Black Orchid (Svatura)

by Abigail Owen

  Once the bulk of the dragon was gone, Alex could see Charlotte standing beside Ellie. He watched as the two women talked briefly, and then Charlotte disappeared again, presumably to go get the rest of their family still waiting in Colorado.

  Ellie turned and walked across the courtyard toward where Alex and the others stood. He was so relieved and shaken by everything that’d just transpired, he didn’t know whether he wanted to shake her or kiss her. He compromised by meeting her halfway and yanking her into his arms.

  “Can’t. Breathe,” Ellie choked out.

  He loosened his hold, just barely. “You’re going to have to give me a minute here. I thought I’d lost you when I couldn’t feel you anymore.”

  Ellie pulled back slightly, a frown beetling her brow. “Feel me?”

  “Let’s get somewhere more private before we start dissecting everything that just happened.” Alex grabbed her hand and turned to face the others.

  “Ellie and I are going to talk first. We’ll fill you in on all the important stuff soon.” Selene looked as though she wanted to protest, but he nodded toward the immobile wolves. “I trust you can take care of them? I’ll hold them frozen until I hear that you’ve got guards ready to go.”

  Selene looked back and forth between Ellie and Alex. Taking in his clenched jaw and tense shoulders, she gave a little nod and turned to the others. Alex practically dragged Ellie through the castle back to their room, the only place that would afford them any smidgeon of privacy.

  As soon as the door closed behind them, he had her back in his arms. He propped his chin on top of her head. “Now, tell me everything that happened tonight.”

  “Are you going to hold me like this the entire time?” Ellie mumbled into his chest. He could hear the amusement in her voice.

  “Yup. I’m going to hold you like this until I get over the shock of thinking you were dead. Now talk.”

  He listened without interruption as she went over the details of the night.

  “I don’t know what happened. I couldn’t shift. No matter how hard I tried. I’ll be honest. I was a little worried that I wouldn’t be able to shift out of the dragon when I got here.”

  “You should have Selene look at you. She can see the light inside you that represents your power. See if she sees anything odd. Have Hugh check you over too.”

  She nodded.

  “And, in the meantime, no more training Adelaide out on your own.”

  “Now wait a—”

  “I mean it, Ellie. Until we figure out what’s going on with your powers, we can’t rely on them. It’s not just you at risk. It puts anyone with you at risk, like Adelaide tonight.”

  Ellie was quiet. Alex pulled back and felt his heart constrict at the sight of the tears trickling down her face. He kissed them away, but he didn’t back down.

  “Okay?” he asked.

  He breathed a sigh of relief when she nodded.

  She looked up at him with a watery smile. “So what’s this about you feeling me?”

  Alex grinned. “Yeah. Like Ramsey with Lila. If you thought I was overprotective before…” He whistled.

  Ellie rolled her eyes and groaned. “What exactly do you feel?”

  “Right now? Your presence, your emotions, that you’re okay. But earlier, when I first felt it, I knew you were falling through the sky. I knew you were frightened. I felt the pain…. I guess when Adelaide did that telepathic attack thing you described. And then nothing. And that scared the life out of me. I think I aged a century.”

  She rubbed her head on his chest. “I’m sorry about that.”

  “Yeah. Let’s not do that again. Okay?”

  Ellie nodded and then took a deep breath. “Guess we better go fill in the others.” She went very still as she used her telepathy. “The rest of the family is here. They’re all in the library. Adelaide’s filled them in on most everything. Selene wants to set up an interrogation, but she wants to talk to her High Council and the leaders of the other tribes first.”

  “Do they know about your powers being on the fritz? Or my link to you?”

  Ellie shook her head with a grimace. “No. I guess it’s time to tell them.”

  Taking her hand, Alex escorted his wife out the door. He wondered as he held the door for her if she knew exactly how much she meant to him.

  “As much as you mean to me, I suspect,” she whispered with a smile.

  Chapter 20

  From the back of the room, Adelaide watched silently as her family interrogated the two wolves she and Ellie had caught. She clenched her hands into fists to hide the persistent shaking. She still had it under control but wasn’t sure how long that would last.

  The sound of a scuffle outside the room grabbed everyone’s attention. “Where is she?” an angry voice demanded. Seconds later a Viking of a man burst into the room, followed by an even bigger man with dark brown hair and then a skinny guy with glasses.

  “Who are they?” Adelaide silently asked Ramsey.

  Ramsey’s gaze darted her way. “The tall blond is Stephen, Lila’s lieutenant in the Louisiana Svatura tribe she now leads. Big guy is Dane, a bear metamorph, and the kid with glasses is Seamus.”

  Stephen took one look at the female wolf who was spitting and snarling in the corner.

  “Is that Ariel?” he asked Lila.

  No one said anything, but the answer was obvious in their expressions. Stephen completely lost it and lunged for the group surrounding the wolf shifter. Dane and Seamus grabbed his arms and hauled him back out the door, Lila close on their heels. Adelaide and Ramsey weren’t far behind.

  “All right!” Stephen shook off the two men holding him back.

  He stalked toward Lila, who calmly held her ground. He got right into her face and said, “She’s one of ours. Don’t you dare let your family do anything to her.”

  Adelaide felt Ramsey tense at her side. Glancing up, she could see his clenched jaw, ever protective of his te’sorthene. Must be nice to be loved like that.

  “I’ll do what I have to do,” Lila said to Stephen.

  “It’s Ariel.”

  “I know. She was my friend too.” Lila pointed at the room. “But that girl in there isn’t Ariel. At least, not right now.”

  “She’s right, Stephen,” Dane spoke up. “I’ve been under that delusion.”

  What were they talking about? Adelaide looked up at Ramsey and raised her eyebrows.

  “Dane and Seamus were both captured by Maddox along with Lila, but they were turned into wolf shifters,” Ramsey explained to her quietly.

  Dane looked over “They combine the wolf-pack mind with some kind of forced relationship of loyalty and some brainwashing,” He added.

  “It’s true,” Seamus added. “She’s out of her mind right now.”

  “Then help her!” Stephen snapped. “Obviously it can be fixed.”

  “We don’t know how we did that with Dane and Seamus,” Lila murmured. “And I couldn’t do it alone. I needed Marcus.”

  “Then what the hell good are you as our leader?” Stephen spat at her.

  “That’s enough,” Ramsey barked.

  Stephen sneered at Ramsey. “Protecting the little woman are we, firestarter?”

  “Be quiet,” Lila said, in a low, commanding voice Adelaide had never heard from her sister. “You were a part of choosing me as your leader, and you will honor that now or get the hell out. I need you to trust that I will do what I can for Ariel, but I also need to treat her like an enemy while she is one. Deal with it.”

  “Umm… I think I might be able to help,” Adelaide said hesitantly.

  Four sets of questioning eyes swung her way. “How?” Lila asked.

  “It’s not a guarantee. But… when we were fighting the wolves tonight, I looked at their relationships. Some of the threads connecting them as a pack were frayed, like an old rope splitting apart. And we know some of those bonds are forced. I think that’s what I was seeing.”

  Lila nodded. “Ariel was not ori
ginally a wolf morpher. Her original power was nerve control.”

  “Well, when I look at them,” Adelaide nodded at Dane and Seamus, “those lines are there, but they’re severed, like—”

  She’d been about to say like the line between her and Nate, because the similarities had really been bothering her since she’d noticed them. But then she remembered that no one here knew about Nate.

  She shook her head. “What if those frayed parts mean the relationship was forced? What if it’s weak? What if I could try to break it?”

  “That’s a lot of what ifs,” Stephen muttered. But Adelaide caught the hopeful light in his eyes. She didn’t share with the others that she could also see exactly why he was so upset. Stephen was in love with Ariel.

  “You barely have control over your powers right now,” Ramsey reminded her. “And Ellie can’t help you,” he added silently.

  She looked around to see skepticism staring back at her. She put her hands on her hips with an aggravated huff. “It’s worth a try at least. It’s like you’ve all given up hope. Or become so beaten down that you no longer bother taking risks – even little ones like this – because you’re so sure you’ll be disappointed.”

  The others glanced at each other, shamed.

  “The dragon inside you is right beneath the surface. Can you keep it in?” Lila’s voice sounded in her head.

  “Yes,” Adelaide replied, although she wasn’t completely sure. But she couldn’t sit idly by and do nothing either. She’d just have to make sure Charlotte got her back to Australia damn fast when they were done. She needed the peace of her home – and Nate – to deal with the dragon battling for release inside her.

  Lila gave her a brief nod, and they all went back into the room. Through a quick series of mental exchanges, Lila and Adelaide brought the rest of the family up to speed.

  Adelaide turned to the two wolves in the corner. Putting every ounce of her remaining energy into the task, she focused closely on the thin white threads of light connecting them. As she suspected, they were frayed and appeared to be brittle. Walking up to one of those spots, she reached out and grasped either side of the weakened area with her hands. A tingling sensation shot up her arms, but this time she was ready. She didn’t let go.

  Instead, she pulled at the line with her hands, putting as much tension on it as she could. It gave a little under the force, but it didn’t snap. Adelaide instinctively changed her focus to the tingling in her arms and fingers.

  Her dad, a healer, once described his ability to her. She kept that memory in her mind and tried to force the pins-and-needles sensation down her arms and into the relationship she was trying to manipulate. She felt the line start to heat up in her hand. As it did, the strand started to glow with a blinding, white-hot light.

  The tremors inside of her were so violent that she was having a hard time keeping her grip. With one last, desperate yank, the thread split apart in her hands. Adelaide let go with a gasp. She sank down to her knees on the floor, black splotches dancing in her vision and bile rising in her throat.

  Her mother rushed to her side. “Do you need help?”

  Adelaide shook her head. “I just… need to go home. I can calm down more there on my own.”

  At the flash of hurt in her mother’s eyes, Adelaide thought about taking back those words. She’s barely seen them in weeks, but she couldn’t think about that right now. She needed Nate.

  Charlotte stepped over to her. “I’ll take you, honey.”

  “Wait.” Adelaide looked over to where Griffin stood watching in his wolf form. “I can’t see any pack relationship line connecting you to anyone. Not even Selene. Maybe that’s why you can’t shift out?”

  Then Adelaide turned and nodded at Charlotte. Instantly, she was in her home in the Outback. As soon as Charlotte teleported away, Adelaide curled up on the floor and sent out a silent cry for Nate. It sounded like a whisper to her overwrought mind, and she just hoped her call was loud enough.

  She hated that she was so dependent on him for this. As she writhed in pain, she silently vowed that she’d get this under control soon.

  *****

  Nate walked through the dry, cracked landscape of the Outback with Greasy Dave at his side. He only vaguely remembered leaving Maddox’s office. It was so odd that Talia had been there when he’d left, but Nate didn’t question Maddox. It wasn’t his place.

  Besides, talking with his leader was just what he’d needed. He’d been getting too soft with Adelaide and was losing sight of the plan. Now he was refocused with deadly intent. The time was right to take his plans with Adelaide a step further. He’d gained her trust, now to make her love him. Once he had that, he could do anything to or with her that he wished. And he’d serve her up to Maddox on a silver platter.

  “Nate.” He suddenly heard her voice in his mind.

  But something was wrong. She sounded as she did when she started the shaking….

  Nate looked at Dave. “Something’s wrong. Gotta go.” He took off at a sprint. Couldn’t have her going dragon on him. That would ruin everything.

  In moments he made it to the house and burst through the door. Nate took in her prone form and was immediately beside her. He picked her up, sat down on the couch, and cuddled her in his lap.

  “I’m here. I’m here, now,” he murmured.

  “This sucks,” she said through chattering teeth, using an expression Nate said often.

  “I told you, m’lady, I would always come for you,” he said, laughter in his voice.

  “Are you quoting that movie again?” she groaned. “Right now? Really?”

  “How could you tell?”

  “I don’t know. Something goofy in your voice.”

  “We really do need to get you to watch it soon.” He gave another soft chuckle.

  “Mmm-hmmmm.” She was starting to relax. “I was almost to a point where I didn’t need you anymore. And then this happens. Damn.”

  “Swearing? You must be upset,” Nate teased.

  He appreciated her spunk. But he had plans for her before she gained that much control. He needed her to be dependent on him just a little while longer.

  Chapter 21

  Nate watched the falcon hover in the sky above him. A week ago, he’d come home to find her shaking on the ground. She’d been weaker after that, struggling with tasks that she’d mastered a while ago. But Adelaide seemed to finally be back to her original strength.

  Now as he waited, she put every ounce of her concentration into landing on her target. She had a tendency to come in too fast. Flaring her wings, she gave them a good flap as she extended her talons and gripped Nate’s leather-covered arm.

  “Good!” he cried.

  Gently, he lowered her to the ground. Once settled, Adelaide tucked her wings in close to her body. Then, before his eyes, she wavered and shifted until a full grown woman stood in front of him.

  She looked up at him with a grin. “Well, it only took a hundred crashes, but I think I’ve finally mastered landings. Think we should do it one more time, just to be sure I’ve got it?”

  Nate just barely kept his smile from slipping. He glanced over her head, searching the bush around them. But he saw no sign of Greasy Dave. Not that it meant the wolf morpher wasn’t watching. And Maddox had given Nate permission to “help” Adelaide with the falcon, after all, in order to continue to build that trust. So Nate wasn’t doing anything wrong. At the moment.

  The more time he spent with Adelaide, however, the harder it was to hold onto his purpose, his anger. And he didn’t like knowing that someone was witnessing his failure. Nate still felt as if someone was staring, watching them… Right now.

  He felt the sudden, overwhelming urge to get them both out of there, even if just for a little while.

  *****

  Nate reached out and gripped both of Adelaide’s arms in his hands. “I’m starting to feel the shakes inside you. Enough for today. Don’t want to tempt fate.”

  Adelaide pull
ed away from Nate’s disturbing touch. “I’m more in control than you think,” she said.

  While she wasn’t completely recovered from the attack on her and Ellie the previous week, her control had come back faster than she’d expected. She glanced away, thinking about that night when he’d found her on the verge of shifting. After she’d calmed down, she and Nate had fallen asleep on the couch. In the morning she’d woken to find herself alone in her bed. When she’d gone downstairs, Nate had said, “You want to tell me what happened?”

  Adelaide had shaken her head as she sat down at the kitchen table. Nate didn’t know about her role in the ongoing war. And his reluctance to be involved just gave her more reason not to tell him. “Not really,” she’d muttered.

  He’d clenched his jaw, but then, like flipping a switch, he’d grinned and shrugged. The smile hadn’t reached his eyes, just as it hadn’t the first few days she’d known him. And neither of them had brought it up since. She’d worked hard to get stronger fast. And he helped. But she still felt a distance in his attitude toward her that hadn’t been there before.

  “I’ve got to admit, Princess, after the first time you flew and then had to land, I was worried you’d injure something vital.”

  Adelaide started gathering up their gear to head inside. “So was I,” she chuckled.

  Nate looked off to the horizon. When his gaze returned, mischief danced in his eyes. “Hey… you want to get out of here?”

  The question was so sudden, and so off topic, that Adelaide blinked. Then she looked around at the rough landscape surrounding them and glanced back at him with raised eyebrows. “You realize that teleporting is not one of my gifts.”

  Nate folded his arms and grinned. “Oh ye of little faith.”

  “Are you aware of something I’m not?”

  “I happen to know that there’s a great swimming hole about fifteen miles from here. I stumbled on it while wandering around when you kicked me off your property one time.”