by Sadie Jacks
Xander elbowed his twin in the belly. “He’s also a better human than you. Quit bitching. You’re embarrassing yourself, and more importantly, me, again.”
Asher rubbed his stomach, grumbled under his breath.
“Ignore him, Tennotith,” Atlas said, a smile on his face. He stepped closer and jumped straight into having a highly anatomical discussion that I lost track of within the first minute.
Turning to the rest of the guys, I briefed them on what happened with my parents. “Apparently Juan and Ferria have reached out to them. They’re all on the warpath. Claude and Charlotte are going to try to fight the take over in a business tribunal. Juan and Ferria don’t have a leg to stand on especially in regards to Kiema, but they’re going to try to dig up dirt on all of us.”
Xander snorted, crossed his arms. His bare chest glinted in a shaft of sunlight from a hole in the ceiling. “Fat lot of good that will do them. We’re so clean we squeak. I also made Kiema’s adoption official instead of them buying her from that orphanage.”
I ran a finger across my throat, my eyes wide as I looked at him.
Kiema stiffened in my arms. “What? What did you just say?” She moved into the middle of the loose circle we’d made. Hands on her hips, she glared at our computer expert.
He chuckled weakly. “Um. Surprise?” He lifted his hands, shrugged.
Kiema got up into his face.
Xander lifted his hand, wrapped from tip to elbow in his shirt, and put a hand on Kiema’s belly. “I didn’t know you didn’t know, sweets.” He glared at me over her head.
She looked at me over her shoulder. The hurt and anger in her expression ripped me to shreds.
I sighed. “We found out when we were doing the work to find you, angel. I wasn’t hiding it from you.” I rubbed my hands over my face, stifled the urge to scream. “I lost you to some crazy kidnappers, I finally get you back only to have you so close to death I could almost smell it on you. And now we have a huge ass dragon in a warehouse I’ve never seen before. There’s been a lot going on.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. There literally had been no time to tell her since we got her back. I wasn’t going to apologize for that. I was doing the best I could with the shit life kept throwing at me.
“Details. Now,” she said, glaring at Xander.
I exhaled slowly. Thank Gaia I wasn’t the man in the hot seat. I wanted to make love to her later. That wasn’t going to happen if she was pissed at me.
“You were found in a village in Upari. There were no official records of you. Juan and Ferria showed up one day. Apparently, Juan had taken an instant interest in you,” Xander said, his teeth clenched, his lips almost white with rage.
We’d known what Juan wanted to do with Kiema before they found out she had magic. My stomach roiled at the idea of that man’s hands on the love of my life. On threat of torturous death, he’d promised he hadn’t touched her. Violated her. Especially after they discovered she had magic. He’d turned to other little girls for his sick pleasure.
Kiema shuddered. “Once, when I was a little girl—maybe six or seven—I saw another girl, who couldn’t have been too much younger than me, leaving my father’s office with Ms. Cartwright. The other girl was so scared. She was shaking so hard she almost couldn’t walk. Ms. Cartwright snapped at her, ‘Little whores deserve what they get.’ I didn’t understand at the time. But ever since that day, I’ve known that man I called father was a monster. That he did awful things to the people around him.”
Xander rubbed his covered hand down Kiema’s shoulder. Understanding and a shared pain lit his dark eyes. He knew what it was like to have monsters for parents.
“He swears he never touched you.”
Kiema laughed, the sound harsh and brittle in the quiet. “He wouldn’t have been able to.” She rubbed her hands up and down her arms. “For the first time in my life, I’m glad to have the powers I do. The curse that kept me separate, locked away, also kept me safe.”
Her head bowed as her shoulders dropped.
Xander looked up at me, fear, anger, and desperation in his eyes.
I walked over, pulled Kiema into my arms. Her tears were silent as they streamed down her face. Her tears wetting the front of my shirt, I held her. She wasn’t alone now. She wasn’t locked away anymore. Now she could have a full life, with love and joy and wonder.
Soon, she laughed, the sound a little damp. “Oh man, I seriously love you guys. They aren’t my parents.” She pushed from my arms, threw her hands in the air, and jogged in a circle as if she’d just won a fight.
I could almost hear some anthemic song celebrating her victory. She whooped and hollered. Screamed and took some testing jabs.
I was in awe of her. Nothing really kept her down. Not for long anyway.
A noise brought my attention to Taryk and Xander. They stood watching her, the only two left in our group who hadn’t been healed yet. Xander looked like he was either going to join Kiema in her victory laps or go out and kill Juan and Ferria barehanded.
Taryk smiled, a little indulgently, a little sarcastically. The man pushed emotions away as if his life depended on it. But I could see Kiema being the one to get past that barrier he kept around himself. She’d wiggle and sidle and sneak and love him into coming out and fully experiencing life.
She slowed her jubilations, stopping in front of Xander once more.
His expression melted into pure joy. My own heart pinched at the hope I saw in his eyes, that he wore on his face. He, probably more than all of us, needed Kiema’s healing. Even if he didn’t shift into an animal, he needed his whole heart.
“Thank you for telling me, Xander. As soon as I get you healed, you and I are going to cuddle.”
Xander’s cheeks heated. “I’ll hold you to that.”
“I’ll be the one holding you. What other news do you have for me?”
“Um, you’re incredibly wealthy. You own the cabin, the Tower, all of Feuer Holdings, and a nice little tropical island out in the middle of nowhere.” He ticked off each item on a finger.
She laughed. “No, really. What other news?”
He waved his hand at her that held the ticked fingers, “That’s all true, sweets. All official like and everything. Saint set it up. It’s only one of the reasons your parents are in cahoots with the Kolefnis. They want their shit back.”
Kiema snorted. “More like they want their power back.” She crossed her arms. “I’m really in charge of all of it?”
Xander nodded, a slight smile pulling on his face. “Really really.”
“Damn. Anyone need a job?” she asked.
“Saint set up the financials. Ransom is handling everything else,” he said, tipping his chin at me.
Kiema turned, moved back into my arms. “My hero.” She leaned forward, planted a kiss on my chest.
“You said that Kiema owned the cabin, yeah?” Lukas said.
I’d honestly forgotten that he was in the building. He was so quiet. He and Taryk could have a field day sneaking around, scaring the shit out of the rest of us.
Xander nodded. “Yes. She’s the official owner.”
“Is that where your magic could be?” He looked at her, one red brow raised.
She turned, leaning her back against my front. “If the bloody spheres are my magic, then yes. That’s where they are.” She tilted her head up, looked at me. “Did you guys move them?”
I shook my head. “We left almost immediately after you’d been taken. Everything should still be there.”
“Then I suggest we go back. Not only is my magic there, but there’s enough room for all of us to stay in one place.”
Taryk snorted. “We have enough room across the street. Plus it's already set up with security measures. It would take us at least a month to get the cabin up to speed with everything we would need for not only CPI, but also for any additional security we might need from the Kolefnis, now the Feuers, and possibly Montague. We’ll continue to house here.”
Kiema nodded. “Oh, yeah, that makes more sense. Who wants to go on a road trip to get my disgusting magic out of the toilets?”
Chapter 17 – Kiema
“I think we’re going to have a problem,” Taryk said from the front seat of the massive black vehicle that looked like it could withstand a bombing.
“What’s wrong?” I pushed up between the two front seats. I could see the problem for myself. “Oh. That’s what’s wrong.” The manned gate was deserted. Not only that, it was flattened as if run over by a steamroller.
Taryk gunned our truck. The debris of the gate no match for its size and durability. We screeched to a stop at the front door. It was hanging from its top hinge.
“Shit. What if we’re too late?” I asked as everyone began piling out of the vehicle.
“Don’t borrow trouble. Let’s go in and see what we find.” Taryk pushed open the front door, a sleek black gun in his hands. He pushed the door so hard it slammed against the wall on the inside. He stopped its return path with his foot.
“Lukas, you’re next. Then Ransom. Kiema. Asher, Xander, you bring up the rear.”
“Too bad the dragon couldn’t have come along,” Lukas said as he pushed to the front of the line. He had a gun of his own grasped in his hands.
“He’ll be sorry he missed it. Now shut up.” Taryk stepped through the door.
A soft ‘clear’ could be heard. Lukas entered, facing the opposite way.
Eventually they got the cabin completely cleared. I’m pretty sure it took them close to fifteen minutes to check every single nook and cranny.
I stood with Ransom at the big kitchen island. We’d left the main living areas a mess with our sudden departure the first time, but it was in total shambles now. Pillows were ripped apart, their stuffing dotting the hardwood floors like small snowdrifts.
The lamps had been destroyed, the bulbs shattered. The glass glittered in the late afternoon sun.
My oasis, my sanctuary, had been breached. One of the doors was completely off, the other listed drunkenly from a bottom hinge. Beyond the door, all the fabric, even the mattress, had met the sharp end of a blade.
“What the heck were they looking for?” I asked. My heart hurt looking at the debris of the one place I’d felt safe. I’m safer now than I ever was in this house. I stiffened my spine, raised my head. “Whatever it was, I’m hoping they didn’t find it.”
“Sweetheart, come here,” Taryk called from across the living room.
Ransom and I walked through the shared living space and took the far left hall. Taryk stood in the doorway where I’d puked up the first piece of my magic. “It’s gone.”
I hurried the last few steps. “What do you mean ‘it’s gone?’”
The toilet bowl sat empty. The water was a faint pinkish color; the only reminder that something had been in it. The vomit that had heralded its appearance sat at the bottom of the bowl.
“What about the other bathroom?” I asked, my stomach dropping.
“Nothing.”
“Who the fuck even knew they were here?” Ransom asked from behind me.
I shrugged; Taryk mirrored the movement.
“Fuck.” Ransom ran a hand through his hair. “We need to get them back.”
“And to do that, we need to find who took them first,” Taryk answered.
Ransom nodded.
“Do we think my – Juan and Ferria took them?” I asked.
“Right now, we have three factions that we are aware of who could want them. We need to start doing a full electronic workup. We need to know where they and all their main players have been.”
“Can we tell when anything was disturbed or taken?” I asked.
Lukas stood behind Ransom. “The wood of the front door has some damage. It looks fairly new to me. Some of the stain was chipped away. The wood underneath hasn’t changed color.”
“How soon would it change color?” Taryk asked.
Lukas rubbed a hand over his neck. “Depends on the weather. Do we have a weather report for this area in the last two weeks?”
“Xander,” Ransom called.
“On it. Clear for most of it. There were some storms up here two days ago,” Xander said as he joined us in the hallway.
Lukas turned and walked back down the hallway. We all trooped after him. He got to the front door. He bent down and pulled a small box of matches from one of his many pockets. He lit the match, held it to the new wood. The door immediately took the flame where the stain had been damaged. “I would say this all happened in the last two days then. This wood is bone dry.”
He doused the match and stood up.
“Um, guys? You’re gonna wanna see this,” Asher called from the room Ransom had used during his ritual time here.
We made the short trek back across the living room. Single file through the door, we stood in a small circle.
“Okay, Asher. What’s the big reveal?” I asked. I was looking around the room, and other than Ransom’s disregard for cleanliness, I didn’t see anything that was of concern.
“Ki-Ki, you doubt me?” He laid a hand over his heart, his lower lip poking out. “I’m shattered, love bug. Shattered.”
“You’re about to be truly shattered if you don’t tell us what is going on,” Taryk said, tone dry as the desert.
Taryk was treated to the hurt look before Asher motioned us all over to the bathroom. “Behold.”
I stepped into the bathroom. “What the—”
“Fuck?” Ransom finished my thought.
The bathroom was covered in red. Like some kind of serial killer spree, crimson dripped from every available surface. The mirror was not only speckled with it, in some places, dragging fingerprints swept its face. I looked up; splatter dotted the ceiling.
A wet sigh sounded from behind me. The soaking tub was filled with a thick viscous scarlet liquid. As I watched, something bubbled to the surface. A rounded shape covered in either fur or hair broke the surface.
I must have made some kind of noise. Ransom was beside me, his arm wrapped around my shoulders. He leaned down, looked at me. I pointed; my voice gone, disappearing under the horror that besieged my mind.
“Th-th-that’s Dallas. The front gate guy.” The goo that was plastering his hair to his face slumped off in a big rush as his jaw opened. Something was stuck in his mouth.
“I’ll get it,” Taryk said. He stepped forward and retrieved what looked like a small plastic bag. Inside was a piece of ripped paper. Running the bag under the faucet, we discovered there was writing on the other side.
We have something of yours; you have something of ours. Bring it to Kolefni Inc.’s main building or we give it to Iron Serpent.
PS, greetings you little bitch. Sorry you didn’t die in the helicopter.
The writing was loose and flowy, if a little cramped on the small piece of paper.
“Ferria wrote that,” I whispered. “Why would they kill Dallas? How would they have known to take the balls? No one else knew about those.” Even as I voiced the questions, the knowledge invaded my mind. Crept up from the part of my psyche that had needed this place. This haven.
“I think I might know,” Xander said.
I felt my belly clench when it was Xander who answered. “If it’s what I think it is, I need to get out of this bathroom before I hear it,” I pushed past all the guys.
Xander, Taryk, and Asher were careful not to touch my skin as I made my way back to the living room.
“They had the cabin under surveillance, didn’t they?” I asked Xander.
His expression hardened as he looked at me. “I’m so sorry, sweets. All I seem to bring you is bad news.”
The expression on his face broke my heart. I didn’t know his full story, but I knew someone had hurt him deeply. For whatever reason, he accepted it as his cross to bear. He kept himself apart. Always close, but rarely involved. I knew that pain, that hunger.
The look in his eyes tugged at me. Wrenched at my lungs, tighte
ned my chest. This man, maybe more than all the others, needed some love. Some healing.
Without another word, I walked straight into his arms, making sure to slide my bare skin against his.
“I’m here, Xander,” I said as I was pulled into his spirit.
The other guys’ spirit planes had been almost chaotic in their mix of colors. Xander’s was serene. Like a slow-moving brook, it went from one point to the next without fanfare or attention. Much like the man himself.
I’d expected his colors to more closely resemble his brothers due to their genetics. I would have been wildly, dangerously wrong. Xander had more than the triplet of colors of his brother or Atlas. Purples, oranges, greens, blues, and reds, Xander looked like a tormented rainbow on the spirit plane. He also had more than the thread of pulsating black. His black was sheltered by a lacework of silver.
If seeing Ransom’s spirit plane had been a surprise, I was completely in awe of Xander’s inner magical landscape. The colors wove together, each distinct in their brilliance, as they entwined and meshed. There was only one place that interrupted that flow of sparkling shades. A throbbing black nest of emptiness.
I could feel it tugging at me, calling for me.
I didn’t need to travel with the black and silver thread. It was right there. Waiting. I reached forward with my magic.
Instead of the tacky substance I was accustomed to dealing with, this time my spirit came as easily to my fingers as air into my lungs. The charcoal black rock in the middle of Xander’s river eagerly inhaled my spiritual tendrils. I continued to breathe life and love into the hurt, lonely center of this man I considered mine.
This time, because why should anything be normal, the black barrier began lightening in tone. It faded from black to gray to white. From white, it began to swirl with blues and purples.
As if his spiritual plane and my own had worked out some previous agreement, the pull on my magic began to lessen. The swirling rock of Xander’s hurt lifted out of the river. There it turned itself into clouds.
Those clouds darkened into storms. As I watched, multi-colored rain fell in torrents. His river swelled beyond its banks. Soon, his spirit plane was flooded with his magic, overflowing and carefree.
