Of Shadows and Ash

by Dana Marie Bell

  Selena cried out as another line of fire cut across her spine. “Ash!”

  “Bring Mina and Dragos with you. I’m calling Gideon next.” Ash listened for a moment, stroking Selena’s short hair as if he couldn’t bear not to touch her. “Thanks, brother.”

  Ash hung up and dialed again as Selena slowly sat down, careful not to jar her back. She wanted to cry. Things had been so quiet, so peaceful, and now the fucking demon was back, tearing through her skin like tissue paper. And fuck if she wasn’t helpless against it.

  She ground her teeth together and did her best to ride the pain. “When my powers come back I’m going to kick its spectral ass.”

  “That’s my girl.” Ash continued to stroke her hair. It helped, centering her, giving her something to concentrate on other than the stinging ache. She held still because any movement, no matter how small, made the cuts hurt worse. They hurt so much it was like someone had poured vinegar over them. “Greer is on his way, and he’s bringing Mina with him. Dragos is in his day sleep, so he’ll be with us when he wakes up.”

  Selena nodded carefully. “Thanks.”

  “Hello, Gideon?”

  Selena listened as Ash explained to Gideon what had happened. The conversation was over fairly quickly. From the concern on Ash’s face, Gideon must not have liked what he heard. “Let’s see what we can do about these cuts.”

  “No, Ash. Leave them alone.”

  “Why?” Ash’s voice was more curious than anything, but from the way his hand tensed in her hair she knew he didn’t agree with what she’d said.

  “Because there might be something in the cuts that will point to what kind of demon we’re dealing with.”

  His hand tightened almost painfully in her hair before he released her. “All right, but I don’t like it.”

  “This pretty much sucks, yeah.” She sucked in a breath as she inadvertently twitched, causing her back to spasm. “Owie ow ow.”

  “Shh.” Ash began stroking her hair again. “Greer will be here soon.” He continued to stroke her hair, keeping her calm and still, until the doorbell rang a few moments later. He left her, only to return with Greer at his side.

  “Did you run the whole way here?” Selena barely turned her head to look at the brother of her mate.

  “Yup.” Greer grimaced as he got a look at her back. “Dayum. You look like you’ve been whipped.”

  “It feels like it too.” Selena grunted as she tried to move, to put her head on her arms. Pushing the laptop aside required all her focus. Once it was out of the way, she folded her arms on the kitchen table and placed her forehead down on them with a groan. “Hurts.”

  “I know, sweetheart.” Ash began to stroke her hair again, keeping her calm. The feel of pain settled into the sensation of her heart beating in her back, a throb-throb-throb that intensified until she wanted to puke from the agony.

  Greer began to hum, a soft lullaby that almost had her dozing off despite the torment her back had become.

  She wasn’t sure whether or not she’d actually fallen asleep, because the next thing she knew Gideon was at her side, carefully pushing Ash out of the way in order to examine her wounds. “The cuts are jagged, like claws made them.”

  “And swarming with some kind of bacteria.” Greer broke his hum to speak to Gideon, and the throbbing began again in Selena’s back. “It’s something I’ve never seen before.”

  “Is it multiplying?” Mina’s voice surprised Selena. When had the dryad queen arrived? “And can you drive it out of the wound?”

  “Selena’s magic is fighting off the infection, but I can help that along.” Greer began to hum.

  “Wait.” Selena held up her hand, stopping him. “Get a sample first. We need to know what we’re dealing with in case it can affect anyone else. If my magic is fighting it, then it’s definitely a threat to any supernatural.” She dropped her arm carefully back to the table, trying not to jar her back.

  “How so? If it’s demonic, it’s outside you, right?” Ash must still be hopeful that it was the house, rather than Selena, who was haunted.

  “There is more to a demonic haunting than you think. Depending on how strong it is, it could nearly be in the physical world already. If so, there are demonic diseases that can come through me into the rest of Maggie’s Grove.” Selena had never personally dealt with something like that. It would live off her fear, her power and eventually her blood. Dangerous, but every witch doctor was aware of the risks associated with a shadow man haunting. Like a parasite, it would be able to propagate, infecting others in the community unable to fend it off. She could potentially contaminate the whole town, and it would be the very gifts she used to help them that would condemn them all.

  “Crap. Let me see if I can get a hold of Bree. She’s an EMT, she’ll have something we can use.” Greer pulled out his cell phone.

  “Who’s Bree?” Selena thought she’d met everyone in Maggie’s Grove, but she wasn’t certain she’d ever met anyone named Bree.

  “Bridgette Alden. She’s Noah’s cousin.” Greer smiled as someone on the other line picked up. “Hey, Bree. I need some help.”

  Ash leaned over the kitchen table. “Bree’s helped Greer a time or two when it came to healing someone, usually an elemental or a dryad. He trusts her, so I trust her.”

  She nodded once. “Got it.”

  Greer hung up. “Bree’s on her way. She’ll bring something to gather a sample with, and she’ll make sure it gets to the local lab. Maybe she can get them to pull your blood work faster too.” The EMT didn’t take long to arrive. She did so in her uniform, her kit in her hand. “Hey, I hear someone— Oh. What happened?” Bree strode past Greer and Mina and pushed Ash not so gently out of the way. “Those don’t look like wolf claws.” She pulled on some rubber gloves and gently touched Selena’s back.

  Selena grunted. As careful as Bree was being, it still hurt like hell.

  “Sorry.” Bree did something at her back again that made Selena want to yowl like a cat.

  “I’d believe you if you actually sounded sorry.” Selena reached out, Ash taking her hand immediately. She squeezed Ash’s hand as Bree continued to torture her.

  “Not owl, not wolf, not dragon, not vampire... What did this?” Bree was muttering absently to herself. “Ash?”

  Through their linked hands she felt Ash shrug, the movement tugging on their connection. “Demon.”

  Bree’s hands left her immediately. “Oh.” Bree cleared her throat. “Okay then.”

  “Can you take the sample, Bree?” Greer’s voice was strained. “I want to finish the healing process.”

  “Sure.” Bree pulled something from her bag, a cotton swab with a closeable top. She wet it with some sort of solution and touched it to Selena’s wounds. “Done.”

  “Good.” Greer began to hum again, and the pain slowly receded in Selena’s back.

  She sat up carefully, only a faint twinge reminding her of the nearly blinding pain from a few moments before. “Thank you, Greer.”

  He nodded, sweating and swaying where he stood.

  Ash leaped for Greer as the man collapsed, passing out.

  Selena got up from her seat. “Put him on the sofa.”

  Bree followed, her bag in her hand. “Let me check him.”

  She got out her stethoscope and a blood pressure kit and set about making sure Greer was all right. She peered into his eyes with a flashlight, checked his heart rate, raised his feet and made him as comfortable as possible on Selena’s sofa.

  After a few moments she sighed. “He seems all right, but when he wakes don’t let him move too quickly. He could pass out again. Give him juice to raise his blood sugar.” She glanced at Mina. “Has he eaten today?”

  Mina shook her head. “His appetite has been off for a while now.”

  Had it? Selena hadn’t been aware of that. “What’s wrong?”

  “It’s Mollie.” Ash exchanged a glance with Mina. “I think he’s pining.”

  That wasn’
t good. When a dryad began to pine, their life expectancy dropped. “Has anyone told Mollie about this?”

  “He begged us not to. He made us promise that we wouldn’t, that he’d figure out a way to fix this without having her involved.” Mina clucked her tongue. “But I’m going to wind up breaking my word soon if this shit doesn’t stop.”

  “I’m going to take these samples right over to the lab. I’ll call once I know anything.” Bree stood and snapped her case closed. “Take care, Selena.”

  “Thanks, Bree. You too.”

  As Bree left, Selena blew out a breath. “Fuck the chicken dinner, Ash. I want cheesy goodness. Pizza, anyone?”

  Ash shook his head, but he didn’t argue. “Whatever you want, my mate.”

  * * *

  “I’m sorry I had to pull you away from Selena, but with Greer indisposed I needed help today.” Mina ran alongside Ash, her expression grim.

  “I understand.” Ash was patrolling the forest with Mina, a job he’d done countless times before. There had been no signs of the Van Helsings since the attack, but no one was taking chances, especially with the queen.

  Usually he patrolled with Greer or one of Noah’s wolves, but Greer had barely regained consciousness from healing Selena. Whatever had cut Selena up had packed quite a wallop, and Greer was still sick a day later from taking care of it. Worse, Mina’s scheduled partner had been a no-show, causing them all to worry that they’d missed something in their defenses. Hopefully it would turn out to be nothing more than a simple mix-up, but Ash wasn’t going to hold his breath on that hope.

  “Is Selena doing better?” Mina’s concern for his mate was as real as her concern for her own mate. His queen would protect Selena the same way she protected Dragos—with everything she had.

  “She was sleeping peacefully when I left. I’m going to call her when we stop for a rest.”

  “Is there anything more we can do to help?” Mina stopped running, her hands on her hips. She wasn’t winded, the forest lending its strength to its queen. “I know the witches are watching over her right now, but we can set watchers of our own to warn us if something is going down.”

  “The animals won’t go near her house.” Even the squirrels had left the trees surrounding Selena’s place.

  “Hmm.” Mina squinted up at the branches of a towering oak. “Let’s ask some of the town dryads if they’re willing to keep an eye on the house too. And we might have some of the shifters watch. Their sense of the unnatural might not be as sharp as a true animal’s, but they might feel something before it happens.”

  “I think that’s a great idea. They can watch in shifts of three each.” With dryads, shifters and witches keeping an eye on the house one of them was sure to spot something unusual. “Let’s go see what Noah thinks.”

  Mina turned around and began racing back toward the Throne.

  Ash followed his queen, easily keeping pace with her. The forest was his home, his sanctuary, the base of his power. As a ruling dryad, the forest would forever be his strength. As its guardian, it trusted him to protect it, to nurture it, and in return it gifted him with its power.

  Mina was its soul, Greer its heart, Iva its brain and Ash its arm. Already he could feel the forest perking up with the return of Iva, the missing piece of the puzzle slotting easily back into place. And the forest, in return, welcomed her back with all its might, helping her heal her physical and emotional wounds.

  Each day another wolf came to pay their respects to Iva’s tree, bowing before both Mina and Noah before offering gifts to the alpha mate. Mina had been storing the gifts in Iva’s home, hoping her sister would be pleased with them when she finally woke up.

  Noah was right where Ash expected him to be, curled up at the base of Iva’s tree. He was in his wolf form, his body still but his eyes moving restlessly around the Throne, seeking out hidden threats to his injured mate. Until Iva was fully healed and stepped out from her tree Noah’s temper would remain unstable.

  Mina slowed to a walk as she approached Iva’s yew. “Noah.”

  The alpha wolf lifted his head and nodded once toward Mina before lowering it again.

  “We wanted to know if we could borrow some of your wolves to watch over Selena. It seems she has a demon infestation, and Ash can’t always be there to guard her. We could also use some extra help patrolling the forest for Van Helsings.”

  Noah didn’t hesitate. He lifted his head a second time and howled.

  Two wolves stepped out of the forest into the Throne at their alpha’s summons. Shifting, they became Carter and Paisley Hayes. Paisley was Carter’s younger sister, a badass in her own right who’d fought her way into the position of enforcer. Both were naked, as shifters were unable to shift while still in their clothing for fear of harming themselves. The dryads were used to the easy way shifters were about nudity, as they spent a great deal of time in the forest in both their forms.

  Greer grinned at Carter, who took a cautious step back. “Hey, Carter. How’s Mollie?”

  Ash had to turn away from the two enforcers before he lunged for the male wolf.

  “She’s fine. I’ll give her your regards.” Carter turned his attention toward Noah. “How can we help you, alpha?”

  Ash was going to kill Carter himself if he didn’t back away from his brother’s mate.

  Mina nodded to the two enforcers. “You two will be watching over Selena Giannone, guarding her when Ash can’t be there. You’re to report to me, Dragos, Noah or Gideon if you sense anything out of the ordinary.”

  The enforcers exchanged a glance. Under normal circumstances they might have argued with the queen of the forest. Technically they were under Noah’s rule, but Noah had howled, and Mina had proven herself more than capable of handling the wolves within her forest.

  They’d once attacked Amara, believing her to be a threat to the town. Instead, Mina, Greer, Ash and Amara had forced the wolf pack to acknowledge that in the forest, the queen ruled, not the alpha.

  Noah had accepted it easier than some in his pack, but with Mina’s mating with Dragos her power was cemented. So ordering the wolves to do something usually worked, especially since Mina did it rarely.

  “Yes, Mina.” Carter ignored Greer as much as possible, refusing to look at him. “Can I ask what’s wrong with her?”

  Paisley, with her edgy, multi-color hair and pierced eyebrow, was a complete contrast to the more conservative Carter. She grinned, her dark eyes sparkling as she nudged Carter back toward Greer. “Yeah, what’s wrong with the witchy doc?”

  “We’d rather not say. We don’t want to prejudice you. Just let us know if you sense anything out of the ordinary.” Ash warned Greer to leave Carter alone with a quick glance. He needed Carter’s full attention.

  “Does this have anything to do with why she had me checking her house for rodents?” Carter frowned, his concern for Selena earning him some favor with Ash.

  “Yes.” And that was all Ash was going to give them. “I’m sorry you need to go in blind, but there are things happening that—”

  “She’s being haunted by a demon, right?” Paisley tilted her head, her gaze still amused.

  “How did you know that?” Mina looked shocked.

  Paisley shrugged. “Our mother was a witch, but my wolfy genes were stronger, so I joined the pack. But because of her I have some senses other wolves don’t. It’s why I’m an enforcer.”

  “How come Carter didn’t sense anything when he was there?” Ash glared at the man.

  “Because his witch half isn’t nearly as strong. He’s almost pure wolf.” Paisley shrugged. “One of us had to take after dad. But don’t worry.” She nodded toward Ash, her expression becoming feral. “I know how to deal with witch problems.”

  “Don’t eat my mate.” The words slipped out before Ash could stop them. Paisley looked...hungry.

  Paisley laughed. “Nah. She’s not my type. I prefer blondes.”

  Ash blinked. “Selena is perfect.”

  “A
nd she’s got big bazoombas.” Paisley held her hands in front of her chest. “I mean, dayum.” She shivered sensually.

  Ash growled. “Mine.”

  Paisley shrugged. “She’s mated. That doesn’t mean I can’t look.”

  “If I rip your eyes out you can’t.” Ash crossed his arms over his chest.

  “Try it, leaf blower.” Paisley’s fangs grew as her eyes turned golden.

  Noah snarled, standing, his shoulders stiffening as if to pounce. Problem was, Ash wasn’t certain which way he’d go.

  Not that it mattered. Paisley tilted her head, her fangs receding, her eyes turning dark once more. “Sorry, alpha Wulfenbach.”

  Noah huffed and settled back down.

  “He hates interfering with a mating.” The look she shot Carter clearly showed her confusion. “Speaking of which, why are you—ow!” Paisley rubbed her ass. “Why did you smack me, asshole?”

  Carter looked at her innocently. “Did not.”

  Paisley snarled at Carter. “Did too.”

  “You two are going to play nicely with each other.” Ash glared at them both. “Selena’s life might depend on it.”

  Both Paisley and Carter came to attention. “Of course.” Carter sounded contrite.

  “Will I see her nekkid?” Paisley giggled and danced out of the way as Ash lunged for her. “Kidding, kidding! Geez, don’t get your panties in a bunch.”

  “Just do your job and no one will get dead.”

  “You mean hurt.”

  Ash just stared at her. She might be a wolf, but Ashton Ward was guardian of the forest. He’d wipe the floor with her and they both knew it.

  “Right.” Paisley shuddered. “Don’t piss off the nice dryad.”

  He nodded. “Damn straight.”

  “So.” Carter cleared his throat. “We’re watching for signs of demonic activity, and rushing to the rescue if it looks like Selena is hurt in any way.”

  “Exactly. I also need you both to try and get a feel for the land around her house, to see if it gives you any information.” The shifters had their own bond with the land, a predator’s sense that Ash lacked. “If so, you know what to do.”