him home. We’ll be there in a couple of hours. You want him at the house, right?”
“Nope, take him to the clinic. I’ll meet you there and I’ll call Niall,” Calysta declared.
Barking with laughter, Royce mused, “Oh man, the old boy is in the doghouse. I’m so loving this. Wait till I tell Rory.”
She thought about saying, “Tell them all” but decided to hold her tongue and just thank her daughter’s mate for rescuing her mad dragon. “Thanks for going out in the middle of the night to save his mangy hide, and please tell your brothers thank you for me. Make sure they come to the clinic with you, I have a little something to show my gratitude.” She laughed to herself at how furious Maddox was going to be when he found out she’d given the boys each a fifth of his 1965 Macallan single malt whiskey for rescuing his butt.
And I couldn’t care less…
“Yes ma’am, you got it. See you soon.” Royce was still snickering when he cut his connection with her to continue talking to her daughter.
Turning to Della, who was about to pop with the need to know what was happening, Calysta explained, “Maddox is in a healing sleep. Royce is going to transport him to the clinic on a gurney of some sort and I said we would meet them there.”
Her sister’s shoulders bounced with her contained laughter before she giggled. “Poor Maddox, I really thought he was smarter than to cross you.”
Touching the dried flowers of the arrangement Audrey, Rian’s mate, had made out of the bouquet from her and Maddox’s mating ceremony that sat in the middle of the table, Calysta chuckled, “I guess we were both wrong, sis, but I guarantee he will most definitely remember next time.”
“Oh damn, this is getting good,” Kyra teased as she ate her breakfast.
The rest of their meal was filled with companionable silence. Calysta loved that they had rekindled their relationships and were now as close as a family should be. She remembered her own captivity at the hands of Cleland, his evil coven of wizards, and how many times she’d feared she might never see those she loved again. Shaking her head and pushing the old memories to the back of her mind, the Priestess stood and took her dishes to the dishwasher. “I’m going to go get dressed. Would you mind calling Niall, Della? Let him know the boys are bringing Maddox in and that he is in a healing sleep recovering from silver poisoning.”
“I sure will,” Della answered almost too quickly. Calysta had seen the way her sister looked at the Elder Healer. It made her wonder if they might have a love connection. She knew with all certainty that Della didn’t bear the mark of the dragon on her hip that all of their coven received from the Goddess on their fiftieth birthday identifying them as a Guardsman’s mate, for she’d seen her in her bra and panties before the mating ceremony.
Well, Dell has always been an odd duck, maybe hers is somewhere else…
Deciding to focus on her own screwed up love life and leave her sister to worry about hers, Calysta pulled on her favorite pair of faded jeans, comfy red T-shirt, and matching red Chuck Taylor’s, put her hair in a ponytail, and looked in the mirror. A swipe of mascara and a dab of lip gloss and the Priestess declared herself, “Good enough. I could pick out everything that’s wrong but I’m thinkin’ I look good for a hundred and eighty-five.”
Chuckling to herself as she made her way back to the kitchen, she tried to contact Maddox one more time and wasn’t surprised when she got the same echoing sound as before. Pushing through the kitchen door, Calysta winked at Kyra as Della blushed while talking to Niall on the phone.
“…Okay, we’ll see you there in just a little bit. Thank you kindly, Niall.” Della disconnected the call and laid the handset on the counter before turning around. Without any previous preparation, Calysta and Kyra sang, “Thank you kindly, Niall,” with an overdone southern accent and their hands on their foreheads, doing their best Scarlett O’Hara impressions.
Della blushed a bright red and all three witches erupted with their amusement. It was Kyra who regained her ability to speak first but was still snickering when she said, “Okay, ladies, let’s get a move on. I believe we need to see a man about a dragon.”
“Ha, ha, ha, how did I end up with such a goofy daughter?” The Priestess teased.
“It takes one to know one,” Della chuckled as they made their way to the front door and out into the first rays of the morning sun.
Their walk to the clinic was uneventful, which made sense since pretty much everyone was still in bed. They discussed what colors would be good in the final two rooms that still needed to be painted in Calysta and Maddox’s house and when the Council would be arriving for the couple’s wiccan mating ceremony.
“So is the entire council coming, even old stink face?” Kyra asked, wrinkling up her nose and shivering with disgust.
It was true the Council of Earthen Witches was made up of the oldest and most experienced witches in existence, who had absolutely no sense of humor. Calysta had taken her seat when she was little more than a child and had been quite intimidated for many years. Of course, that was before she realized she was more powerful than all of them combined and that they were just a bunch of bullies who refused to leave the middle ages. Now, she merely thought of them as a bunch of old fuddy-duddies she was forced to deal with every three months for their meetings and unfortunately, when she got officially mated with the Blessing of the Goddess.
‘Old stink face’ as Kyra so colorfully referred to her, was Agatha Montage. The younger witch had called the elder witch that moniker since her christening at two years old. The sad part was, Kyra’s description was spot on. Aggie’s expression always looked as if she’d just smelled rotten fish. Her long thin nose was crinkled as tightly as her old leathery skin would allow. Her lips, painted a deep blood red at all times, were pursed so hard Calysta was sure if Agatha held a lump of coal between them for any length of time the old bitty would spit out a diamond. But the facial feature that had made grown men quake and lesser witches cry were Aggie’s beady black eyes. She highlighted them with bright blue shadow and thick black eyeliner with wings that nearly touched her heavily painted-on eyebrows. She looked both surprised and full of condemnation all at the same time. To top it off, Agatha Montage was the oldest and most backward of all the Wiccan Elders in her beliefs and customs. There were times Calysta wondered if the ancient pain-in-the-bum really did still turn naughty children into toads in her younger days. There was no doubt she was the inspiration for the Brothers Grimm’s fairy tale villainess.
Answering over Della’s laughter, the Priestess confirmed, “Yes, Kyra, Agatha will be here and so will Bedelia, Eden, Fianna, Vareck, Odgar, and of course, Della.” She patted her sister’s arm. “There has to be a full council for the mating ceremony to be official. It would just make ole Aggie’s day to be able to deny Maddox his privileges and magic as my mate because of a technicality.” She huffed as her temper from earlier returned. “That, along with several other issues we will discuss as soon as he opens his eyes, is why I cannot believe he chose now to go after Kyran…and alone.”
She stomped the last few steps as the
y approached the entrance to the clinic. Her hand had just touched the handle when the sound of dragon wings reached her ears and three large shadows darkened the sky above them. Anxiety, as real and palpable as she’d ever felt it, filled the air around them and combined with the magic of the dragons returning to their human form.
“Come quick, help me get Maddox out of these restraints,” Rian bellowed as he and Rory tugged at the straps holding her mate to the gurney that were still attached to Royce’s dragon’s talon.
Running to them, she almost lost her footing when Rory roared, “His breathing is labored and he had a seizure while we were in the air. Something is very wrong.”
Pulling at the thick fabric, Calysta screamed through their mating link just as Maddox’s back bowed off the stretcher and his body convulsed. “Don’t you die on me, you stupid old mule-headed dragon. Not after I finally found you. You promised we were in this together forever and I’m holding you to it. Do you hear me, Maddox MacQueen?” She moved out of the way as Rian grabbed her still seizing mate and sped towards the clinic.
Hot on the Dragon Leader’s heels, magic touched her skin as Royce returned to human form, but she couldn’t worry about her daughter’s mate. Right now she had to focus on her own. Praying to any Heavenly being who would listen, Calysta put all her anger aside and focused on her burning need to have her dragon healthy and whole and grumpy as she begged, “Dear Goddess of All and the Universe to whom we owe everything, please keep him safe. I know he’s a pain in the bum, but he’s my pain in the bum and I love him more than I can ever say…”
Chapter Five
Waking up after a near death experience was not nearly as exciting as it sounded. He’d seen several of his brethren open their eyes and bounce right out of bed or, at the very least, have their mate waiting by their bedside with open arms. Hell, one of the times Claire was even kissing Rory. Unfortunately, Maddox was not as lucky.
