I grinned. "I thought they were called sheriffs."
"Well, that too. But on a big scale, we call it the military. There are different branches and different divisions within those branches that serve different functions." He paused again. "I was what they call Special Forces. My team was known for getting in and out of some pretty difficult places alive—and bringing those people out that we went in to get too."
That actually gave me a reason to look him over, top to bottom. Such a chore. Then I started piecing together just why I was so dang attracted to the man.
He was not a small man, as he stood just over six feet tall. As I was much taller than the rest of the women in the pack, that wasn't a problem for me. I liked that extra height on a man. It made my head hit just right on his chest for the nice long hugs. If we ever got to that stage, of course. His hair was a nondescript brown color worn in a no-nonsense fashion cut very close to his head. He had hair, but not that much. He would never have that windswept look, Dunwood.
Then there were his eyes. His eyes were magical. They changed colors. Oh, they were always gray, but the shades of gray seemed to change with his moods, from almost silver to the darkest storm gray. And every shade was equally amazing.
I had gotten caught up in those very eyes, and I realized he was waiting for me to acknowledge what he had just said. It took me a minute to remember what it was.
"Sounds like we have a pretty similar history then, Dunwood." I tore my eyes away from his with an effort. "But things in Faerie are much different than here. I might not be qualified to lead a raid here, but in Faerie..." I stopped myself from actually saying that he might be more of a liability than an asset there.
"That is what recon is for," Dunwood said. "You never go into a mission without knowing what you'll face. Sure, there are always going to be unknowns, but you learn everything you can before you go in. That's where you come in. You need to teach me all about Faerie. Everything, including how to fight there."
I considered that for a minute. Imagine how long that would take. It would mean spending entire days with the man, a thought I wasn't objecting to in the least. But still I hesitated. Solo missions were more my style. He had mentioned a team. In Faerie, I had been a team of one.
Yes, there were other royal guards, but for missions it was generally me alone. And each mission had been a test from Titania. Some had literally left me scarred for life. Inside and out. And this promised to be the most dangerous one I'd ever attempted. Instead of working for Titania, I would most definitely be working against her.
A very risky proposition in Faerie.
Finally, I shook my head. I just wasn't willing to risk Dunwood. Besides there was no way I could teach him all about the land of Fae. It was definitely a kind of "you have to be there to understand" place.
"I think maybe you misunderstood me," he said. "I wasn't asking if I could go with you."
I almost wanted to laugh with relief, the tension draining. Until his next words, that is.
"I was telling you that I'm going."
Oh. That wasn't such a relief. But I did have one final tactic left.
"You won't even spar with me, and now you want to walk into what may very well be a suicide mission with me as your partner?" I asked.
He smiled. "You forget. I saw you in action this morning. Cin is most definitely a warrior woman if ever there was one, and you proved to be her equal. It was... impressive, I guess is the word I'm going for."
"Well, I'm glad you at least acknowledge my worth as an opponent." It wasn't me who spoke. The voice came from nowhere. Dunwood and I weren't as alone as we thought we were.
The sheriff proved his skill to me once again as his actions mirrored my own. In the space of a heartbeat, we were back to back with guns drawn, searching the area for the owner of the voice.
Taz had told me that Coyote had the ability to speak into thin air even when he wasn't there, but this voice wasn't the Coyote. It was most definitely feminine. And come to think of it, now that I realized we weren't under fire and I could think again, the voice had a decided Asian accent to it.
Once again, Dunwood was right there with me. In fact, one millisecond ahead of me, as it was he that spoke first.
"If that's you, Cin, show yourself."
"Well, there's a bit of a problem with that, sheriff." There was laughter in her voice. It was coming from the trees to our right. "But it is me."
"What's the problem?" I asked. "Are you in trouble?" I was picturing her in a trap but couldn't figure out why she would think that was funny.
"No trouble." The voice paused. "You know how Coyote pops in and out with all his clothes on? We fox spirits can pop same as him, but... well... no clothes."
"You mean you are standing out here in the woods naked?" I hadn't realized Dunwood's voice could go that high.
"As the day I was born," Cin answered. "I followed you as a fox but had to change to speak. I have no problem with coming out, but I thought you might, sheriff."
"No!" Dunwood shouted, and then hurriedly, "I mean no, don't come out. Not no that I don't have a problem. I mean..."
I laid a hand on his arm, grinning. "We know what you mean, Dunwood." Creator love him. How many men would turn down the chance to see a beautiful kitsune naked? Only one that I know of, and he was standing right beside me. Then I thought of Jed back in the clearing when I had changed. Okay, maybe two.
"Cin, I have a duffle bag in the back seat of my vehicle. My gym clothes are in it. They’ll be way too big for you, but at least the shorts have a drawstring. Why don't you pop to my car and grab the clothes so you can join us properly?"
In less than ten minutes we were all sitting on the ground just within sight of the terrifying rift. No way was I getting within earshot of the damn thing. I was quite sure that Hell would report any overheard conversations straight to the queen.
The sheriff’s clothes did indeed hang on Cin with lots of room to spare, but all of her important areas were covered, and that meant the world to Dunwood.
"I guess my first question is why you were following us?" I asked. We had all thought that Cin had left after the pack meeting.
She shrugged one tiny shoulder. "I figured you be planning." She smiled. "I figured right, no?"
Dunwood and I just looked at each other.
"Did Taz send you to spy on me?" I sincerely hoped the answer to that was no.
"No." Good. "I sent myself. I have much to offer and basically I come to tell you—I go too."
Maybe if I played dumb. "Go where?"
She gave one of those "really?" looks, and then sighed. "The rest of the pack is dealing with most urgent problem, but still humans in Faerie need help. I'm thinking now is time to help."
Well, at least we on the same page with one thing. If Queen Titania was spending a lot of time here with her witches, it left a big hole back on the other side. She would (hopefully, anyway) be distracted enough here with the rest of the pack to not notice a tiny little raid to free the human souls she had captured. Plus, I had the added benefit of a whole lot of Fae that owed me favors. I'd known there would come a day when I'd need them.
Of course, now my tiny little raid of one had turned into a team of three. I looked at them closely, trying to judge which argument might best work to change that back to one.
"Dunwood called me warrior. That is more accurate than you know. I be asset, promise. Remember, I can pop." Cin was determined to make her case. And truthfully, if she decided to follow us in, there wasn't a dang thing I could do to stop her.
But the popping might just come in handy at that. Of course, once again, Dunwood beat me to the draw.
"Coyote can take people with him when he pops. Can you?"
She straightened. "Other than the clothing thing, I can do anything that overgrown mongrel can do." Okay so there were issues between Cin and Roy. Good to know.
"How many?" Okay, that time Dunwood and I spoke in unison. We were so made for each other. If only
I had a way to show him that.
Cin smiled slyly. "How many you have?"
You know, this team thing might just work out after all. But not right now. Right now, I wanted Dunwood to myself. I gave our discussion a few more minutes, then strongly hinted to Cin that maybe she should be getting home to Mindy.
She grinned at me. "Yeah, I should. I promised special night since so late coming from gym." She winked at Dunwood, who promptly blushed. Really, what was I going to do with that man? Then she gestured down to her outfit and looked at him in question.
"Keep it," he said.
Cin said her goodbyes and left us, finally, alone. We started our patrol again, each of us lost in our own thoughts. I'm not sure what Dunwood was thinking, but my thoughts were centered on getting something straight. It was now or never time.
"Dunwood, can I ask you a personal question?"
He didn't seem too comfortable, but at least he nodded. Okay. Taking a deep breath in, I blurted out, "Are you happy?"
He stopped in his tracks and just looked at me, his head leaning to one side. "Well, I guess all in all, I'd have to say yes. I'm happy."
For once I was glad of all that emotion training back in Faerie. I set my face to stone and started walking again.
"Does my being happy somehow upset you?"
I shook my head. "Of course not." Then I thought of myself. If nothing else, we were friends, and now most probably pack-mates. I couldn't lie to him, not even in part. "But I will admit that I'm a little disappointed. I mean Taz explained it all to me, and I know that some men are just born that way, but..."
Dunwood stopped walking and whirled me around to face him. "Wait a minute. Were you asking me if I was gay?" It was hard to face his eyes, but I forced myself too. I got quite a shock. He could pull a pretty good stone face himself.
"Well, isn't that what I asked?"
"No, you asked if I was happy. Big difference. Big, big difference." He stopped to catch his breath.
I tilted my head and just looked at him. Surely, he would explain. I was hoping that the difference was that I still stood a chance with him.
He looked at me and groaned. "Look, sometimes words that mean the same thing, don't mean the same thing, okay? Happy means that one is, well, happy. They are enjoying life. Gay on the other hand used to mean basically the same thing, but now it doesn't. Now it's more common to refer to gay as ..."
"Men who like men instead of women?"
He nodded. I'm guessing he was grateful that he didn't actually have to say it.
"So, you enjoy life, but you like women for mating partners?"
Dunwood turned a shade of red that I hadn't known was possible. With all that blood in his face, what was his body running on? But he nodded, and that was all the encouragement I needed.
I took two small steps forward and kissed him for all I was worth. With any luck, it wouldn't stop there.
Maybe we could shrink that rift just a little all on our own.
Chapter 11
The Creator was for sure shining down on us Sunday morning. The weather was warm, the sun was bright, and all was right with the world. Well, most of the world anyway.
After we were relieved from our rift patrol by Coyote and MacDougal, Dunwood dropped me back off at the house, then went home. And no, things hadn’t gone as far as I had hoped. Part of that was Dunwood wanting to take things slow, but I’ll admit another part was simply the rift itself.
It’s hard to get in the mood when that much evil is watching over your shoulder. And what a view they would have had too!
When I walked in to let Taz know I was home, she immediately put me to work on the cross necklaces. Lily had found an amazing mold at the hobby store in the shape of a Celtic cross. It was short work to mix up a batch of the clear gel, pour some in the bottom of the molds, add a clover, then fill the rest of the mold. They turned out pretty good, too.
The problem wasn't the making time, but the drying time. You couldn’t release the gel from the molds until it had hardened, and as thick as the molds were, that took time. Rose called around, but no other craft store in the area had anything even similar in stock.
Even working in shifts throughout the evening and night, we only managed to get another fifty done. I was kind of betting there would be a low turnout, so I really thought that would be enough.
Just in case, Lily had extra clovers to hand out to those who didn't get a necklace (or for the men, keychain). We were going to tell them to hold onto them as a rain check for a necklace or keychain of their own once we had more made. After all, we wanted the congregation protected even after today.
Taz had been counting on one of our newest pack members, Coyote, to help with the set up and tear down for the service—after all he could just pop the chairs and tables in and back out, right? Well, that was the first snare of the morning.
"Sorry, Taz, I can't do it," he said.
"What do you mean you can't do it? It's just setting up chairs and tables. I know you can do that."
"Normally, yes, but not for a church service. That would go way over the moral line I'm supposed to dance on. I'm working in a big gray area right now just being a member of the pack. Especially with the promises you made me make." He shook his head. "But this I just can't do. Not won't do, can't do. There is a difference. If I get anywhere near that giant wooden cross in a helpful capacity... I might literally spontaneously combust."
"Then how the devil are we supposed to get all those tables and chairs in there?" She was wailing.
Most of the pack probably blamed it on the upcoming wedding. Everything seemed a disaster to Taz. She was in crisis mode big time.
I didn’t think it was the wedding. The problem was, I didn’t think Taz even knew she was with child. But at this point, after watching the transformation in my sister over the past few weeks, I would bet that she was. But there was no way in hell I was going to be the one to break that news to her.
Jed heard her wail of distress and came to her rescue. He was really good at that. "I've already got it covered, babe. Don't stroke out. Dunwood has a couple of friends with golf carts. We should be able to load them down with the table and chairs and make it almost to the clearing itself. And Mac and I already have the cross set up." He puffed up a bit. "And a mighty fine looking cross it is, even if I say so myself."
"I'll say it for you once I see it, I promise," Taz said. "Sorry if I'm overreacting to everything. It's just..."
"The wedding, Titania, the rift, the in-laws coming... I know, love, I know. Just try to relax."
Jed’s a good man, but he is a man. That means he can be stupid at times when it comes to women. At his mention of the in-laws, Taz fell back into a chair, putting her face in her hands. It was obvious that, for the moment, she had forgotten that part of the upcoming nuptials.
Jed groaned. "Babe, you're almost hyperventilating. Breathe. Slower." He went around behind her and started massaging her neck and shoulders. "It was me mentioning my parents wasn't it?"
She nodded. Jed turned pleading eyes to me, but all I could do was shake my head and walk out of the room. He was on his own.
We still had a couple of hours before people started showing up, and at least Coyote had promised to pop us there and even to pop us back when we called him. That was something. Lucky for us he could do it from the comfort of Taz’s living room. As long as it didn't require his immediate presence, he was fine with it. I figured if he forgot to come get us, we could always get a ride with Dunwood.
By the time we showed up at the clearing, Dunwood and his friends already had the tables and chairs there. It was the work of only a few minutes to have them set up and looking pretty good.
We had the food table all ready for the pizzas that were to arrive via Shaylee and Mac right at noon. It was even covered in a nice bright yellow tablecloth to suit the day. There were even little honeycombs and bees at the corners of the table cloth. I'll always wonder if that's what gave Titania the idea.
Because within the next ten minutes, our lovely little improvised church meeting hall was infested with honey bees. And not just any honey bees either, big angry honey bees. Funny thing about them, too. As long as we stayed a certain distance away from the rift, they didn't bother us.
Unfortunately, I kind of figured that was the area that counted. We needed the sermon to be within that field of influence in order for this to work.
And people were going to start showing up anytime now. I really wished we had Coyote here to whisk them away. In the end, all it took was a very frantic phone call and one little leprechaun named MacDougal.
Coyote popped him in with buckets of nectar laden flowers about five yards away from the circle of influence. He was wearing a beekeeper's suit and didn't waste time. Within the space of minutes, he had the pots of flowers distributed all around the area, drawing the bees away from our improvised outdoor church and out toward the forest proper.
Turns out, bees have short memory spans, at least when it comes to outside orders. When they caught whiff (or maybe it was sight, I really don't know bees) of the flowers, their internal nature kicked in and the queen's whispered plans were kicked out. They swarmed the flowers, gathering the stuff of honey, and once full, swarmed off.
Our sermon might have a bit of a drone sound accompanying it off and on as the bees went about their cycles of pick up and drop offs, but the people should be safe. Unless of course, the women were wearing nectar scented perfume. Then they could have a problem.
I cornered Dunwood before the people started to show up and gave him one of the clover keychains. He looked at it, then up at me with an unspoken question.
“The clover inside the cross is real,” I said. “And if you have a four-leaf clover on your person, it allows you to see straight through a Faerie glamour.”
He rubbed the cross between his fingers like a good luck charm. “What exactly is a Faerie glamour?”
How best to answer that? “Well,” I said slowly, “It’s basically anything the Fae want it to be. When they pull glamours, they can make you see whatever they want you to see. They are true masters of illusion.”
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