by Jen Talty
“Since when do you drink that?” Isadore pointed.
“I’ve been drinking it since… since…” Coral looked to the ceiling, watching the fan spin overhead. “I like coffee, but I’ve never had it before, have I?”
“No. You haven’t.” Isadore stepped back, looking Coral up and down.
“You’re freaking me out.” Coral knew things had changed so drastically since they’d fled their childhood home, but it had become painfully apparent that she had become someone else.
“You’re so different.” Her sister blinked but smiled, and that made Coral feel a little better.
“Your voice has changed, too.” Nico flipped a pancake, putting it on a plate and setting it on the table.
“You look like a woman, not a little girl,” Isadore said.
Nico laughed. “I noticed that a long—”
“Finish that statement, husband, and you will be sleeping in the doghouse.” Isadore waggled her finger.
“I like your family,” the boy…no, now he sounded like a man. But a man so far away that she wondered if he was hours from fading into nothingness.
“I’m currently finding them insanely odd.”
“Am I odd?” Drew asked as he stepped into the room, smiling at her like he might actually be totally into her.
“You’re not family,” she said.
“He’s your mate, so he’s more than family, and I think I know my birth name. It’s Norse.”
“That’s a weird name,” Coral projected. “I like Dayton better.”
“I think it means something,” Norse said. “I want to be called Norse now, okay?”
“Absolutely,” Coral said.
“I’ll get my sister to look into it.” Drew placed his hand on Coral’s shoulder. “Trust me, I know how strange this is, and I can’t say that I like my private thoughts with you being heard by Norse, but until we figure this out, the three of us have to become friends.”
“I’m being pulled farther and farther away, so I won’t be projecting myself to either of you very often,” Norse said.
“What are you two talking about?” Nico asked, waving the spatula in the air. “Because I can tell when you’re projecting.”
“If you feel too far away, tell me. Maybe if I leave—”
Norse interrupted Drew. “It’s not you. I feel stronger with you here.”
“Hopefully, that is a good sign.” Coral sipped her coffee, her taste buds cheering as if they’d just won the super bowl. She remembered being in her father’s kitchen, smelling the rich aroma and hating it, yet wanting to savor it so badly it made her crazy.
“For the record, I hate coffee,” Norse said with a slight laugh. “I’ll leave you all alone to figure things out.”
“One of you better start talking.” Nico dropped a plate of pancakes on the table.
“It’s too weird to say out loud.” Coral settled into one of the seats. She felt more like herself, what she knew of herself, and that cluttered her mind. Her memories swirled with those of Norse’s. It was almost as if they were trading places. As if for years, she lurked in a dark corner of her mind, unable to break free from a chain that had been created to protect her.
So, how did she do the same thing for Norse?
“We’re both in contact with the being, who thinks his name is Norse,” Drew said, getting his own mug before sitting at the table. He winked when he glanced in her direction.
Her stomach filled with butterflies. It reminded her of the first time she’d ever smelled a fairy.
Wait? She’d smelled one? She was one. So that didn’t make sense to her, but maybe it was Norse who had…
No. He was a fairy too.
She sucked in air through her nose, trying to decipher all the scents in the room.
Wolf.
Fairy.
Wolfairies.
Isadore’s twins.
It was the scent of the Wolfairies that caught her attention. She’d loved the scent of Finn and Ivy the second she’d lifted one of them into her arms. She could rest her nose against their tiny, little heads and take in the sweet, innocent aroma all day long.
A tickle of a memory of something similar massaged her mind. Maybe it was a memory of Norse?
Well, she’d bother him and Drew with that idea later.
“You spoke to it?” Nico asked with wide eyes. “Like projected with it?”
“Exactly.” Drew raised his mug. “He seems like a nice enough fairy and not only do we need to get him out, we need to put him somewhere to keep what’s left of him together.”
“Left?” Isadore asked.
“He feels like he’s disappearing,” Coral added.
“The vase,” Isadore said. “It worked for Ralph and all the other Royals. That should be a good place for him.”
“Why don’t we go get it?” Nico set the griddle next to the sink. “Maybe all she needs is to come in contact with it.”
“I was the one hiding it, so I don’t think that is the case.” Coral remembered feeling the positive energy that came off the glass bottle, and it really helped her when her sister had been out of the house when they’d been kids. It helped her stay happy and focused on… no. It helped Norse stay on task. Even though he had no idea he was inside her to protect her, he’d done it.
“You haven’t touched it since I opened it.” Isadore jumped from the table. “It can’t hurt to try.”
“Go get it and we’ll devour these pancakes,” Drew said, stabbing a fork into a fluffy stack.
“I’m starving.” Coral followed his lead, waving her fork in the air and smiling. “We’ll be here, enjoying these.”
Nico laughed, shoving a laptop across the table. “And looking at the flash drive Cheryl gave you because I think this might be important. And you might have Norse, or whoever, watch it too.”
“I’d forgotten about this.” Drew put the stick in the side of the computer.
“I like weddings,” Coral said, then nearly choked on her pancakes as everyone in the room stared with her as if she’d just caught the garter belt.
Chapter 7
“Are you ready?”
Coral stood behind Drew, who sat in front of the computer, his fingers hovering over the keyboard. “I don’t think my life could get any weirder.”
Drew laughed as he glanced over his shoulder with a half-smile. His facial muscles relaxed, and his eyes sparkled like the night sky peppered with stars. When he looked at her like that, her insides melted like butter sizzling in a pan. “It just might when we go to pull out Norse.”
“I’m totally sure that is his name. I mean, my father has a fairy name, Ralph, and when he was in a human body, he was Peter.”
“I think you have a thing for the name Dayton. Was it one of those boys who kissed you?”
She laughed. “Jealousy doesn’t look good on you, but no. Do you want to know their names?”
“God no.” He narrowed his eyes. “Can we change the subject?”
She patted his shoulder, her thoughts drifting back to Norse. “I feel like I should know more about Norse than I do.”
“He’s been living inside you for eighteen years, presumably; I suspect he knows you better than I know you.” Drew scowled. “I don’t like that as much as I don’t like knowing someone else’s lips were planted in twisted passion on yours.”
Coral didn’t like it when his mouth turned into a downward crescent moon. It reminded her of when she’d first come to the farm, and he gave her strange looks. Of course, had she really been herself? No. She’d been a form of her inner self, but as she searched through her memories, she realized it was like sitting in a recliner with a bowl full of popcorn and watching a movie where her body was the star, but her mind was somewhere else.
She squeezed Drew’s shoulder, digging her fingers into his thick muscles. “If it helps, Norse feels more like a big brother or something.”
“Might help a little.” He turned his head and clicked a few keys with harsh movements
.
She bit down on her lower lip, suppressing a giggle. “I’d be jealous if some chick were occupying your brain and I can’t say I’m thrilled knowing you’ve been with other women.” Coral rested her chin on his shoulder and waited for the video to start. Her pulse increased as she thought about how he’d kissed her and what it would be like to be with a man.
Not just any man.
But Drew.
Even though the pull wasn’t as strong as Isadore said it would be, there was a sensation of cool water rolling across her warm skin after a long walk in the hot sun.
Could that be what desire felt like?
But what did she know of love, much less making it? She shivered.
“Are you cold?”
“No.” Her cheeks flushed as she imagined his bare chest. Her hands burned at the memory of his tight abs as they flexed under her touch. He had to know she’d never had sex, and she worried how would he react to know she wasn’t ready and might not be for a while.
No matter the sensations filling her body.
Did she have to have sex to mate with him? And if that was part of the ritual, and it was done before they cast out the spirit, what would happen to Norse?
What would happen to her?
Too many questions and not enough answers.
The computer screen blinked just as Isadore took Nico’s hand and stood in front of everyone. The ceremony had been short, to the point, and romantic as hell. Isadore had never looked happier. Only she hadn’t had many days in her young life to be joyous about.
It hadn’t been a typical wedding. Isadore didn’t wear a dress. Nico didn’t wear a suit. But tradition didn’t matter.
Their love did, and it showed in their wide smiles and bright eyes.
Drew appeared on the screen. He didn’t smile as he walked across the front yard, his gaze at his feet, his hands clasped behind his back.
“You look miserable.”
“Our lives have changed so much since Chaz met Daphne. It’s been hard to take it in at times,” he said, reaching his hand up and looping it over the back of her neck, squeezing gently. “Why don’t you sit?”
She lifted her chin from his strong shoulder. A cool breeze rippled across her skin as she pulled out the chair. She liked touching him. Feeling how his body twitched and at the same time the tension he carried in his thick muscles slid off his body.
“What’s bothering you?” he asked as he turned the computer, so she could see better.
No way was she going to tell him what she’d been thinking right then and there, but she had other concerns that needed to be addressed. “What we know about the spirit inside me isn’t true.”
“What do you mean?”
She kept her focus on the video of the wedding, searching for herself. She was surprised that she’d yet to be seen, but then again, she’d spent most of the time with the young fairies that day, feeling more comfortable with them, even though she felt a strong desire to sit at the grown-ups table. “We were told that I would remain as I was if we didn’t banish the spirit, only I’m changing and if we trust the spirit, he’s dying and that means Gerri and everyone else has it backward.”
“The Legend of the Wolf and the Fairy Princess was off by a few things, so I’m not surprised that this too could be slightly wrong. We’re dealing with concepts from hundreds of years ago. Lots of things could get lost in the translation. But we also don’t know what will happen if we don’t remove Norse from your body. Will you go back to that person who skipped around the farm like a small child? Will Norse take over again? Will you both die?”
“None of those are pleasant thoughts.” She leaned away. The idea she could revert back to a clueless child was worse than the concept she might die.
“I agree.” He let out a long sigh. “You know, I remember wondering where you were for half the reception, but I’m shocked we haven’t seen you yet.”
“I was off to the side of Isadore during the wedding and it looks like the camera never scanned that way.” Coral leaned in and tapped her finger on the screen and the camera continued to follow Nico and Isadore as they walked hand in hand through the crowd of wolves in the traditional acceptance ceremony of the pack. Right in front of them, Chaz and Daphne paved the way, and following them were Drew and his sister. “I didn’t partake in this because I’m not a wolf nor married to one.”
“Yet,” Drew said softly.
She blinked. “Do you want to get married?” Her voice trembled like a little girl who’d been scolded. She hated that sound and wished she hadn’t asked the question.
“I do, but I’m not in a hurry.” He rested his hand over hers in a loving gesture. “What about you?”
“I hadn’t ever thought about it until I came here, but yeah, I do. I just don’t think I’m even remotely ready, and we’re being pushed and—”
“No. We’re not.” He pushed his chair back, turning and cupping her face. “The pressure is only to free the spirit and mate. Mating doesn’t mean we have to get married. I know wolves who have claimed mates when they were too young, but knew they were destined to be together. Think of it like getting engaged. It’s a promise and we can take it as slow as we want.”
A smile spread slowly across her face. “That’s a relief, but what if we have to produce these Wolfairies right—”
“Right now, our purpose is to take care of the spirit. That’s it.” He pressed his lips against hers. Slowly at first, but quickly, a fire lit up deep in her belly, and it jolted her from her seat. “We should look at the video,” she said, holding her fingers over her mouth.
“You didn’t like that?”
“Quite the opposite, but we need make sure our eyes are on the computer screen, not each other.”
“Good point.”
Coral brushed her hair over her shoulders, leaning her elbows on the table, doing her best to ignore the sexy man making her feel like warm honey being spread over a piece of bread fresh from the oven. If being a woman always felt like this, then she was on board one hundred percent.
“There I am,” she said with so much excitement, fairy dust filled the room. She laughed, pulling the screen closer. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to…what the hell?”
“What is it?” Drew dropped his arm protectively over her shoulders.
She squinted as she pressed her palms against the table. A talk, dark shape followed her as she skipped with some of the fairy children during a dance at the reception. It almost looked like dull, black fairy dust in the form of the same large wolf she’d seen in her vision.
“Do you see that?” she asked, trying to keep her balance.
“I do.”
The roaring sound of the ocean waves crashing against the sand filled her mind. A white cloud of dust flew over her head. Reaching her hands out, she tried to push it away, but it circled her entire body. In the distance, she saw the wolf she’d seen in her one and only vision. He sat at the edge of the woods, staring at her with empty eyes. She wore a spring dress, though when she glanced up, the sky filled with snowflakes.
While she knew her body was sitting in Drew’s kitchen, the dust that had coated her, took her somewhere else.
It didn’t feel like her fairy powers had created it, but she didn’t really know what that was like.
But she knew it wasn’t Norse.
Looking around, she tried to find a clue as to where she might be but found nothing. She took in a deep breath, and let the vision, if that is truly what it was, come to fruition.
Black birds, maybe crows, flapped their wings overhead, as if to lead the way.
She took a few tentative steps forward, surprised that she wasn’t cold, considering her bare feet crunched in thick snow.
The wolf raised up to all fours. She paused for a second; a familiar presence eased into the vision.
“Wait,” Drew’s voice howled.
She glanced over her shoulder to see a beautiful brown and white wolf charging toward her. “How di
d you get in here?” she asked with a sense of delight and trickle of unrest.
“Where is here?” He stopped in front of her, blocking her from moving forward. His big blue eyes staring intently into hers.
“I don’t know. But I had a vision once of this place and you and that wolf over there.” She pointed toward the tree line. “I thought maybe in the vision that big over there was you, because you always looked at me weird and he’s kind of intimidating.”
“He’s not like me.” Drew turned and growled.
The dark wolf took a few steps back.
“How is he different?” she asked.
“He’s not a werewolf. Just your plain old regular wolf, only he’s twice my size, so that tells me something is off with him.”
“He looks sad. Empty.”
“Maybe hungry,” Drew said with a teasing tone. “Can we go now?”
She shook her head. “This is a vision. I have to find out what it means.”
“You said you had it before.”
Reaching down, she scratched the top of Drew’s head, enjoying him being near in this form. He stood about three inches taller than her waist, which was a decent size wolf. His coat felt like silk between her fingers. “Yes. And you were here, only I didn’t know the wolf beside me was you, making me feel safe.”
“I’m glad you feel safe around me.” Drew turned and started inching toward the woods. “You lead the way, but if that thing over there shows any aggression, stay back, got it?”
She kept her hand on the back of his neck, taking her steps side by side with his.
The dark wolf lowered his head as he moved slowly, as if he were an old man with weak bones.
“I don’t like this,” Drew said softly. “Something isn’t right with that creature.”
“He’s harmless.”
“How do you know?”
“I don’t, but I feel a sense of utter loneliness in him. Almost like someone damaged his soul, leaving him broken and alone.”
Drew nudged her with his snout. “Stay back. Let me greet him.”
She wasn’t about to argue with Drew. Even though she no longer feared the dark creature, he could eat her in two bites if he wanted to. She wrapped her arms around her middle. In a fight, that big, dark wolf could do some damage to Drew.
