Shooting up, I twirled around to see her standing a few feet away, a mother’s irritation made worse by the fact that she was a goddess, no, the goddess, her eyes flashing lightning.
“I’m sorry,” I told her, understanding that she may have been trying to reach me just as I had been trying while I was below. “Lugh had me down there longer than I—” As I spoke, her brows drew down as she began to see the whole picture.
“He had you in a time phase? That explains why I couldn’t reach you,” she murmured. “Lugh has always been a trickster.”
A bird swooped over our heads, screeching excitedly as it went by, shooting back into the trees. I glanced around, noticing that other birds were beginning to be agitated as well.
“He’s a good fae though.” Her tone told me she still didn’t appreciate what he’d done, though. I agreed with her full heartedly. Lugh was good but he still made decisions concerning myself and Gearden without consulting us beforehand. His intentions were selfish, but understandably so. I couldn’t blame him for wanting to have more time with me after being locked away for so long and then finally finding me, an anomaly to his magic.
No. Nope. We aren’t going there, I thought.
But Danu seemed to already catch the thoughts. There was nothing I could really keep from her, even in my mind if I projected it loud enough. Ugh.
“You know about Zerena, and what queen Selena did?” I asked her, stepping by her to sit on a large bolder.
She made an affirming sound.
I plunked down on the hard surface, noticing that I was wearing jeans in this visit. Sometimes she dressed me, others I chose what I wore, even if I still had no idea how I did it.
“Do you know who killed her?” I asked her, knowingly breaking the unspoken rule. She didn’t like revealing things that may deter me from my destiny. What I hated about that logic was that she seemed to pick and choose what bits of information were deciding points in my future, and it sucked.
“No, I don’t. Whoever they are, they know how to cloak themselves well. I didn’t know she was in danger until she arrived—”
“Arrived?” I jumped up from my rock. But the look on her face told me she’d said too much and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to get her to divulge any more.
“Is there anything you can tell me?” I asked her, crossing my arms.
A regal brow lifted and I got the impression she saw me as a rebelling teen.
“Only that—”
A panicked chorus of chirps and screeches echoed down from the trees surrounding us. Suddenly, worried, Danu looked up into the air at something I couldn’t see. Then, “Hurry. Go,” she urged.
Uncrossing my arms, preparing for a fight, I look around for the danger. “What is it?”
“Wake up!” she told me, shoving a hand into my chest.
The shock had me jolting upright in bed, catching the silencer of a gun approaching my face, shoving it to the side, just as my hand felt it go off. The heat seared into my palm while Gearden jerked upright, already launching himself over me to tackle the intruder to the floor, their combined weight rattling even the bed.
Avoiding them, I clambered off at the foot of the bed while they wrestled.
Spotting the gun on the floor, I went for it, catching a foot to my cheek instead, sending me crashing to the floor. I rolled and scrambled back in an awkward crab walk, looking up at the masked man dressed in black as he advanced.
Shift! something inside me said. Luna, my own subconscious, but I shook off the fear that the human inside me had me cowering and called on my wolf, letting it burst forth. One second, I was looking out with all the colors a human eye could process, the next, a canine’s gray and green took over, providing better night vision. I didn’t hesitate; the moment I felt my claws dig into the hardwood flooring beneath my sensitive paws, I crouched and pushed, leaping forward, catching the hunter off guard for a second. That was all I needed to clamp my jaws on his throat and tear away, taking a chunk of skin and sinew with me. Jumping down, I spat the trophy out and gauged if the enemy was down or just wounded.
When he didn’t get back up, I categorized him as down, and moved on to help Gearden. Before I could get close enough, Gearden body checked me, his weight knocking me back a few stumbling steps. I yipped at him, moving to leap onto the other man’s back when he turned his attention back to Gearden, only to nearly bowl over another wolf. Shocked, I shook my wolf head and sniffed the air, trying to decide who this new player was. I recognized the scent but the power was odd, confusing. Shelly?
Her wolf was small, a dark brown with a tan muzzle, and I could see she was apprehensive with facing off with me, but I felt her intentions as being protective, not malicious. Looking around her, I saw that another wolf, I assumed Marshall, had joined Gearden in the fight. Together, they leapt on him, Gearden taking the throat while Marshall clamped onto the assailant’s forearm in a tight vise.
The struggle didn’t last long before Gearden took his mark and dragged it off the now barely twitching enemy. Soon, the twitching stopped.
The next thing I knew Tomos and Dom burst into the room, looking haggard, like they’d been fighting their own battle downstairs.
“Is everyone alright?” I asked Gearden. Consecutively, we shifted, Shelly and Marshall remaining in their animal forms though, as they moved to sniff and growl at the fallen hunters.
“Yes, they only attacked the house,” Gearden relayed, nodding to Dom as they conversed.
Still awkward with being naked, I hurriedly collected the clothes I had shed in my shift that lay scattered on the floor.
Tomos and Dom didn’t blink an eye when Gearden directed them do something I didn’t catch. When they walked out of the room, the sibling wolves still prowling around the bedroom anxiously, I looked at Gearden. “What the hell?” I didn’t need to tell him that I was asking about why he’d kept me from helping him fight.
“Vampire,” he answered, moving to the now prone body. “We’ll need to burn the body soon.”
“Shit,” I cursed. It made sense now, Shelly’s intervention. How she knew and I didn’t, though, didn’t jive.
“How did she know? How did you know?”
He didn’t answer, just started to pat the vampire hunter down, finding a comms device at his ear. Taking it, he placed it on the nightstand nearby before hooking his hands under the vamp’s arms and dragging his through the still open door. Dressed in jeans and a v-neck shirt, I moved to grab the other one, but a naked Marshall waved me off. I purposefully avoided looking south by any means possible and focused on his sister, who padded excitedly around me before leading me out of the room and down the hall. She carefully gathered pajama pants and shirt from the floor along the way. When I made it to her room, she was already pulling a new one over her head. My eyes caught on a flash of teal material by the door. Bending down, I picked it up, realizing it was a satin hair covering of some sort. I handed it to her after she’d finished pulling on her striped pajama pants. Expertly, she wrapped it around her head, covering her hair.
Smiling shyly, she took my hand and led me down the stairs. “How did you know he was a vampire?” I asked her when we made it to the bottom.
She turned to look at me, confusion pinching her brows together, “His scent.”
I frowned. I hadn’t smelled anything different. I didn’t even know that was a thing. Bri only mentioned them tasting different not that they smelled different.
As we exited the house, Bobby was already starting a fire in the large pit at the center of the compound. Except for him, it looked like it was just our household that was disturbed, or maybe Bobby had told everyone to stay indoors, I thought. Either way, I was grateful there weren’t any gawkers or pack members to worry about something I couldn’t offer comfort for.
Replaying what happened in our bedroom just a few minutes ago, I was so engrossed with my thoughts, that I didn’t feel Bobby ascend the stairs. He was standing two steps below, looking up at me w
ith guarded concern. “Why don’t you go back inside and rest, alpha,” he suggested, turning his head just a little to indicate that he and the others had the task at hand. I watched as the fire was stoked and built until the flames grew higher than Gearden, who dropped his burden beside the small pile of others there. Three more, I counted, to add to our two. They’d sent five after me, after us. For a moment, I wondered why they sent so small of a team to take me and my protectors on.
Then it occurred to me, they weren’t after me. They were a distraction.
Bobby had already jogged back to the fire to help add more fuel before moving to toss the first body on. It would take hours to do it all, but they seemed up to it.
I caught Gearden’s gaze, the orange flames mirroring in his eyes, arms folded as he watched the fire begin to consume flesh, “Tell Bobby to do a head count. Let Dom and Tomos take on disposal.”
“What are you thinking?” he asked, unfolding his arms to take on a guarded stance.
“I think they were sent here as a distraction,” I confided, turning to look for Shelly, who stood beside the door with her eyes fixed on the burning and a morbid, shocked look consuming her innocent features. I reached out and took her hand, pulling her into the house. “They could have been after something else.”
“What?” Gearden asked, looking around at the quiet buildings.
“Why send so small of a team? They know better. We’re stronger than that. And, if they knew, then why were they really here?” I went on, shutting the door.
“I’ll send Marshall to take post at the top of the stairs, while Dom and Tomos handle the bodies and perimeter,” he said.
“And will you ask Bobby why the hell I feel the need to protect Shelly above everyone else here?” I growled, Luna starting to prowl at the surface.
“It’s probably because she’s an omega,” he said casually.
In the living room, I stilled, watching as the subject herself moved about the kitchen, looking like she was preparing something. “Excuse me? An omega?”
“I’ll explain when I get back inside, but trust Luna,” he told me before I felt him sign off from the conversation in my mind.
I turned my attention back to Shelly, seeing that she had put water into a kettle I didn’t know we had and set it to boil on the stove, then stood at the island staring at it in a mesmerized trance.
After a stressful fifteen minutes, Gearden touched my mind with his again. “Everyone’s accounted for,” he said.
“Oh.” Picking up on the disappointed tone in my voice, I added, “Alright. That’s good.”
“I’m going to help with clean up, then I’ll be back in. You should try to get some more rest,” he said. “We’ll keep an eye on things. I’ll send Marshall inside in a bit.”
“Alright,” I told him. I felt him send tendrils of love through our connection and I couldn’t help but smile, then yawn. The adrenaline had burned off, I guessed. Leaving more exhaustion in its wake.
Shelly, holding her now fully steeped cup of tea, watched me from over the rim of her Hello Kitty mug as I crossed to her. “I’m going to go lay down. Marshall will be in soon,” I told her aloud. She smiled and nodded. I could feel her gaze at my back as I walked out and up the stairs.
I would have loved to ignore the blood that was splattered on the bedroom floor, but I had to look down to keep from stepping in it. Yuck.
Finally safely back on the bed, I crawled under the covers and wrapped it around my shoulders, tucking it tightly under my chin like it was cold, but the sweat that built between my breasts told me it wasn’t.
After a bit of fitful spurts of trying and failing to fall asleep, I finally found peace and fell into a deep sleep. Danu didn’t return to me, though, and I was equal parts disappointed and relieved. I missed seeing her and wished she’d had time to answer me but I also needed rest. Real rest.
Chapter Eleven
Lugh
The second I stepped through the portal into the bedroom, the icy spike of dread and worry lodged in my chest melted away at the sight of her healthy and sleeping there on the bed. My nose picked up the coppery scent of blood lingering in the room, but I knew it wasn’t hers, thank Danu.
Quiet, I realized she was alone. Tilting my head, I heard hushed voices outside below the window. Silently, I stepped to it to see Gearden speaking with Tomos and Dom, a fire raging around the fresh body they’d just tossed on top of the flames, another awaiting the same fate on the dirt beside it.
My fear was warranted, then, I thought. The instant I felt the panic and fear clench my chest; I knew something had happened. Only, I had to remain with my people in case they were in trouble as well. When I felt her settle, and nothing had come for us at the McIntire compound, I left Weis in charge to find Maeleigh. Using my magic, I was thankful I hadn’t lost the ability to portal, and accurately.
Turning away from the scene below, I looked back at the woman who had captured my soul. I didn’t understand it and I couldn’t change it. So, I did the only thing I could do about it, accept it. Danu didn’t make mistakes, I reminded myself.
And right now, she was drawing me closer to Maeleigh. Step-by-careful-step, I crossed to the bed she lay on, cocooned in the white blanket. Gently, I pulled the blanket from around her, waiting for her to stir. When she didn’t, I realized how exhausted she really was. Her mind and body hadn’t been allowed time to process all that had happened to her. Her magic probably still hadn’t fully recuperated either, I realized.
“That’s why you’re here,” something inside me whispered. I didn’t even try to determine if that was my own thoughts or someone else’s. I just took the words to heart. Blanket free from her slacked grasp, I unlaced my shirt and pulled it over my head. I left my pants on, laces loosened, as I slid in behind her, curling my body close to hers. I hadn’t realized how much my body craved to be close to hers. Something from deep within me reached with invisible tendrils, latching on to something deep inside her, locking on.
She moaned quietly as I pulled her hips into the cradle of my own, wrapping an arm over her waist and gripping close, melding her to me. With a little coaxing with my free hand, I tilted her head towards me, allowing me to take possession of her sleep swollen lips. Still at first, I was able to get her to open for me after the first three feathering kisses. Her mouth sighed open as she gasped for breath, now in the between of asleep and awake. When she did, I caught it with my own, taking in her scent, relishing the very air that touched her lungs, drawing it within me. I’d never forget feeling lighter at the sensation that went through me. Sitting up on my elbow then, I hovered over her, my hips pressed to hers, her blood, pumping beneath her skin, pulsed to my ears.
Belatedly, I pulled back, waiting. When her eyes fluttered open to focus on my face, seeing that she knew who was kissing her, who was holding her, whose magic called to her own, I growled something from the back of my throat and swooped in for more. No holding back, I demanded she give everything to me. She met me willingly at every sweep, thrust and touch.
She didn’t push me away when I cupped her breast in my hand, the other circling her neck to feel her heart race. Using just my thumb, I brushed her pert nipple, taking pride when she shuddered in my arms, a sigh escaping her lips at the same time.
I felt it then, her magic waking, reaching out to mine, beckoning. Like a breath of air, I pushed it out to meet hers. Auras swam around us as they danced together for a moment, swirling around our heads and in our minds. Then, they clashed together in a rush like a wave crashing against the cliffs of Dún Aonghasa in Ireland.
Like the cliffs, she was a dangerous wonder. Her magic was like mine, but different somehow. Lesser, I wasn’t sure, more, maybe, but we complemented one another. Her purple sparks and hues met my teal to make a burgundy that crackled and spun around us both. Probably no longer invisible to others, should any be in the same room to witness.
Thank Danu, there wasn’t though. I pulled her down and to her back, slinging my
leg over to tuck between hers and pressing flush to her core, her thin garments proving a measly barrier. Her heat was nearly as intoxicating as her aroused scent.
She moaned just then, sliding a hand between my braids, gently pulling as she held me to her, locking me to her. As if I would leave her then anyways. Not a chance.
“Lugh,” she rasped, nipping at my bottom lip. I could feel her magic strengthening. Opening my eyes briefly, I saw it brighten and shimmer with mine, complementing one another.
Suddenly, I ripped my lips from hers, pushed away and held myself above her, against her urging fingers at my scalp. Bereft, she opened her eyes, a plea already on her lips, but I stopped her, pressing my thumb over her lips. “Tell me you want this,” I demanded. I needed her to say it. Not just for my sake, but for hers and Gearden’s. I wasn’t impeding on their relationship, it was just…changing. Shit, please want this, I thought.
She gave herself a heartbeat or two to consider her answer, which I was thankful for, even in my struggle to hold it together during the eternity it felt like. Finally, she nodded. But I needed more.
“Say it,” I told her.
She gasped and said clearly, “I want this!”
“Thank Danu,” I growled and swiftly, moved to drag the clothing down her hips and off her legs, then making quick work of her shirt. The instant I saw her bared flesh, I nearly swallowed my own tongue from her beauty.
“Goddess above,” I groaned. “You’re beautiful.”
I wasn’t sure she could see my lips this far away and in the dark, so I leaned down to cup her face in my hands, being sure she saw me. “You’re beautiful.” I pressed my lips to hers in a searing kiss before I released her to drag my own remaining clothes off, then settled myself between her trembling legs again. Her body welcomed me, just as her magic did mine. A slow tempo at first, we learned one another. Using cues from her mewling sounds and gasps, I brought her up and let her crash, continuing to move as she rode it out and came back down, only to be brought up again. The second time she went over, though, I fell with her.
Truce: Book 1 in the Aftermath Series Page 11
