Promise the Moon (Lorimar Pack Book 1) Page 21

  “This is a private call, boys.” I picked up the handheld phone and punched in Cam’s number. “We’ll regroup once the alphas have signed off on our plans.”

  Zed stood first and hesitated at the door. “She said boys, not boy. That means you too.”

  A stubborn frown cut Isaac’s mouth, but he got to his feet.

  “I’m wearing the watch.” I tapped the face. “I swear I’ll hit the panic button if Cam is mean to me.”

  “Don’t leave without seeing me first.” He lingered at his chair, waiting for me to pinky promise him. “Please.”

  The please is what did me in. I’m a sucker for a guy with manners.

  “Fine. I’ll pop in to say goodbye before we go. Happy?”

  His slight nod meant that no, he wasn’t thrilled, but he left with Zed and closed the door behind him.

  Flopping into my chair, I hit send and started counting rings. I got to three.

  “Ellis.”

  “Preston,” I answered back, voice pitched low and serious.

  Soft laughter filled the line. “Hey, Dell. What’s up?”

  The amusement in her tone worked the kinks out of my spine until I slumped over the desk in a state of bliss. Having known Cord for so much of my life, I had built up a touch of immunity to his Alpha Effect. I had no such defense against Cam, and I wouldn’t until she came here to stay and let us soak up her different brand of magic.

  “We have a problem. Several problems.” I eased down until my cheek mashed against the cool table. Of all the pressing matters to choose from, what popped out of my mouth was, “Why didn’t you tell me Isaac was coming?”

  “I planned to warn you when he headed that way.” Her breath hit the receiver. “Mom says he’s been going off on his own a lot since they left. Soul-searching, she calls it. He was supposed to take his truck in for a new set of tires last week and vanished. We didn’t know for sure where he’d gone until he called me to find out why I’d warded my home against him.”

  Isaac had failed to mention that call, but I should have expected him to reach out to her first.

  “You gave him that hellacious debit card.” I wasn’t ready to let her off the hook just yet. “You had to know he’d end up here.”

  “I did know,” she admitted on a sigh. “He asked for the card out of the blue. I was going to send it home via certified mail with instructions since we’re stuck here a while longer, and Lorimar’s need is immediate, but he was there and he offered...”

  “Why would he do that?” My exhale left behind a huff of condensation. “He made it clear he wanted the open road. Caravan living and all that. Adventures. New woman every night.”

  “That’s not fair.”

  Fair was not in my vocabulary when it came to Isaac.

  “You spelled out who he was for me, and he sounded out each syllable to make sure I understood the warning label plastered to his forehead.” The buzz of talking to Cam lingered, but the happy-happy evaporated in a snap. “Don’t tell me I changed him. That my magic who-ha cured him of his need to experiment. I didn’t, and it didn’t, and he’s never going to be anyone other than who he is.”

  “He wanted an excuse to go back,” she said at last. “He might not know it, but I do. So does Graeson.”

  I groaned and thrashed my legs under the desk. “Tell me Cord doesn’t know.”

  “He, um, smelled you.” Her voice lifted on the last syllable. “On Isaac.”

  Thumping my head on the table seemed like the most excellent idea I had ever had, and I liked to think I put my best thoughts to use. I banged my head until I was too tired to lift it again. “He asked for a job,” I scoffed. “Well, okay. No. He didn’t. More like he hired himself and cc’d me on the memo.”

  “He didn’t mention that to me.” She sounded thoughtful, always a dangerous thing. “It seems like he wants a reason to stick around.”

  Hope was the single most dangerous weapon ever wielded against a broken heart. “All that tells me is I’m still not enough.”

  “You didn’t call to talk about Isaac,” she said into the silence too deep to fill with half-assed placations. “What are the other problems you mentioned?”

  Grateful for the reprieve, I launched into a quick-and-dirty outline of the disappearances, the attacks and theft. Then, because Isaac deserved to be yelled at by someone he might actually listen to, I told her his bright idea to miraculously get close enough to take blood from a hostile fae without getting sung to death in the process.

  “I’m going to kill him if he doesn’t get himself killed first.” The frustration of being too far away to stop a plan already set in motion laced her voice. “Your plan needs work, but he’s right about siren songs counteracting each other. Harlow mentioned it to me once.”

  Harlow Bevans, a changeling raised by mermaids who once acted as a consultant for the Earthen Conclave. That was before a serial killer seized control of her mind and shattered it in the process. Cam still hadn’t forgiven herself for not saving the girl sooner.

  “How is she?” It made Cam sad when I asked, so I didn’t often pry.

  “Better,” she said in a too-bright voice. “The staff at Edelweiss is taking good care of her.”

  Lately Edelweiss was taking good care of a lot of us it seemed.

  “Oh, I almost forgot to ask,” she said. “Did Isaac give you your copy of the treaty?”

  I wrinkled my nose at the sense of impending homework. “Yes.”

  “Have you read over it yet?” she prompted.

  “I haven’t had much time for reading assignments.” Screwing up my face, I wheedled, “Give me the CliffsNotes version?”

  A long-suffering sigh I bet she learned from Cord filled the line. “Keep tooth and claw off the earthborn fae, and they’ll return the favor.”

  “Not a problem.” I had no interest in policing the locals. This case was the exception, and the conclave couldn’t very well cry foul. An earthborn fae had retained me, and the alternative was allowing the crime spree to continue until the perp exposed us all.

  “I have to go.” Cam’s voice softened. “We’re being summoned.”

  “I’ll work on that plan,” I promised her. “I’ll update you when I can.”

  “Be careful, Dell.”

  Grinning down at my reflection in the polished wood surface of the table, I asked, “Aren’t I always?”

  I chose to interpret the strangled sound she made as a vote of confidence.

  Chapter 20

  After hanging up with Cam, I needed a pick-me-up and headed for Cord’s office. The last of my cupcakes sat in their box, all lonely and uneaten. Stale didn’t bother me. My palate wasn’t that refined. My fingertips brushed the doorknob as an ear-splitting shriek rent the air. I slapped my hands over my sensitive ears and rushed into the parking lot. I almost tripped over Enzo and did fall against Isaac. The sudden impact knocked him to the ground, but I didn’t smell blood, and I didn’t lower my hands.

  “What’s with all that racket?” I yelled in the hopes one of them was a lip-reader.

  A static burst exploded from Enzo, rocking me back on my heels. He gestured it was safe for me to put my arms down, but my ears kept ringing. I offered Isaac a hand up, and he wobbled on his way to standing.

  “The lake’s wards have been tripped.” Enzo wiped his nose, and his hand came away bloody. He glanced at his crimson fingers and then at me. “I’m fine.”

  “Sure you are.” I crossed to him and gripped his elbow until he regained his balance. “You can’t help yourself, can you?”

  “Magic is in the blood.” He leaned against me. “I could stop breathing easier than practicing.”

  “Come on, Witch Boy.” I wrapped an arm around his waist and led him to Abram’s exam room at the same time I reached for the pack bond. “One of your patients—who is not me—misbehaved. You might want to come up here and eyeball him to make sure he didn’t do any permanent damage.”

  “My auction ends in two minutes.”
Abram made a strangled sound. “I have the current high bid.”

  “We also have a bleeding witch.” Whose eyes kept crossing when he tried to focus. “Trust me, this is more important.”

  “You say that now, but wait until we need a gently used defibrillator.”

  Ending our connection, I parked Enzo on the exam table then searched for Isaac. As expected, he had followed us. “Can you keep an eye on him until Abram gets here?”

  “Delegation.” He didn’t do anything as immature as wrinkle his nose at Enzo, but his upper lip twitched. “Ever hear of it?”

  “Yes, actually.” I gestured between us. “That’s kind of what I’m doing now.”

  His scowl deepened.

  “Look, there’s a time for passing the buck and a time for owning your title.” I rested my fists on my hips. “Seelie don’t give us issues. Daytime is usually our downtime.”

  Seelie were considered good fae in most lore. Gemini, for example, were Seelie. The lines between the two ruling fae houses struck me as smudged at best. Mostly I considered Seelie diurnal versus the nocturnal Unseelie.

  “This is our first daylight alert.” I rushed forward to catch a woozy Enzo before he ate carpet. “That means I’m going.”

  “I’ll stay with the witch.” Isaac leaned over me and gripped Enzo’s shoulders, propping him upright.

  “Thanks.” I bit my lip. “Damn it. I take that back.”

  “You owe me no debts,” he said, voice earnest. “That I swear to you.”

  The formality of the phrase lifted chills down my arms.

  “I have to go.” Inanity, thy name is Dell. “Um, later.”

  “Be safe.” He freed one hand to point at my wrist. “Call me. For any reason.”

  “Will do,” I tossed back at him and met the others in the parking lot.

  “This should be interesting.” Zed smirked at my fancy new accessory. “You ready for this?”

  “Ask me again when it’s over.” We cut a path to the center of the pack so I could address everyone at once. “This ain’t our first rodeo, kids, but it’s the first breach we’ve had during daylight hours. Watch your back. Watch each other’s backs. Got it?”

  The Lorimar wargs rumbled agreement.

  “Fan out when you get to the lake. All we know is company’s coming, not where they’ll arrive.” After this, Isaac’s surveillance cameras couldn’t get online fast enough for me. “Signal the rest of the pack if you’re the lucky duck who locates the fae. Do not engage without backup. Capisce?”

  The musky scent of fur spiced the air in response.

  “Glad we’re all on the same page.” I made a shooing motion. “Last one there’s a rotten egg.”

  Shifting in close proximity to other wargs hastens the change. The pain, well, it’s always present. It’s the tithe we pay to have our souls spliced with wolves, and the day we stop owing is the day we die.

  Seven or eight minutes after issuing the order, I stood on four legs and shook out my fur. Zed finished a split second behind me, and we bolted for the woods. The lake was a thirty-minute drive, half that as a crow flies and even less than that as a wolf trots.

  High on the thrill of running with the pack, my wolf kept the lead until we reached the edge of Watauga Lake. I paused there, scanning the area and waiting for the others. They arrived in twos and threes, scattering into the surrounding forest, using the dense foliage as cover.

  Zed stuck to my side, and we began a slow patrol of the area where Enzo had indicated the wards stood. We didn’t have to go far before stumbling over our unexpected guests. A trio of ethereal fae hovered above the water, two females and one male. Each beat of their gilded wings stirred gentle ripples in the glassy surface.

  Their inhuman beauty punched me in the gut while their embellished platinum robes tricked the eye into following the elaborate embroidery from their elegant throats down to the modest hemlines that tickled their bare ankles. A subjugation tactic. Cute.

  Aware of the web that had ensnared me, I broke free of it like the annoying fly I no doubt was to them.

  “What are those?” Awe saturated Zed’s voice.

  Archangels. That had been my first thought. Except angels didn’t exist in Faerie as far as I knew, and no messengers of God would resort to such cheap tricks to bring us to heel. Or so I wanted to believe.

  “They’re Seelie of some kind.” I inhaled the cut grass and bruised-rose-petal scent of the other world. “What kind, I have no idea.”

  I got the sinking feeling that if these fae had wanted to obliterate our wards, they could have ten times over. With a wriggle of their cute button noses.

  “Look there,” the tallest woman spoke in a wind-chime voice. “Those are the beasts we came in search of, are they not?”

  I flattened my ears against my head. Who was she calling a beast?

  The wolf chuffed. That would be us.

  “Do you understand us?” the second woman asked. “English is the language of this region, or so I was told.”

  “You can’t play diplomat like this.” Zed gave me a pointed look. “You’ll have to shift.”

  “Usually when fae come to visit there’s running and screaming and blood flying everywhere.” I pivoted my ear toward him. “Who knew they would want to talk?”

  “There’s a first time for everything.”

  “Don’t let them out of your sight.” I barked at the fae once and then waded into the thick underbrush to begin my change. “Tell the others what we’ve found and get them into position in case there’s trouble.”

  “I think it was trying to communicate,” the man said. “Strange beasts, these wargs. What an odd breed of gatekeeper our cousins have chosen.”

  The trio talked amongst themselves, but I lost track of the conversation once the pain took root. For a while, my worldview narrowed to the agony of my transformation. But all pain is fleeting, and this shift left me panting and sweaty on a bed of moldy leaves. I dusted off my bottom and walked out to greet the fae wearing a neutral expression that could tip either way depending on what they wanted with us.

  “I apologize for the delay.” I took position next to Zed. “We weren’t expecting…guests.”

  “Ah. It does speak.” The first woman sounded delighted. “That will make this so much easier.”

  I waited for them to stop being thrilled that my comprehension skills surpassed that of a toddler.

  “I am Rilla.” The second woman planted her palm against her chest in a me Tarzan, you Jane kind of way. “This is Alyona—” she indicated the taller woman, “—and this brave soul is Tanet.”

  “I’m Dell Preston,” I returned in kind, “beta of the Lorimar pack.”

  “How civilized this all is,” Alyona gushed. “I had scarcely dared to hope.”

  “We have come to petition you for the return of Prince Tiberius.” Tanet linked his fingers at his navel. “He sojourned to Earth some weeks past. We allowed him his minor rebellion, but the time has come for him to return to Faerie.”

  The spit dried in my mouth. “Prince Tiberius?”

  Something told me they wouldn’t be thrilled to learn most fae didn’t survive our welcome party.

  “Yes, darling creature.” Rilla smiled down upon me with benevolence. “Prince Tiberius of House Seelie.”

  Hot and cold flashes alternated sweats and chills on my skin. Never had I been more aware of my position as spokeswoman for the pack. The buck stopped here, with me, and suddenly I was suppressing dry heaves. War with Faerie might loom on the horizon, but if we had killed one of their princes, I guarantee that distant promise would become a present threat in short order.

  Heart rabbiting, I managed a conversational tone. “We were not made aware of any visiting royalty.”

  A subtle crack in their composure changed the pressure in the air, and Zed pressed against my calf.

  “I see.” Alyona sniffed. “I had hoped you would be reasonable, but expecting higher functions from the lower born always ends in d
isappointment.”

  “This is your warning, wolf.” Rilla summoned an orb of white light into her palm and lobbed the ball straight for my chest. I dove aside, and its searing heat glanced off my hip. The pain shocked a cry out of me, and burnt flesh perfumed the air. “Bring my nephew to me before the moon reaches its apex, or you leave me no choice but to reclaim him myself.” She extended her arm, and the brush of her magic woke the wards. They glowed a cool yellow under her hand. She gave several test pushes against the translucent dome, and it caved a fraction more each time. “This is quality work. It’s far superior to your birth, so I must assume you have powerful allies.” Her gaze landed on me. “They can’t save you. Nothing can. Not if you fail to return Tiberius to his rightful place.”

  “As much as I appreciate the threats to find a kid you let run off unsupervised, I have no idea where to start.” I sank my fingers in Zed’s fur to hide their trembling while I got my feet under me again. “Do you have a picture? A list of contacts he might have here? Anything?”

  “I came prepared.” She plucked a ball of red fabric out of thin air and tossed it to me—through the wards. “That is one of his shirts. He wore it to his combat lesson the night before he left.”

  The punch of musk stirred a memory of grassy fields, and it all clicked into place. “He’s a siren.”

  “You can tell that from scenting his clothes?” Tanet asked. “That’s remarkable. Your master has trained you to hunt well.”

  Biting the inside of my cheek until I tasted blood, I didn’t waste breath correcting him. Poor guy might have a coronary if he realized I had no master and that the chain of command stopped with me.

  “Tiberius is no mere siren,” Rilla was quick to correct me. “He is an alkonost.”

  Alkonost. Talk about your obscure footnotes in fae lore. Alkonosts were siren cousins with an affinity for thunderstorms. They numbered so few, according to the Dictionary of Faerie, I had overlooked them as a possible culprit in favor of their more infamous cousins. Clearly that had been a mistake. I had gotten so comfortable blaming the rogue weather patterns on the rift that I had turned a blind eye to other possibilities until it was too late.