Rising Sun

by Lyla Oweds

  “Baby, pause and relax for a minute.” Caleb stepped in front of me, blocking my path as he grasped my hands into his own. When we stood this close, it was obvious that I had to look up at him. That despite his delicate nature, his frame was wider and bulkier than my own lithe form. But even though his masculinity couldn’t be denied, he was still beautiful. His lush mouth dipped, and his dark, voluminous eyelashes touched his cheeks every time he closed his eyes.

  He was the prince out of every fairy tale book I ever read.

  But I couldn’t be fooled, because his true nature was not so eloquent and refined. Something that was proven true with his next words. “While we wait, we should take the time to talk about our bond. This attraction.”

  What were we waiting for? And… “Attraction?” I repeated, cocking my head.

  This ability of his was infuriating.

  I’d been trying to hide it—the desire to bury my face into his neck every time I was alone with him. The burning need I had for him to cover my body with his own. In fact, my thoughts had drifted there seconds ago.

  My stomach clenched at the thought of pushing him to the ground and—

  “Of course, our abilities are complementary.” Caleb’s gaze was serious. “In the wild, it is the shifters who keep the fae in check. Because, fae can go bad—very dangerous, as you know.”

  The swirling train of my thoughts faded as my mind tuned into his words. “What are you talking about?”

  “It’s cute, the way you think you’re going to keep me in line. But, baby, let’s get real. The man always wears the pants in the relationship.” Caleb’s lips quirked, and assurance reeked from him.

  “Excuse me? What relationship?” I pulled my hands from his, stepping backward. The sentence was so absurd that I ignored the rest of his insulting statement. “What are you saying?”

  “Gregory.” Caleb’s grin faded, and his eyes searched my face. “Michael… I know what’s going on. You live with them…”

  “So…” I didn’t like this knowing look. He had better not be implying what I suspected…

  “Gregory and I were always meant to share.” Caleb sounded cautious now. “Michael’s a loud-ass moron and can’t keep a secret.” He pursed his lips as he paused, considering. “He’s not patient, and he has no idea how to act like an intelligent human being. I know he told you.”

  Wow, I was impressed. Here was someone else who thought Michael’s discretion could be improved. Caleb and Gregory really weren’t all that different after all. And this was yet another thing that Caleb and I had in common—

  I shook my head, dislodging the thought because it was becoming comforting to consider.

  “Are you trying to tell me that you’re the third…” I tried getting back to the topic at hand. But how to put a label on it. “Person?”

  “That’s a stupid way to say it.” His tone was bewildered, but he didn’t wait for me to respond. “But from your question, he did tell you.”

  “You’re not the third anything. It’s not you.” Panic raced through me. I’d barely gotten used to the idea of having two men, it was too soon to consider adding in the third.

  Besides, I loathed Greasers.

  Caleb smirked. “It is me. Why are you avoiding fate? I’m the man of your dreams.”

  “Of course you’re not.” Without thinking, I twisted my fingers into the lapels of his leather jacket. “Don’t you hate your brother? What about Michael? You don’t like cops.”

  “I don’t hate Gregory.” Caleb’s expression was carefully blank. “I don’t hate Michael, either. The three of us were friends, actually.”

  “Really?” I glanced at Caleb, intrigued.

  “Yeah.” Caleb nodded. “And then Gregory turned into a giant prick.”

  I’d pulled my arm back, about to punch him in the stomach, when a snapping twig echoed behind us. Instantly, my annoyance at Caleb retreated, and I turned to the intruder.

  Behind us, not even ten feet away, stood a man of Asian descent. He had deep brown eyes that seemed to see directly through me. His midnight black hair was slicked back away from his oval face, and his mouth pressed into a thin line as his gaze traveled over my form.

  But when he spoke, it was Caleb—not me—that he addressed. “Please say you didn’t…”

  “I found her, though David might have helped a little.” Caleb shrugged, glancing at me. “Gloria, meet Lee. Lee, this is Gloria—she’s the wolf I told you about.”

  “So why am I here? Has she done something that requires my services?” Lee crossed his arms, not even bothering to reply to my greeting nod. “Is that why you’ve asked me to meet you in this godforsaken place?”

  “No.” Caleb frowned. “I just knew you’d only come if you thought something interesting would happen. You wouldn’t help if there wasn’t anything in it for you.”

  “You told me this would be fun.” Lee narrowed his eyes at Caleb. “How dare you—”

  “What’s this?” I interrupted, moving between the two of them. I’d already been taken off-guard by Caleb’s strange behavior, but now this was too much.

  Before Caleb had even introduced him, I’d already known who Lee was. The onmyoji’s presence was a strong ripple in the air, a darkness pulling at my senses. He wasn’t nearly as deadly as Michael, but still. He was a barely restrained threat to my presence.

  And unlike Michael, whom I still hadn’t had a good reading on, Lee was not hiding the fact that he had a shikigami. My first encounter with an onmyoji who’d so blatantly shown his off hadn’t ended in my favor. So, in response, my senses were on high alert.

  Caleb was terrible. I hadn’t even technically agreed to join this quintet, yet. And he had to have known how seeing another onmyoji might make me feel. I never would have agreed to meet Lee until this case was closed, at the very least.

  I turned my gaze toward him, my disappointment heavy. “How could you?”

  “Lee isn’t going to hurt you,” Caleb said, waving his hand in the air unconcerned. “You trust Michael well enough. You’ll need to trust Lee as well. If you accept your role, that is.”

  Lee’s mouth turned down at the side. “Is there a doubt? And where’s the mystery you’ve promised me?”

  “Mystery?” I asked.

  “Lee won’t leave his cave unless there’s a chance for him to practice,” Caleb explained. “He picked a glutton of a shikigami. So Lee likes to come along if there’s a chance of a fight.”

  His shikigami was a glutton? That did little to calm my nerves. “But he won’t eat me?”

  “Nah, she won’t normally attack shifters,” Caleb said, swinging his arm around my waist and leading me forward. “But Lee also has a taste for dark magic.”

  I allowed him to lead me along the path as my confusion grew. “Magic? We’re here in the middle of the forest to look for magic?” I pursed my lips. “But the fae control witches, not onmyoji. Wouldn’t you be able to feel the presence of dark magic? And if you’re looking for magic, why isn’t David here? He is a witch.”

  “I can locate and break most spells,” Caleb said, kicking a rock as we moved toward the sound of the river. “But sometimes it takes the presence of a quintet to help. Especially in the complicated cases. David and I were already here once. I feel something, but we can’t pinpoint the source. He and Jordan will be here soon. I have a feeling things will be different now.” His eyes left the path for a moment, meeting mine. “We’ve never had a shifter with us before.”

  His words said one thing, but I knew what he meant: We never had a complete quintet before.

  I laughed nervously. “What about Ted?” I asked, referencing the shifter that Jordan mentioned once before.

  “It’s not the same, and you know it. Ted is not you,” Caleb explained. “Besides that, he’s a bit eccentric. He’s not fond of investigative work. It also helps to have Lee here. In case we’re found on pack property.”

  “So, you’re hiding from the wolves again?” Lee asked dryly as he
fell into step behind us. He didn’t seem perturbed or surprised by this conversation. Nor did he question Caleb’s judgement, though he’d never touched me. “How did you find her?”

  “She works with Abernathy,” Caleb replied, “and my idiot brother. But mostly Michael.”

  The back of my neck prickled with awareness—Lee’s shikigami remained just out of reach. And—just in case—it seemed prudent for me to add, “And I’m also Michael’s girlfriend,” I glanced at Lee from the corner of my eyes to judge his reaction. Michael was stronger than Lee. Surely there was a hierarchy there, like in shifter-verse. “So he wouldn’t be happy if you attacked me.”

  This caused Lee to finally react. He frowned, puzzlement crossing his expression. “Abernathy is dating a shifter? What universe is this? He loathes shifters.”

  Caleb’s open expression had shuttered closed at my admission, and he glared in Lee’s direction. “Never mind.” His tone was short. “Are you going to help us with this crime scene or not? I want to know what you think before David and Jordan get here.”

  We’d arrived at a deep-looking river with a rough current. Boulders of all sizes rested along the bank, as well as some fallen branches. It was too wide to swim across with the force of the water. But from here I could feel it, despite never having been on patrol.

  The Dark Creek pack’s land bordered along the opposite shore.

  “Crime scene?” Lee questioned, moving to my other side. He was surveying the scene with a critical eye. “What crime?”

  Without hesitation, Caleb pulled me to a dip in the bank—a dark shadow in the ground where to large boulders met. “The taint of the magic ends here.” He dropped my hand and faced me. His gaze focused on the path where we’d just come from. “It’s weak, but this area holds a touch of her spirit—along with something unreadable.”

  “There’s a dead person about?” Lee asked, crossing his arms. His dark eyes moved over the area, judgmental and wary.

  “A dead shifter,” Caleb replied, licking his thumb before he held it to the air. “I can’t command her. That’s why I called your lazy ass out here.”

  “I’m surprised at you.” Lee’s attention returned to Caleb. “You forget there’s a lady present.”

  I blinked at him; this had been the only welcoming thing he’d said since his arrival.

  “Feh,” Caleb scoffed, pointing to the river as he squinted. “It’s only Gloria, she doesn’t count.”

  “Hey now…” I’d been watching him, curious, before this. Trying to ignore the fact that my attention had strayed to his tongue, which peeked out from the corner of his mouth in his concentration. But his last statement prickled at my nerves. I might have been all for equal rights, but to be disregarded as a woman entirely… “Didn’t you say I was frail and elegant?”

  “At times.” Caleb dropped his hand from the air and glanced at me. “But right now, we’re working.”

  “What exactly did you find last time?” Lee asked, moving to my side. However, his attention didn’t even turn to me, nor did he give me any indication that he’d noticed the closeness of our skin, or the way my hair stood on edge at his presence. “Have you been able to communicate with her in any way?”

  I had to get away from him. He was unnerving, yes. But there was also something about him that felt familiar, comfortable. “Wouldn’t someone have tried to communicate with her spirit shortly after she died?” I asked Caleb, trying to ignore the other the man beside me.

  “Someone might have tried.” Caleb had been walking in a slow circle around us, and stopped as he spoke. “But shifter spirits are difficult for a medium to command. Anyone of strength was in seclusion fifty years ago, so it’s unlikely anyone succeeded.”

  Lee nodded, as if Caleb’s statement made perfect sense. Meanwhile, I frowned. “Seclusion?” What was he talking about?

  Lee raised a dark brow and glanced down at me. “You don’t know?”

  “Evidently,” I gritted out, flushing. “Shifter communities tend to focus on our own history. Outsiders are only discussed on a need-to-know basis.”

  Caleb’s head tilted as he studied me. He seemed to be contemplating something. Until, finally, he nodded. “That explains a lot.”

  Heat rushed through me. “Explains what?”

  “How little you know about fae, or onmyoji—outside of your prejudices,” Caleb said, brushing at his jacket. “It’s obvious the sort of person you are. If an issue doesn’t impact your life, you bury your head in the sand.”

  Embarrassment caused my breath to catch. That wasn’t true, was it?

  “I…” I’d been cautious of the world around me. I hated injustice, after all. I didn’t think I was close-minded.

  “A lifetime ago, our Xing—the ruler of our kind—was murdered. The Xing has been reborn multiple times, of course. But this was an act of betrayal. We were leaderless and it was a dark time in our history,” Caleb said, not waiting for further response. “Because of that, we were in isolation for quite some time, recovering. It hasn’t been until recent years the fae have once again decided to venture out into the world.”

  “Why?” If the fae had been in hiding because they lacked power, why would they venture out of their realm now? Clearly something had changed. Gregory and Caleb’s presence was evidence of that. “You’ve mentioned before your people are facing a sort of population crisis. Is that why you’re out here, and not hidden in your own realm?”

  “The world is a dangerous place for fae,” Caleb said, not answering my question. “Iron weakens us. And there’s pollution—the air itself is poison. Anyone of a pure line retreated to our realm for safety, and the only ones who remained were those who’d mixed their blood with the humans. We can survive in the world, yes. But before now, we’d no choice but to bide our time.”

  “What changed?” I narrowed my eyes at him. “Why are you in this realm? Are you looking for something?”

  “That being said…” Caleb ignored me, turning his attention back to the riverbank. “What we noticed was something else entirely.” He dramatically pointed toward a crevice in the stones. “There.”

  I frowned—he might have sounded certain about whatever-this-was, but there was nothing there, least that I could sense.

  Mouth open, I had a retort about my doubts of Caleb’s competence on my tongue, when a piercing whistle rang through the air.

  Thought fled as the blood left my head in a rush. My heart thundered in my ears as my attention turned to the man beside me.

  Lee had stepped back only a foot, his expression nonchalant as he gazed around the scene impassively. But I knew I’d heard the telltale call of a summoning.

  Sure enough, an instant later, the atmosphere stilled as the sudden humidity made my skin break out in a sweat.

  Smoke rose from the earth under Lee’s feet, momentarily turning his form into a blur as it rose. And even though it was ridiculous, my fear rose to almost indescribable levels as a small, white cat came crawling out of the aftermath.

  “What is that?” I was proud that my voice didn’t crack, at least.

  A warm hand covered my own, and Caleb’s voice washed over me. “It’s a cat.”

  “Her name is Cécile.” Lee was gazing at me, curiosity alight in his brown eyes. “And she’s just a Persian. Why are you hiding behind Caleb?”

  “What are you talking about?” I snapped, the absurdity causing indignation to swell. Me, hide? The very thought was offensive. “I am not…”

  My voice trailed off as the reality of my current position registered; I was, in fact, standing behind Caleb. When I’d moved, I wasn’t certain. But the fae stood between me and Lee, and my face was half pressed into his arm as I gripped his shirt tightly.

  His hand still rested over mine, and my eyes slowly moved upward from his surprisingly steady grip. From this position, the angular curve of his jaw was only a few breaths away, and his every beautiful feature seemed to have magnified.

  Caleb’s skin burned under my fi
ngers at the recollection. If I accepted Caleb, I’d be fulfilling another piece of the prophecy. There was also the fact that Caleb was a sexist moron, just like Blake.

  Although, were they really comparable? I doubted Blake would have dragged me out in the middle of the night to a crime scene. Caleb, at least, understood me on some level.

  It was kind of romantic, really.

  I stepped away from him, dropping my hand from his. “I’m not hiding behind Caleb!” I protested, waving my hand at the empty space between the two of us as proof. “See?”

  “Why are you scared of shikigami?” Lee asked in response, ignoring my protests.

  “I’m not scared of that thing!” I pointed at the fluffy beast. The creature cocked its head in response, her creepy eyes not leaving mine. And my hatred of the demon-spawn grew.

  “It’s just a stupid cat,” I added, glaring at it. Almost daring it to respond. “Give it a collar and it’d be nothing more than a domesticated pet.”

  After all, its master was here. And if Lee was truly in my quintet, there’s no way he’d seriously let it devour me—

  Then the beast opened her tiny little mouth, and a mild-sounding mew touched the air.

  “Oh God!” I jumped, somehow clamoring into Caleb’s arms without considering the consequences. Of course, it was a disobedient shikigami, because Lee had given it no orders to attack. “Make it stop. If you don’t control it, it’s call will drag us to the depths of the underworld.”

  “What in the world are you talking about?” Caleb continued to hold me against him, even as his concerned gaze met mine.

  Lee, who made no move to control his pet, cocked his head to the side as he watched us. “A bias, perhaps?” he asked.

  I hooked my fingers around the back of Caleb’s neck. And this position had put me back into the same situation I’d been trying to avoid seconds before.

  But still, Caleb’s face served as a distraction for only a moment. Then their confusion registered, and doubt touched me as my attention drifted back toward the animal. “That’s what shikigami do… right?” My wildly beating heart began to slow. “When they’re hungry, they drag shifters into hell and eat them.”