"Probably releasing pent up stress."
"Yah, probably. I don't know how she took all
of this information in stride like she did. I'm a little concerned
she'll explode at some point. We'll need to be gentle with
explaining she's Rapha. What kind of omelet should I make her? I
don't know her favorite yet," he asked.
"Probably ham and cheese, I think she
normally eats oatmeal for breakfast, but she'll really appreciate
the omelet."
A few minutes later, Ryan entered the kitchen
rubbing sleep out of his eyes. "Cofffffeeeee," he said in a zombie
tone. He poured himself a cup and sat down at the table. "So, how
is she this morning?"
"She's doing better than I imagined. I
wouldn't take this much change with the grace she's showing, she's
incredible. Her first question was about me being a 'werewolf'," he
chuckled. "I know the Rapha question will come soon, but I'm not
sure how much she can take. I can hear her heading down now," he
said.
They placed the food on the table. Ryan and
Sam stayed seated while Garrett went to meet her at the bottom of
the stairs. She was stunning, walking down with damp hair and a
clean face. He couldn't believe his good fortune at having her as
his Kismet. As she reached the bottom stair, he hugged her to him
and kissed her gently. Not having her in his arms was hard on him
and his wolf. "You ready for some breakfast? Would you like some
coffee?" he asked.
"Yes, I'm starving and coffee sounds
fabulous. Do you have cream?" she asked shyly.
Smiling he answered, "Yep, that's the way I
take it too." He grabbed her hand and led her to the table, pulling
out her chair. He pushed her in and went to fetch her coffee. He
was pouring her cup when she squealed. With his wolf emerging, he
spun around so fast the coffee went sloshing all over the floor. He
saw her run to the back door and let Wolf in, giving him a hug and
petting him all over while apologizing for leaving him alone for so
long. He chuckled as his wolf receded. He wiped up the coffee and
poured another cup, bringing it over he set it down at her plate
and went to drag her back to the table. "Come on, sweetheart, you
need to eat."
"Thank you, Sam. I've been so worried about
him. I should have known you'd take care of him for me. I'm sure
you took care of Oscar too. By the way, who's at the clinic? It's
Friday, isn't it?" She started to panic with all the loose ends of
her normal life unraveling.
"Its fine," said Sam. "Yes, I took care of
Oscar. His litter box is clean and he has plenty of food and water.
As for the clinic, one of the volunteer vets at your shelter came
over to help when he heard about you being kidnapped. He's covering
all of next week too, so you can have time to cope with all the
changes. Lyla and Jennifer are there, helping him and they aren't
scheduling anything major until you or Ryan is back."
"Thanks. I don't know what I'd do without
you." With all of the small issues out of the way, she felt
strangely odd about how to proceed. She still hadn't looked Ryan in
the eye. She took a sip of coffee and sat back in her chair, trying
to gather her thoughts. Garrett's hand came over and grabbed hers,
giving it a squeeze of reassurance. She looked up at him and he was
smiling warmly at her, letting her know he'd be there through this
crazy new adventure. "OK, I'm not sure where to start, so I'll let
you guys take it away."
Garrett started with the explanations. "I'm
sorry I couldn't tell you about us earlier. I wanted to, but our
first law sates we never tell a human about us, ever. I was in
Maine to ask for an exception in our case since we had Kismet. You
know how they handled the request," he said with a frown.
"Then how do Sam and Ryan know?" she
asked.
"Very good question, I think you know the
reason Ryan knows, although you may not be ready to address it yet,
but Sam is a different issue. Apparently, she has the ability to
sense magical beings. She's not a magical being herself, but she
can sense them. We're not sure why," he said.
Sam caught Riley's eye and shrugged her
shoulders. "I didn't know about you until now. I couldn't sense you
before, I promise," she said.
"Oh..." Riley sat quietly for a while trying
to gather the nerve for the next question. The answer to this,
hearing it and accepting it in front of witnesses will forever
change her life. She kind of wanted to go back to the naivety of
three days ago, but if her life with Garrett was facilitated by
this crazy blue light, then she was willing to make a change. "What
am I?" she asked.
Ryan wiped his mouth and sat down his napkin,
steepling his fingers in front of him. "You and I are Rapha, Riley.
We are very rare, magical healers. We don't come into our powers
until we turn thirty, which was at midnight for you. Luckily for
Garrett and Jack they had their tussle after midnight," he
explained. "You will learn about your powers and will be able to
manage them over time. Although, since you brought two full-grown
shifter wolves back from the brink of death on your first day, I'm
guessing you'll be one of the most powerful Rapha to exist. I'm
here to help you with the transition."
"Can I use my powers to heal regular
animals?" She asked with hope in her eyes.
"I'm sorry, but no. They only work on other
magical beings, and you can never let a human see your powers. It's
against the law for all magical beings to expose ourselves and has
deadly consequences. Something else you should know, most magical
beings age differently than humans. For example, shifters age about
three times slower than humans do, once they reach maturity. You
and I are about the same."
Her first thought was happiness because she'd
have a very long life with Garrett. Her head was spinning with
information. She felt she needed to lie down in a dark room and
make sense of it all. She looked up at Garrett who was staring at
her with concern in his eyes. "I'm all right. Feeling a bit
overwhelmed, but doing OK," she said.
"Would you like some time alone?"
"Actually, that might not be a bad idea. Can
I take Wolf for a walk outside? Is there a road or something to
walk on?"
"There is quite a bit of acreage with trails
behind the house, feel free to walk around. Do you need a GPS so
you don't get lost?" He didn't want to let her walk alone, but knew
she needed some space. Wolf would keep her safe.
"No, I'll be fine. I have a decent sense of
direction and Wolf can always bring me back. I can feel your
concern about me, so thank you for not making a fuss over it," she
smiled.
"You should hear my wolf. He is not happy.
But I can deal with him for a bit," he said with a smirk.
*
An hour later, she found herself deep in the
woods around Garrett's property. She was lost in thought as she
processed all the new information, including the lust she felt for
Garret. She didn't want to throw herself at him, but it was hard to
keep her hands to herself. She had all kinds of interesting
scenarios running through her head. Luckily, he couldn't read her
mind, just her emotions.
Wolf stopped abruptly and growled, and then
she felt a bolt of lightning in her gut a half second before she
heard the rapport of a gun. She looked numbly at the blood blooming
on the front of her shirt. Wolf was whining and panting, while fear
came through the link from Garrett. She slumped to the ground and
fruitlessly tried to stanch the flow with her hand. Lying on her
back, she looked up into the tree canopy and saw birds flitting
from branch to branch. Wolf's nuzzle blurred into her vision as he
licked her face and whined, lying by her side. She envisioned
Garrett and felt a profound loss at what would have been. His pain
and fear was becoming weaker through their link and she knew she
was dying. As tears began to fall from her eyes, Ryan suddenly
appeared at her side.
"What have you gotten yourself into this
time?" he asked as he knelt at her side. He furtively looked around
them for the threat, not sure where the danger was.
She blinked dumbly at him. "I've been shot."
She showed him her bloody hands as they came away from her stomach.
She watched a blue light encompass him as he reached for her body.
Ryan gave her a look that told her everything would be OK. Warmth
ran through her system and she knew he was healing her. She was
amazed to watch it, since she had been on the giving end last
night. It occurred to her then; Ryan had been the one to heal her
last night as well. "How did you get here so fast?" she rasped.
"Rapha lesson 101. There are so few of us,
when one of us is critically injured, the nearest Rapha can feel it
and we can teleport to them. We can't heal ourselves, someone has
to heal us."
"I can teleport? That's cool," she said
numbly.
"No, only to another Rapha who is critically
injured. Otherwise, we don't have the ability. If it ever happens,
you only need to focus on the Rapha you feel and picture yourself
in their presence. Then you'll be there. Be warned though, if
they're injured, you may be going into a dangerous situation. We
can't always tell what has caused the injury or if it's a
trap."
"Trap? Who would try to trap us?"
"We'll talk more about it later. There,
you're injuries are healed and we need to get out of here. I'm not
sure who shot you."
Wolf issued a low growl and bared his teeth
as Ryan was giving her a hand up. A man in camouflage came running
into the area with his gun. His feet slid into the mud as he
skidded to a halt in shock. He looked between Riley’s bloody shirt
and Wolf who was crouching in attack mode.
"What in the blue blazes! Did I hit a person?
I thought I had sighted a deer." He looked warily at Wolf, fearful
he’d attack.
Riley could tell the hunter was rattled,, but
she knew Garrett would be there soon. She needed to get the hunter
out of the area or else there'd be a huge problem. "Wolf, sit. I'm
fine, really. Just be more careful next time." She started to turn
and walk away, but the man stopped her.
"But you have blood all over you? You can't
be fine."
"Trust me, I am. It was a nick and it bled a
lot. Truly, I'm fine. Aren't I, Ryan?" She looked to Ryan for
confirmation.
"Yes, she's fine. We need to head back now
and clean her wound," he said.
“But, let me…” he started.
“Look, if you don’t turn around and leave
I’ll let this dog loose on you. Now go,” she bluffed.
They watched the befuddled man turn around
and walk away shaking his head in bewilderment. A few seconds
later, they turned and started back towards Garrett's house.
"Garrett is going to blow a gasket."
"I know. I can feel his fear and I'm guessing
he'll be here any second. I was trying to get away from the hunter
before a very large wolf killed him. Will you take Wolf back to
Garrett's for me? I'm not sure what will happen if Wolf sees him as
a wolf." She laughed at the amount of wolves in that sentence.
"Wolf's already met him in his shift. They
made the introduction last night. Garrett knew having him around is
important to you, so he made sure everything was fine."
She looked at Ryan in awe. "He did that for
me?"
"He'd do anything for you. I figured you'd
know that by now," he said with a smile.
"I'm still in shock. This has all happened so
fast. Ryan thanks for healing me, and thanks for healing me last
night. That idiot had really done a number on me."
"Yes he did, you had fractures in your femur,
3 ribs, and finger, along with several lacerations, bruises, and
swelling.” He stopped her and spun her to look at him. “Hey Ri, I'm
really sorry you had to go through that." He put his arm around her
shoulders to give her a squeeze when he had a tickle on the nape of
his neck and his fine hairs stood on end. He heard a low rumble to
his left and slowly turned his head to see glowing yellow eyes
targeted on him. "Easy Garrett." He put his hands up and backed
away from Riley. "She's alright. We're headed back and I won't
touch her again."
Riley felt his anger, fear, and jealousy. She
ran over to him and threw her arms around his neck while Wolf lay
down to whimper. "I'm fine. I'm sorry to worry you, but I'm fine.
Now stop growling. You're freaking Wolf out." She nudged him
playfully on his shoulder so he'd see she was safe and
uninjured.
*
When Garrett came through the woods and saw
the blood all over Riley's shirt his heart almost stopped, and then
he saw Ryan swing his arm around his Kismet. He knew it was
irrational, but he didn't care; he was instantly jealous. He
couldn't allow any male to touch her, not until she carried his
mark anyway, but his Kismet felt his emotions and was selfless in
the way she ran to him and reassured him. Then she surprised him
again when she jumped on his back for the ride home. He couldn't
believe she was that comfortable with him.
"Are you OK?" Sam asked as they approached
the back patio.
"Yes, perfectly fine, thanks to Ryan." She
felt Garrett's twinge of jealousy and regretted her words. She
figured he probably wanted to be the one to protect her and heal
her. She could understand the feeling. She wrapped her arms around
his neck and said, "Thanks for the ride home, my Kismet." before
sliding off his back.
She watched him go around the corner to shift
and he came back around with low-slung jeans on, pulling a shirt
over his defined abs. A shiver ran through her and she wished she
had seen more. She saw his head pop up and look at her, knowing he
caught what she was thinking. She could feel his emotions too and
she wished they were alone to explore more of each other. Their
eyes locked and the tension was thick in the air.
Catching the tête à tête Ryan interjected.
"Well, Sam and I are going to head into town. Riley, we'll have
more time to talk and train. There isn't a rush. But if you have
any questions call me. Just don’t heal anyone until we’ve had our
first training session."