by Quinn Loftis
They stood in a small glade. On the other side of the pond was the Veil to the human realm. Did it mean that his father had come from the human realm? Was that where the Order was headquartered? Or was it a ploy to make him believe that? On the tail end of that thought, there was movement in the trees just past the Veil and then his father, Ludcarab, appeared. He looked exactly as Thalion had remembered him. Tall, slim, with long hair that was more platinum than blonde. His eyes were the same piercing green, and the hard gaze with which he fixed his son brought to Thalion many memories—few of them pleasant.
“Son,” he began as he started walking toward them.
In an instant, Cyn was in front of Thalion—her daggers drawn, knees bent, and body leaned slightly forward— poised to strike.
His father laughed. “When did we start hiring fae guard dogs?”
Thalion saw Cyn’s back tense and knew she was seconds away from attacking. His female was tough, and powerful. She’d kick his father’s ancient ass, of that Thalion had no doubt.
“She isn’t my guard, she is my mate, my bride to be,” he said proudly as he stepped closer to her and put a hand on her waist as a reminder that he was there; he was safe.
“The kingdom has fallen onto hard times indeed. I never imagined that you’d have to seek a mate among another species.” The condescending tone set Thalion’s teeth on edge.
“Why are you alive?” he asked without acknowledging the older king’s words.
“I’m alive because our people need a real leader, one with a vision—a vision of our people in the rightful place, not cowering in fear from the humans.” The conviction in his voice was surprising. He truly believed what he was saying.
But that wasn’t why Thalion had asked the question. “You know what I meant. You promised that you were going to punish yourself for the affair by giving your life as an offering? Did you miraculously return from the dead? Because surely you wouldn’t disrespect my mother, your wife and queen, and our entire realm, twice in one lifetime.”
His father took several steps forward but stopped when Cyn moved forward as well. “There is a greater purpose at work than just you or your mother. I am sorry that I hurt her, but I couldn’t die, there was just too much that I needed to do.”
Thalion was getting sick of his propaganda. “Why did you summon me, Father?”
The king stood up taller and set his shoulders back, holding his chin higher. He appeared regal and powerful. “I’ve come to take back my throne and my kingdom.”
Lilly sat at the entrance to the cave that led to the warlocks’ kingdom. She couldn’t sleep. It had been that way since Jacque had come back from wherever it was her spirit had gone. She’d been giving Fane and Jacque space to spend time with their child, though she was dying to hold him again. Cypher had offered to help in any way he could, but Vasile said that, for now, there was really nothing he could do. So they were on standby if the wolves needed them at any time. Meanwhile, Cypher was continually training his warriors, helping them relearn how to use the magic that had been slowly slipping away from them.
Lilly could feel the magic inside of her growing as well and she didn’t understand it. Her ability to sense things had grown into the ability to prophesy, but the gift simply didn’t manifest itself any time that she wanted. The visions that came to her seemingly had their own will. She couldn’t stop them and she couldn’t change them. There were even some that she couldn’t share with anyone else. Those sucked. It also sucked when a premonition told her only that some specific thing had to happen or someone would be in grave danger. No mention of what that danger might be, of course. When Lilly had told Jacque that she must go on the vampire hunt, even though she was pregnant, she had no idea why. She only knew that if her daughter hadn’t gone, something terrible would have happened—even worse than the horrible experience that actually took place.
“How did I know I would find you here?” Cypher’s deep voice came from behind her. If he didn’t see her every couple of hours, then he would come and seek her out. She liked that he wanted to see her, to be near her.
“It’s one of the few places where I can think clearly,” she told him, though he already knew it.
“Anything new?” he asked.
Lilly shook her head.
“Would you like to talk about whatever it is that’s bothering you?”
She let out a sigh as her shoulders slumped. “I want to see Slate.”
“Then let’s go see him,” Cypher said, as if it were that easy.
“We can’t just invite ourselves. They aren’t children. Jacque is an adult. She’ll resent me if I act like I have a right to barge into her house to see my grandchild.”
He crossed his arms in front of his chest as he stared down at her. “Then what will it take for you to get to see Slate?”
Instead of answering, Lilly pulled the phone from her pocket. “I just need to call her. But she’s probably not even up yet, or she’s tired. I’ll wait a little longer.”
“Will you join me back in our room and try and get a little sleep, seeing as you are tired as well,” Cypher pointed out.
She smiled as she took his offered hand and let him pull her to her feet. “Sleep, Warlock King—only sleep,” Lilly chided.
“Wouldn’t dream of trying anything else.” He shot her a wink and a roguish smile.
“I’ll believe that when Decebel lets Jen do a striptease in public.”
Jacque smiled as she ended the call and set her cellphone back down on the end table. She was sitting on the couch in the living room area of their suite holding a sleeping Slate.
“Grandma is coming to see you,” she whispered to the sleeping child. Jacque hadn’t been surprised to see that her mom was calling. She had been surprised that she’d waited so long. But she also appreciated that her mom had given her and Fane time to get settled in with their son.
“How are my two favorite people?” Fane asked as he stepped from their bedroom, freshly showered and looking too tempting for his own good. Jacque wanted to kick herself for drooling over her mate as if she’d just met him.
“I hope you never stop drooling, Luna,” Fane teased her.
She frowned at him. “Stay out of my head, wolf-man.”
“When will your mom be here?” he asked her as he sat down beside her on the couch.
“Half an hour.”
Fane reached out his hands and Jacque grinned. She loved it when Fane held Slate. It was the most amazing sight. She leaned over and placed their son in his arms and then sat back to watch as her big, bad, wolf-man turned into a pile of mush.
Two hours later, Lilly was gazing down at Slate in awe. “He’s so beautiful.”
“You have to say that,” Jacque laughed. “You’re his grandma.”
Lilly shot her a look. “Please. People know when their child or grandchild is ugly, but they are able to look past it because they’re looking at the child through eyes cloaked in love. In this case, however, Slate really is a beautiful baby.”
Fane had gone outside for a bit of fresh air, allowing Jacque and her mom to spend some time together but she could feel him getting restless through their bond. His wolf didn’t like being away from their pup and mate.
“Is Fane getting antsy?” Lilly asked with a knowing glint in her eyes.
“How’d you know?” Jacque asked.
“Because you start to fidget when you guys are apart for longer than a few minutes. I know that you can feel his stress through your bond; I can see it all over your face.”
Lilly leaned down and pressed her lips to her grandson’s forehead. “Love you, little Slate,” she whispered and then gingerly handed him back to Jacque.
“You don’t have to go,” Jacque started but Lilly waved her off.
“Yes I do. I’ve got stuff to do and you and Fane are still on your baby honeymoon. Get rest when you can and don’t say no to any offer of help, okay?” She eyed her daughter waiting for her answer.
“Al
right, mom. I’ll take help when it’s offered.”
“Good.”
They hugged and said their goodbyes. Lilly opened the door to the suite just as Fane was reaching for the door on the other side and they nearly crashed into one another.
“Whoa, sorry about that Lilly,” he said, grabbing her shoulders and righting her before she fell over. “I wasn’t paying attention.”
“It’s fine, Fane. Your mind is on other things right now.” Lilly patted his cheek and blew Jacque one more kiss before disappearing through the door.
“Everything okay?” Jacque asked her mate as he shut the door behind him. He had a troubled look in his eyes as his brow furrowed and his mouth tightened.
“I called Costin while you were with your mom, just to see how he was. He didn’t answer, I’m afraid.”
Jacque was so glad to hear her mate say he wanted to check on Costin. Not too long ago, Fane wanted to kill Costin for something he never even did.
“Maybe he’s in the shower,” she suggested. “It’s still early enough.”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“Just try to call him back in a little while. Give him some time to get himself and Titus up and around,” Jacque told him.
“Alright,” Fane nodded. “I’ll call him later. If he doesn’t answer, I’m going to head over to the Serbian pack mansion and see for myself.”
“Or you could just call Decebel,” Jacque pointed out.
“I’d rather see for myself.”
“You don’t think he’s going to be able to fight it—the darkness—do you?” she asked.
Fane shrugged. “You’ve gone missing on me twice the only difference is that I knew where you were. I mean, I knew the circumstances. Sally is missing and Costin doesn’t even have the tiniest clue as to where she is or what’s happened. If it was me in his shoes, I’d be losing my mind, darkness or not.”
Peri watched the sleeping wolf, thinking of how much enjoyment she would receive if she clanged a cymbal right next to his ear. Does that make me a bad person? Probably, she thought. Then again, it’s not like the action would be a surprising move on her part. She did seem to have bitchy tendencies dancing around in her DNA. It was probably worse that she was just standing there staring at the Romania pack historian as he slept. Staring at a sleeping person who wasn’t your mate, or child, shot you straight up there to mayor of Creeperville.
She walked up toward the head of the bed and reached down, swiftly smacking the back of Wadim’s head. “Wake up, Historian. How can you be recording history if you’re lying in bed staring at the back of your eyelids?”
Wadim growled as he rubbed the back of his head. His glowing eyes met hers and held them for several seconds before he finally averted his gaze.
“Would it hurt you to knock?” he huffed out as he yawned and stretched before finally standing up.
“Depends on how hard I hit the door. I suppose if I knocked hard enough, then yes, it would hurt,” Peri deadpanned.
He glared at her. “I really don’t like you sometimes.”
She shrugged. “One day, you’ll love me and want to name your kids after me.”
He laughed. “You tend to be a bit delusional, but even for you, that’s a bit much.”
Peri sighed as though watching paint dry would be more interesting, which it might be depending on what Wadim had to tell her.
“I need to know what you know, wolf.” Her words were practically a growl. When he just stared at her, Peri rolled her eyes and added, “Please.”
“Amazing,” Wadim muttered as he headed toward the main room. “She was polite and somehow didn’t turn to stone.”
“I heard that,” she said as she followed him.
“Good.”
Once they were both positioned in front of Wadim’s many monitors— he sitting, she standing just behind his right shoulder— Wadim’s fingers began flying across his keyboard.
Peri listened to the clicking of the keys and wondered how anyone could spend their whole day click, click, clicking away on one of these things. The sound alone would drive her crazy. It was enough to make her want to cut off his fingers. But she refrained, seeing as how those fingers were the key to the hopefully valuable information he could give her. Granted, there were other fingers capable, but Wadim knew the system. He knew what to look for and where. Having to get a new historian because she got irritated and cut off the current historian’s fingers would be more trouble than it was worth.
“I found some interesting info,” he said as his typing finally came to a halt.
“Interesting how?” Peri purred.
Wadim gave his chair a nudge and it swiveled around to face her. “Read it and find out.” He motioned to the screen.
Peri’s eyes ran across the screen as she let the words absorb into her mind. Her chest grew tighter with every word, and, by the time she reached the final sentence, she was wound as tightly as a freshly strung bow. “Have what!” she yelled at the screen as if it would answer.
“That’s what I said,” Wadim huffed.
Peri began pacing, her mind reeling at the information she’d just read. There really were wolves in Oceanside, not that she’d doubted her pixie informant. But she hadn’t expected something akin to an established pack.
“I guess I’m going to be paying the Missouri Alpha a visit,” she said under her breath. She turned then to Wadim and held his gaze with her own hard stare. “Do not share this information with anyone. Not even Vasile—not yet.”
Wadim paled. “I can’t keep information from Vasile.”
“You can and you will. I will inform Vasile of what we know as soon as I’ve worked a few kinks out.”
“And what if he asks for a progress report? I can’t lie. He’ll know I’m lying. Believe it or not, Peri, I’ve grown quite attached to my hide. Lying to my Alpha is a good way to lose it.”
“Then I suggest you make yourself scarce for the day.” She smiled coolly at him. “Thank you for working so diligently on this, history boy. It is much appreciated.”
Just before she flashed from the room, Peri heard his gruff voice, “Well you are not welcome.”
She smiled. The history wolf was growing on her. Maybe a little like a fungus, but growing on her nonetheless.
Peri appeared at the doorstep of the Missouri pack mansion. She didn’t have to knock. The Alpha, Tyler Reed, was already aware of her arrival. The door opened and the tall Alpha looked down at her.
“Perizada.” He bowed his head slightly.
“Reed,” Peri returned, though she did not bow her head in return.
“To what do we owe the pleasure of your company?”
“Oh can the crap, Alpha. Nobody every thinks it’s a pleasure when they see me on their doorstep.”
“Too true,” he chuckled. “Does that apply to your mate as well?”
Peri’s eyes flashed and her power flared around her. “Careful, wolf. I’ve killed for lesser insults.”
“Why are you here?” Tyler asked, obviously giving up the pretense of mister hospitality. Tyler was not a bad guy, but he was an Alpha. It was amazing how often that equated to also being a jackass. Vasile was an exception to the rule. Decebel, well, some days he was an exception. Other days he was quickly put in his place by his firecracker mate.
“I need to talk to you about Cross, Jericho, and two other female wolves.”
Tyler’s face darkened as the names left Peri’s lips. His eyes narrowed on her. “What about them?”
“Why did Jericho and Cross leave your pack?” she asked, holding his gaze and not backing down when his wolf attempted to win the dominance game.
“There were issues upon which we did not see eye to eye. I gave them a choice. They could see reason, or they could leave our pack. They decided to make a life elsewhere,” he answered, attempting at nonchalance.
“Didn’t see eye to eye?” she asked tilting her head slightly. “Would this not seeing eye to eye have anything to do with The Ord
er of the Burning Claw?”
Reed’s eyes snapped up and began to glow as his wolf pushed for dominance. “Don’t speak those words here,” he growled.
Peri rolled her eyes. “Please tell me you aren’t pulling the whole Harry Potter, He Who Must Not be Named, crap.”
Tyler snapped at her. “You know better than anyone how powerful the spoken word is. Do not draw the attention of such evil into my territory.”
“I’m going to take that as an affirmative. The reason they left had to do with the Order.”
Tyler didn’t respond. He simply stared at her.
“Are they dangerous?” she asked.
“Anyone affiliated with the Claw is dangerous, you know that.”
“Bloody hell,” Peri muttered, then grinned because she’d used Jen’s favorite curse. “I thought the Order had died out.”
“What have they done?” Tyler asked, taking a step toward her.
Peri shook her head. “It’s better if you didn’t know.”
“That bad,” he murmured.
“Probably worse than what you’re imagining,” she admitted. “Can you give me any information on them?”
“I’ll do what I can to help, of course. But I’ve not had any contact with them in decades. I’ve made some attempts to reach out to them—to learn their fates—but I’ve never been able to discover anything. I confess that I didn’t devote my best efforts to the task. Even when they were under my power and protection, they weren’t the best pack mates. I can’t blame Jericho. Jericho’s true mate died a long time ago. You know what that can do to a wolf. To my knowledge, Cross has never met his. The cousins are crazy, seriously, crazy.”
“Great, just what I need, more crazy bitches in my life,” Peri muttered. “Thanks for your time, Tyler Reed. You were incredibly unhelpful, but that’s not your fault. You’re a dominant male and therefore mostly useless without your mate.” She gave him a bow that was not at all respectful and then flashed.
Peri appeared in the grove of her realm and saw that her mate was waiting for her. She immediately started pacing, not even glancing at Lucian.