Encala : Book 3 of the Heku Series

by T. M. Nielsen

  “Jeff, don’t do this,” she said, and tried to bite him.

  “I bite back, Tiny,” he told her, reaching one hand down to undo his pants.

  Emily’s body shook with fear and she struggled to get out from underneath him. She screamed angrily when she couldn’t move him. She jumped slightly when she heard the growl and felt Jeff being pulled off of her. She watched, wide eyed, as Exavior threw Jeff against the ground and jumped on him, clutching his hand to the mortal’s neck.

  Emily scrambled to her feet, grabbed her shirt, and ran for the trees. Her jeans were too close to the fight. She ran until the sound of fighting was behind her, slipping her t-shirt back on as she ran. She looked back over her shoulder and screamed when she ran into someone.

  Emily kicked and screamed at him in a panic.

  “Emily, it’s me… you’re ok,” Exavior said, and pulled her close to him. She buried her face in his chest, shaking.

  “It’s ok,” he said, rubbing her back.

  “Jeff,” she whispered.

  “He had a bad fall from a horse,” Exavior said, furiously. “Don’t worry, he’s sort of alive.”

  Emily’s body shook as he held her, but she could feel the anger emanating from him. He picked her up and cradled her in his arms, then blurred back toward the ranch. Emily felt the wind through her hair at his speed and just held onto him. He sat her down in her bunkhouse and shut the door behind them.

  Emily pulled out her suitcase and threw on some jeans, blushing.

  “He’s lucky I didn’t kill him,” Exavior said, coldly.

  Emily just nodded, “Thank you.”

  Exavior smiled at her when he saw the tears start and pulled her close to him, “No wonder you married a heku, you need a lot of help.”

  She was too upset to argue with him. When she stopped trembling, he let her go.

  “Now let me look at your head,” he said, and she moved a step away from him.

  “I’m ok.”

  “If I were going to feed off of you, I wouldn’t have waited this long. Now come here,” he said, and blurred behind her. He felt through her hair and sighed.

  “You probably should go to the Emergency room for stitches, let’s go,” he told her, opening the door.

  “I’m fine,” she said, afraid.

  “Come on or I’ll call the Equites,” he chuckled.

  She glared at him and walked out, even allowing him to lift her into the truck.

  They didn’t get back until late at night, and an ambulance was just pulling away. Emily jumped out of the truck and ran into the house.

  “Allen?!” she yelled.

  Allen ran to her and she picked him up and hugged him tightly, “Alec? Jess?” she called.

  “We’re here, Emily. The ambulance just took Jeff away. He was in a horrible horse accident. It stepped on his back, and… well right now Jeff can’t feel anything below the waist,” Jess said, sadly.

  Emily nodded and held Allen tighter.

  Exavior stepped in, “Bad day on the ranch, we just got back from the Emergency Room.”

  Emily glared at him.

  “What happened?” Jess gasped.

  “Emily’s horse saw a rattlesnake. She hit a rock when he bucked her,” Exavior explained.

  “You found her?” Alec asked, frowning.

  “Yeah, I got home early and decided to catch up with her on horseback,” he lied.

  Jess hugged him, “I’m so glad you were there for her.”

  ***

  Emily looked out over the doors to the terminal and then back to Exavior, “Thank you for the ride.”

  He smiled, “Any time.”

  “Are you going to tell me your faction now?” she asked, glancing nervously at Allen.

  Exavior laughed, “I’m Valle.”

  She nodded and opened her door. He blurred to her side and helped her out, then got Allen out of the car seat.

  “Here’s my phone number, in case you ever need anything,” Exavior said, handing her a card with his name and number.

  He grinned and hugged her, “Take care of yourself.”

  She pulled away from him and smiled, “Thanks again, I’ll call you sometime, ok?”

  He nodded and crawled back into the truck.

  The flight home was uneventful, and she was glad to be back. She found her Durango easily and buckled Allen into his seat. He was asleep before they got out of the airport parking area, and she took the road that led back to the palace.

  Emily pulled into the garage and cut the engine. She heard the door open before she even got the key out. Chevalier pulled her out of the car and hugged her tightly.

  “I missed you,” he said, kissing her before she could answer.

  He sat her down and smiled.

  “I missed you, too,” she said, hugging him. She laid her head against his chest.

  “Did you have a good time?” he asked.

  Emily nodded, “I did. How was it here?”

  “Boring,” Chevalier said, and laughed.

  “Daddy!” Allen screamed, and Chevalier got him out of the car seat. Allen threw his arms around Chevalier’s neck and bear hugged him.

  “Missed you kiddo,” he said, and grabbed the suitcases with his other hand, carrying Allen inside.

  Emily looked around the foyer, everything seemed the same. She’d been gone what felt like an eternity and was surprised nothing had changed.

  “Em!” Kyle said, running down the stairs. He picked her up in a bear hug, “Welcome back!”

  “Can’t... breathe…” Emily gasped, and laughed when he set her down.

  “Sorry,” Kyle said, grinning.

  “You sure you weren’t enjoying the peace and quiet?” Emily asked.

  “It wasn’t peaceful and quiet… it was boring and dull,” Kyle said.

  Emily turned to one of the random guards stationed throughout the palace, “Was it not a little less stressful without me here?”

  He looked at Chevalier, nervously.

  “That answered that,” she said, grinning, and patted the guard on the shoulder.

  Chevalier dropped their bags onto the bed and she started to put things away.

  “So, what did you do?” Chevalier asked, casually.

  “Well… went to the wedding, which was nice, and the reception, which was awful,” she said, going through Allen’s bag.

  “What was wrong with it?”

  “It was a dance,” she laughed. “Don’t worry, I only danced with Jeff once and someone cut-in and saved the day.”

  “Oh good, I kept waiting for you to bring him back with you,” Chevalier laughed.

  “Other than that, I spent most of the time on horseback, did some cooking, some cleaning, the same things I used to do,” she said, sliding the empty suitcases under the bed.

  “Fun,” he said.

  “Actually, it was kind of nice.” She sat down by him.

  Sam swept into the room and pulled Allen into a bear hug, “I got you something, come on.”

  Sam and Allen left the room and Emily smiled after them.

  “Allen and Uncle Alec really hit it off, they were inseparable. He would even cry when I forced him to go out with me on a ride,” Emily said, crossing her legs on the bed.

  Chevalier nodded and looked at her.

  “What?” she asked when she saw the look on his face.

  “You know I have to ask… I wasn’t going to…” he said, rubbing the back of his neck.

  “What did I do now?” she asked.

  “Where are you hurt?”

  Emily started to laugh, “My God you have a sensitive nose, that’s days old.”

  He shrugged, “So?”

  “My horse saw a rattlesnake. I hit my head on a rock when I fell and got some stitches… easy enough,” she said, leaving out most of the details.

  “Hmm.” He watched her.

  “Oh come on, you can’t be upset about that. I’ve …” she said, but was cut off when Chevalier kissed her. She wrap
ped her arms around his neck and pushed him down on the bed.

  ***

  “What’s Sam showing Allen?” Emily asked, curled up next to Chevalier.

  “We’ve been working with Damnit while you were gone, and Sam says he’s ready to be given to Allen. I got a saddle that should fit him,” Chevalier said, and kissed her shoulder.

  “Oh he’ll love that!” Emily said, smiling.

  “I think we should rename him.”

  “No way, it fits,” Emily smirked.

  “Are you sure nothing happened… erm… out of the ordinary in New Mexico?” he asked.

  “No, why?”

  “Just curious is all.”

  Emily rolled over and propped herself up on one elbow. “Ok then… I was attacked by 5 million Encala and 6 million Valle at the same time. They saw my infinitely good looks and began a mass war between themselves, wiping out most of the population of the western United States.”

  “Ha-ha, very funny,” Chevalier laughed.

  “How about… I met a very nice Valle heku and we spent most of the time horseback riding,” she said, smiling.

  “Nice… ok, ok, so nothing happened.” He grinned and got up.

  “Hmm,” Emily said, watching him.

  Chevalier turned, “What?”

  Emily shrugged.

  “What?” he asked again, sitting on the bed.

  Emily grinned, “I wasn’t done cuddling.”

  “I have to go back to work, and you should go touch base with Damon on the Cavalry training. There are ten of them now, so he could use the help,” Chevalier said, getting dressed.

  Emily frowned, “Why Damon? Oh, why ten?”

  “Damon because Kyle has been busy. Ten because we reinstated your three bar fighting companions, and decided to keep the three we had replaced them with, just in case.”

  “Just in case what?”

  “Just in case you ever agree to a guard again,” he said, and left the room.

  “Good luck with that!” she yelled after him and then grinned. “Hey Damon! I’m back!”

  She heard Chevalier chuckle from the hallway.

  Emily threw on some jeans and a t-shirt, pulled on her cowboy boots and grabbed her riding gloves, then went out to the stable.

  She saw the new recruits lined up on the lawn facing one another. They were all mid-fight in pairs when she walked up.

  “You don’t have to yell to talk to me,” Damon said, watching his guards.

  “Yeah but that way I make sure you hear me.” She watched them fight.

  “Oh you’re pretty hard to ignore.” He smirked.

  “Missed me didn’t you?” She grinned.

  “Like a hole in the head.” He yelled at two of the guards and walked over to them.

  Emily shook her head and went into the stables. She checked all of the horses and was pleased they all had clean stalls and fresh food and water. She grabbed a bridle and the cattle prod, and slipped the bridle onto Chevalier’s Arabian stallion. She hoisted herself up onto the crabby horse and walked him out of the stable and over to Damon.

  Damon looked over at her and eyed the cattle prod, “Isn’t that the Elder’s horse.”

  “Yes, and he needs to learn some manners,” she said, grabbing the cattle prod. She grinned when Damon took a step away from her, “Like some others around here.”

  He raised an eyebrow, “Touch me with that thing and I won’t be held responsible.”

  “Enough rolling around on the ground, get on your horses,” Emily said, loudly. The recruits all blurred into the stables.

  “I’ll stay on the ground,” he said when she watched him.

  “Your call, have they even been on the horses? The three new guys?” she asked.

  “Nope,” he said.

  “You aren’t afraid of a horse are you?”

  He glared up at her and walked toward the stable.

  Emily sighed when the new recruits came out, leading their horses.

  “Get on them,” she said, “From the left.”

  She watched as the seven previous recruits mounted their horses easily, and then giggled slightly when the three new ones struggled a bit. Once they were all seated, she nodded.

  “Good, now we go for a ride. We’ll take it easy and go through the city streets, get used to the feel of being on a horse.”

  Emily clicked her tongue and sighed when the Arabian didn’t move. She tried again, and he snorted back towards her.

  “Where’s Patra?” Frank asked.

  “She’s ok, I just need to teach this guy some etiquette is all. He’s Chevalier’s pesky horse.” She grabbed the cattle prod from the saddlebag and kicked the horse.

  Emily touched the cattle prod quickly to his rump. He bucked once, and then walked off slowly.

  “There we go,” she grinned.

  The previous recruits visited with her about her trip to New Mexico while the three new ones held back by themselves. Emily turned around once in a while to check on them. She finally slowed down and let them catch up.

  “Let me guess… you aren’t mortal fans?” she asked, and watched as they glanced nervously at one another.

  “No, Ma’am, we aren’t,” one of them said finally.

  “Good to know. I’ll leave you alone, you leave me alone, and we’ll get through this without any deaths… deal?”

  They nodded at her.

  “Do try to keep up, though.” She grinned and kicked the Arabian into a gallop.

  Emily grabbed tightly to the reins, he took off faster than Patra normally did. She blew past the other guards, who took the challenge and also kicked their horses into a gallop. The three new guards did the same, but couldn’t seem to catch up to her.

  She laughed when she got back to the stables first.

  “The Elder would like you to go to his office,” Damon told her.

  Emily slid off of the Arabian and handed the reins to Damon, “Take care of him, please.”

  He glowered, but led the horse into the stables.

  Emily knocked on Chevalier’s office door and slipped off her gloves as she walked in and sat down.

  “You rang?” Emily asked. She frowned when she saw his face.

  Chevalier pushed something toward her, “I got a receipt of payment from the hospital in New Mexico, apparently, when you left, you forgot to grab it.”

  Emily nodded, “Ok, thanks.” She took the receipt. She couldn’t remember paying it, though, and her breath caught when she saw the signature at the bottom, it was Exavior’s.

  “I’m going to try to keep my temper under control…” he said, rubbing his temples.

  “There’s no reason to get mad.” She tucked the receipt into her pocket.

  “I’m afraid I already know the answer… but who, is Exavior?” he asked, slowly.

  “He’s a friend of Alec and Jess. He was at the reception and stayed with them,” she said.

  “And his species?”

  “Is not important,” she said, readying herself for a fight.

  “Is he the one that cut into your dance with Jeff then?” He looked up at her.

  She nodded and noticed Chevalier’s hands were shaking.

  “What part of danger are you not getting here?” he asked, gritting his teeth.

  “There was no danger. It was a dance, and I didn’t even know he was heku until he’d already cut in and we were visiting. I must have left my heku radar in my other jacket,” she scowled.

  “Did he tell you he was an Equites?”

  “He wouldn’t tell me his faction until he’d dropped me off at the airport,” Emily shut her mouth quickly and cringed. She hadn’t meant for him to know that.

  “You were alone in his car?” Chevalier’s eyes became furious.

  “I’m not going to talk about this,” she said, and stood up.

  “Sit… down…” he demanded.

  Emily turned on her heels and walked out of his office, heading up the stairs.

  “Emily,” Kyle calle
d and then blurred to her side. “What’s up? You look mad.”