“You could,” he allowed. “But that’s not the real issue.”
Their eyes met. There were only a dozen or so earth shifter clans in the entire world, and although for the most part they rarely interacted, they were all pledged to guard the secret of their quartz with their lives. Because if the fae ever learned an earth shifter could be controlled through their quartz, they were doomed. As it was, too many fae treated shapeshifters as their personal servants and errand boys. If they discovered the secret, they could turn the earth clans into slaves.
Adric would sooner slit his wrists than trust someone from Rock Run with their secret. There was too much bad blood between the two clans. And now Rock Run was allied with the sun fae. No, Adric could never allow the secret to be shared with anyone from the river fada clan. Not even the woman raising Merry.
“We have to get her back.” Jace’s tone held a craving Adric understood all too well.
The Darktime had been years of terror and backstabbing, culminating in his betrayal by the man he’d thought of as his father. He and his small band of friends and family had survived only by digging in and protecting their own by any means possible. He’d have wanted to claim Merry Jones as one of their own regardless, by virtue of her being Takira’s daughter and Jace’s niece. But seeing her had aroused his every protective instinct. The too-big eyes in her thin, mobile face; the hair that, like Takira’s, seemed to have a mind of its own; the way she’d strutted alongside the Rock Run woman, so clearly proud of her new dress.
His clan had so few young ones. Only a handful of cubs had been born during the Darktime, and of that handful, only a few had survived, dead of either starvation or murder at the hands of a rival faction. Leaving Merry behind had been one of the hardest things he’d ever done.
He set a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “We will get her back.”
“How the fuck did they get her anyway?” Jace burst out. “I spent the past two years thinking she was dead. It was either that or go crazy, picturing Takira’s little girl enslaved by a night fae. And now I find out she’s been at Rock Run the entire time.”
“I’d like to know that myself.” Adric rose to his feet and went into the kitchen for some beer. “Merry is ours, Jace,” he said as he handed him a can. “We’ll get her back. I promise you that as both your alpha and your friend. But we can’t just bust in there and drag her out. We need a plan.”
“Like what?” Jace’s hand tightened on the can. “The clan’s tried to break through their defenses before. You’re the only one who ever got inside—and you had help from the fae.”
“If I did it once, I can do it again. But it may not come to that. We’ll patrol their outer boundaries, keep our eyes peeled. She’s a cat. She needs to roam. Sooner or later, we’ll have our chance. Meanwhile, promise me you won’t do something stupid like try to break in there on your own.”
Jace glanced away.
“I mean it,” Adric said with all the dominance at his command. “Give me your word or I’ll make it so you can’t take a step outside this den.”
He could do it, too, by keying his quartz to Jace’s. He had an unusual amount of power for a man so young, power that had been boosted by the hardship he’d endured. He preferred not to use it against his friends, but he would if it meant saving the other man’s life.
Jace scowled. “Fine. You have my word. I won’t try to break in there on my own.”
The talk moved onto other things, but Adric knew he had only a few days to think of something before Jace moved on his own. He stifled a sigh. The man would end up dead or in some dank Rock Run cell, and it would be his, Adric’s, fault. Because if the Rock Run alpha had even half a brain—and he did, unfortunately—he would keep Merry close to home. In fact, that’s apparently what the clan had been doing for years. He’d hadn’t heard even a whisper of an earth shifter girl at Rock Run.
So to get her back, he and his lieutenants would have to infiltrate river fada territory. They couldn’t go into the actual base, not without the concealing spell protecting it. But they could get close, watch where the sentries entered and exited.
And then they’d pounce.
* * *
Tiago’s palms were sweating. He rubbed them on his shorts. He’d been in hiding for the past ten days after leaving Dion and Cleia’s mating ball in a panic. Now he’d returned to the base, but only to gather his things before leaving for good.
Dion knew. He still felt sick when he let himself think about it. Not only had Tiago helped Cleia, he’d given the Baltimore earth alpha the location of Dion’s quarters. When the sun fae teleported into Rock Run to rescue Cleia, Dion had been with her. If his brother had died, it would’ve been Tiago’s fault.
Dion couldn’t let that go unpunished. Tiago figured the alpha had two choices—banish him from Rock Run, or order a quiet execution. Rather than wait to find out which, Tiago had slipped away from the mating ball and gone to ground in the den of his friend, Fausto, an otter whom Tiago had once saved from a trap. The patriarch of a large family, Fausto had been happy to give Tiago sanctuary, but he couldn’t hide in his friend’s den forever. His animal had been content, but the man needed to walk on two legs again, to speak in something besides grunts, chirps and squeals.
Worse, his mind was becoming hazy, the animal gradually taking control. And Tiago’s animal was a dark and frightening beast.
She should be ours, the beast whispered. If Dion were dead…
So Tiago had come home. In his otter form, he was large and obvious, his scent recognizable to those fada who knew him well. His dolphin would be equally recognizable, so he shifted to a form he almost never used—a rockfish. It had been years since he’d taken this form. It felt odd, his vision unusually sharp due to the fish’s large eyes, his mind confused by the additional information coming in from the lateral line, a sensory organ that detected movement and vibrations in the water.
He was careful to stay deep underwater until he reached the base’s marina, located on the Susquehanna River near the mouth of Rock Run Creek. Surfacing beneath the dock, he listened to the workers going about their chores. He soon learned that Dion had taken Cleia on a honeymoon, leaving Rui in command. That was all he needed to hear. He swam downstream until he reached a hidden tunnel. Built as an emergency escape route, it exited in a pool in the alpha’s bedroom so was rarely used by anyone but the alpha and his family.
As he’d hoped, Dion’s apartment was empty. He changed to man, snagged a pair of his brother’s shorts, and was settling down to wait for evening when he caught sight of himself in the mirror and winced. His hair was a tangled black mass and stubble shadowed his face.
Well, that he could fix. He washed his hair and worked out the snarls before scraping it back into a ponytail, then used Dion’s razor to remove the stubble. When he was done, he felt a little better, more in control.
He still had a half hour to kill until dinner, when the halls would empty as the clan gathered in the dining hall. He sat down by the pool and dangled his feet in the cool water, listening to the soothing flow of the waterfall that rippled down one wall.
The last time he’d been here, Cleia had been with him, her face and hair illuminated by a shaft of sunlight like an angel come down to earth. He’d been steeling himself to reach out and touch when Dion had come home and ordered him to leave. Treating him like a boy in front of the woman he loved.
At the memory, Tiago’s face heated. He should’ve stood his ground. Maybe then Cleia would’ve chosen him instead of his brother.
Dinnertime arrived, the scent of freshly-grilled fish making his mouth water. Deus, he’d give anything to join the people making their way to the dining hall, to go back to the way things had been just ten days ago. But it was too late.
He waited until the halls grew quiet, then slipped through the base to his room where he filled a waterproof backpack with clothes and a few necessities. As he exited the room he came face to face with Chico.
He froze,
but his friend merely grinned and clapped him on the back. “Tiago. Where the hell have you been hiding?”
Tiago relaxed a fraction. So his treachery wasn’t widely known, although that didn’t mean Dion hadn’t told his top men. He thought quickly. “My brother assigned me to scout the Baltimore shifters. There was a rumor at the ball that some of them are going to move against Lord Adric.” He swallowed the bile that the lie induced.
“Yeah?” Chico gave him an odd look, and Tiago wondered if he’d scented the lie. “What did you find out?”
He shrugged. “Nothing.” That much was the truth.
Chico glanced at the backpack. “Where are you off to now? Aren’t you going to eat?”
Tiago hesitated. Sweat trickled down his spine. What reason could he give for leaving the base without having dinner? His stomach clenched at the thought of another lie, so he told a half-truth.
“There’s this woman…”
“Human?” Chico’s lips curved in a knowing smile.
“Yeah. She has a thing for fada.” Tiago edged backward, hoping Chico wouldn’t scent his nervousness. “I promised to look her up when I wasn’t so busy. But, Chico? My leave hasn’t been officially approved. Can you forget you saw me?”
“Saw who?” his friend returned.
“Thanks, man.”
Tiago waited until Chico had turned the corner before heading back to his brother’s apartment. A minute later, he was in the pool and strapping the backpack on. This time he shifted to dolphin. When he reached the river, he headed toward the Chesapeake Bay and from there turned south to Baltimore.
It was as good as place as any for a man to go to ground.
* * *
From beneath the surface, Rui watched Tiago shift to dolphin and then shoot away from the base. As Rui had healed, he’d taken Branco’s advice and swum for hours each day, first as his shark and later as a man.
Now he watched as Tiago disappeared downriver. He could give chase, but he had a hunch this was for the best. Before leaving on his honeymoon, Dion had updated Rui on what had happened. An older man would’ve been banished—or even executed—but Dion hadn’t wanted that—and Rui had agreed.
“I can’t let him get away with it,” Dion had told Rui. “But I can’t send him away, or order his death. He’s my brother. And so damn young. But what the hell am I supposed to do? He gave Adric the coordinates to my quarters—in the very heart of the base. The Baltimore alpha, for Deus’s sake. I can’t ignore that. If anyone finds out, I’ll be fighting off challengers for the next year.”
Rui had wrapped his arms around his friend, shocked at how taut he was, a wire stretched close to breaking.
Dion exhaled. “I’d like to whip his ass for putting me in this position.”
“Go on your honeymoon,” Rui advised, releasing him. “Nobody knows but you and me.”
“And Lord Adric and Cleia and her bodyguards.”
“And them,” Rui acknowledged. “But they’re not going to tell anyone at Rock Run. He’s a fada male in his first heat. Remember us? Hell, I nearly caused a human-fada war.”
“That’s true,” Dion said. “My father was ready to ring your neck.”
“But he didn’t. He just made damn sure I never did anything like that again. Go on your honeymoon,” Rui said again. “Take the time you need to get to know your mate. You can leave Tiago to me. If he shows up, I’ll put him on kitchen duty. He’s off-base without permission; that will be enough to explain why he’s being punished. It will do him good to peel potatoes for a while. We did our share over the years.”
They shared a wry smile, and then Dion nodded. “All right. I can’t make a decision about him right now anyway. I’m too pissed off.”
And hurt, Rui thought but didn’t say.
He understood something of what his friend felt. Tiago was like a younger brother to him too; he’d tagged along after the two of them from the time he could toddle. Rui felt the same anger and hurt as Dion—along with a healthy dose of regret. Because in the decade since Dion had become alpha and Rui his second, the two of them had focused on the clan and its troubles, leaving the raising of Tiago and little Rosana to elders like Isa, the creche workers or whichever warrior was in the base at the time.
Rui didn’t see how they could’ve done it any differently, but still…
“Get out of here,” he said. “And Dion?”
“What?”
“Don’t worry about Rock Run. Luis and I can handle things. Enjoy your first few weeks as a mated man.”
Dion’s smile was very male. “I intend to.”
Now Rui watched as, a quarter-mile downriver, Tiago’s dolphin skimmed over a wave, a silver flash against the horizon. Rui could return to base and send a couple of men after him, but what was the point? Tiago was alive and apparently staying close to home. That was enough for now.
The youth had made a serious mistake and deserved to be punished for it. But Dion was wrong—no one would expect him to execute a twenty-one-year-old, brother or not. Everyone knew a fada male in the throes of his first heat had the common sense of a guppy. When Dion got past his hurt and anger, he’d see that for himself.
Rui’s stomach growled, reminding him it was time for dinner—and that Valeria and Merry would be waiting for him. He turned and headed back to the base.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“Mama?” Merry shot Valeria a winning smile as they entered the dining hall. “Can Tio Rui sit with us again tonight? Please?”
“It’s up to him, sweetheart. He might not want—”
“Oh, he will,” she said with a child’s absolute confidence and skipped off to play with her friends.
Valeria gazed after her, a tiny frown between her eyes. Things had been quiet the past couple of weeks, but Valeria didn’t fool herself that Lord Adric had given up.
Rui had arranged a meeting with Dion before he left on his honeymoon so that Valeria could explain what had happened. Dion had assured her that Merry was a member of the Rock Run clan now and that he’d fight any attempt by the Baltimore shifters to take her back.
“This thing with the crystal—” He shook his head. “But Merry’s okay for now, right?” When Valeria replied in the affirmative, he said, “So we have some time to figure this out. Let me see what Cleia thinks. She’s spent her whole life working with energy—she may know something.”
“Good idea,” Rui said.
Valeria’s jaw tightened. The last thing she wanted was to bring the queen into this, but this wasn’t about her, it was about Merry. “I’d be grateful,” she forced herself to say.
“Meanwhile,” the alpha continued, “don’t leave the base without a guard—not even to crab or fish. And keep Merry close to home. They might sense she is here, but they won’t be able to find her—not with the concealing spell Cleia had Lady Olivia cast for us. The only way Adric and the sun fae got into the base in the first place was with Olivia’s help.”
Valeria nodded. It was a relief to know that Adric couldn’t come and go at will. But—“How did Adric know where to find the queen? I heard he and the sun fae teleported straight into your quarters.”
“They had help,” was the grim reply. A shadow passed over Dion’s face, and she wondered who it could’ve been, to make his expression so bleak. “But, Valeria? No one is to know. Understand? I promise you, Merry is safe. The man is no longer at Rock Run—and he won’t be returning.”
Rui shifted as if in protest but remained silent. Valeria ducked her head. “Of course.”
Dion waited another few days until Rui was well on the road to healing, then left him in charge with Luis as second and departed on his honeymoon. Meanwhile, Rui moved back into his own apartment. She could tell he hadn’t wanted to leave, but he was too smart to push when he saw he was making her uncomfortable. Meanwhile, he was courting her as promised: bringing her flowers and a large box of her favorite chocolates, inviting her to the regular Saturday night shows put on by the base’s musicians and poets,
and joining her and Merry at meals whenever he could.
She couldn’t help enjoying it, even as she kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, afraid to trust that he really did want her.
She returned to work. She loved her long, solitary mornings on the river, and now she needed them even more as she tried to decide what to do about Rui. When she’d first decided to remain at Rock Run, she’d asked one of the clan’s old watermen to teach her his trade, and it turned out she had a Gift for it.
She crabbed in the old way—baiting a line with a chicken neck and dragging it along the river bottom or a shallow part of the bay, and then, when a crab latched on the bait, scooping it up with a hand net. Her Gift allowed her to nudge water animals like crabs or fish to move in any direction she wished. It had come in handy during the recent dark years as the river’s fertility declined. With her Gift, she could always be counted on to bring in a decent catch.
Although there’d been no sign of the Baltimore shifters since the confrontation in the cherry grove, Rui made sure she obeyed Dion’s order to either take a guard or stay within sight of the base’s marina. Today she’d chosen to crab alone in a small inlet a few hundred yards downriver from the marina. She hadn’t gotten much further in her thinking about Rui, but with the help of her Gift, she’d caught four bushels of crabs, to the cooks’ delight.
After lunch, she got Merry from the creche and they’d spent the afternoon playing in the creek along with some other parents and their pups within the protection of the concealing spell.
Back at their quarters, they changed and headed to the dining hall, where Merry darted off to play with Trina. All Valeria wanted to do was relax with her friends and a glass of wine until dinner was served, but the moment she was alone, Petros approached, smiling as if they’d never had that argument at the midsummer festival.
“Hello, glika. I’ve missed you.” His black gaze traveled down her body.
“Have you?”
She turned away, but he grabbed her arm and hustled her out a side door into a narrow, little-used hall. She allowed it only because she didn’t want the whole clan witnessing them fighting.
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