Lunacy (24 page)

"That's pretty much the long and short of it,"
Kenshin nodded.

Some things started to fall into place, but pieces of
the puzzle were still missing. I wasn't getting the whole picture
yet. "That actually makes what he said at that first show I went to
with you guys make sense. He said to Jynxx, 'Haven't you stolen
enough, already?' And he called us peasants."

"Can we talk and eat? I really don't want this meal
to go to waste after all the work we put into it," Conner said with
a little smile.

We nodded and all took seats around the table, Conner
and Kenshin serving up the food. I couldn't even focus on how
amazing the meal was, my mind racing in fifty different directions
all at once, trying to pull things together. Around a mouthful of
food I managed, "We're looking for someone with a magickal
background linked to Alain's family, then."

Teigan nodded. "But it might not be easy to find
them. I mean, if they can sneak in and mask your own memories from
you, they're probably fairly good at hiding."

"And they might not even be someone we can link to
the family. They could have been hired specifically because of
whatever they're blocking from you. Alain's family has more money
than God. They could have just paid a trollmann to do the wall
building and be on their merry way."

"Troll man?" I asked. "What the hell is that?"

He corrected my pronunciation. "It means sorcerer.
Catch all term for a magick user. The feminine version of it is
trollkvinne. Most of the jargon the ulven use comes from Norwegian
or Old Norse, Kaysh." Teigan added.

"It's common belief that all ulven and hunden, those
who are born as wolves and can take the shape of humans rather than
our reversal, are descended from Fenrir. He was the oldest son of
Loki." Conner took a long swallow of his drink and I stared off
into nothing as a buzzing cacophony built inside of my skull.

Norse. Loki... That stabbing pain, again. Stronger
this time. "Son of a bitch!" I groaned, clutching at my temples
with my fists. I felt moisture on my upper lip and I touched my
fingertip gingerly to it. Not surprised, my finger came back coated
in viscous red blood.

"Holy shit!" Everyone but Jynxx chimed in unison.

I grabbed a napkin and pressed it to my nose, waiting
a moment to let things clot. I sighed, my eyes taking them all in.
"So now you know what sort of insane enchantments we're dealing
with. If we could avoid talking about the rest of this until after
the samling, I'd be grateful. Kinda tired of tasting copper over
this tasty food, at the moment."

The boys seemed to agree with me and we finished the
meal in silence. I tried to ignore the way they all kept sneaking
worried glances in my direction, but it finally got to me. "Look,
guys. I'm going to be fine. I know I didn't get raped or anything,
so whatever happened is probably just some supernatural tidbit that
the Reece family doesn't want me to know about. It can't be that
bad, and I'm really not bothered by it." I was lying through my
teeth, but they seemed to buy it, lightening up a little bit.

When the meal was finished, everyone stood and
stretched. Jynxx looked at the clock on the kitchen wall with a
heavy sigh. "Guess it's time to get ready, then."

Dread settled in the pit of my stomach, coiled like a
serpent waiting for the perfect moment to strike. I nodded to him
and retrieved my bags. Glancing over my shoulder as I headed toward
the stairs, I called back to them. "I know you guys don't have
anything super fancy to put on, but there're three bathrooms down
here. I'm gonna head to my room and change in mine." I looked down
at the shiny material, what little there was of it, inside the bags
in my hands with a quiet noise of displeasure. "I'll be back down
in a few minutes!"

I scurried upstairs without waiting for a response,
not wanting to lose my nerve and decide to wear something a bit
less revealing and a lot more conventional. Aya had been to these
things before, so I felt like I should trust her judgment. Aside
from that, I was seriously in love with those boots...

Just like when I'd tried them on, the skirt and top
fit me like a black leather glove. They were tight, clinging but
not restrictive. I’d strapped one of the sheathes for the knives
onto my left thigh, three of the six blades resting inside of it. I
checked quickly to make sure they weren’t easy to spot through the
leather. I had a pair of fishnet tights on beneath the skirt,
sitting down to slip the supple red boots onto my feet. I put the
other sheathe on my right forearm. I was right handed, but I felt
safer having the blades on opposite sides of my body, just in case.
If it came down to it and I had to, I could grab a handle and stab
with my left hand.

I stood before the mirror for a few seconds, checking
that everything was in its proper place. With a small nod of
satisfaction, I took another minute to put on my usual eye makeup:
black eyeliner and mascara to match. A quick glide of cranberry
gloss across my lips, the color almost perfectly matched to my
gorgeous boots, and the ensemble was complete.

Rather than embarrass the hell out of myself and
freeze my ass off on the trip there, I grabbed a heavy velvet cloak
from my closet. It was something left over from when Taylea and I
went to the Renaissance Festival every summer, and it was heavy
enough to keep out the late autumn chill. Wrapping it around
myself, I breathed in heavily, getting a whiff of the sugary
perfume I used to wear. It helped calm me, to think of the days
when things were normal and I didn't know that the monsters in the
closet were real.

Chapter 22

“Wow...” I murmured, looking around the vast
clearing. I had never been to the place where the samling was held
before, hidden far back in the woods and away from any prying
eyes.

It was like the valley we stood in was a natural
stadium, worn into the loam and bedrock by millions of pairs of
feet that had passed through over the ages. It looked like it could
easily seat at least a thousand bodies. I found that I couldn’t
move, forced into stillness by the very immensity of the majestic
space laid out before me.

“You okay, Kaysh?” Jynxx asked softly, his hand
settling on my shoulder.

I jumped, startled out of her awe by the sudden
contact “I.. I’m fine.” I choked out, rubbing my hands up and down
my arms through the cloth of my cloak, wishing the clothing I’d
worn under it was a bit warmer.

There was movement at the other side of the clearing
and I watched my four guardians tense, apparently more prepared for
shit to go sideways than I was. I reached inside the sleeve of my
robe, clenching one of my knives tightly. A small light appeared,
illuminating the face of Elomina. “Sorry to give you all a fright
like that,” she said apologetically, a little smile curving the
corners of her lips.

More rustling and crashing noises came from a few
feet to Elomina’s right. She crouched low and I could actually feel
the trollkvinne raising power, ready to attack whatever came out of
the shadows. A familiar cherry red head of curls appeared on the
path, moving slow and carefully as he stepped out into the
unsheltered open of the clearing.

“Gavin! So nice of you to join us.” Elomina said
loudly, her tone far from friendly.

He waved a hand at her dismissively. He’d left his
contacts out, and I saw for the first time that his eyes were
really blue. They practically glowed in the semi-darkness. I
shivered, able to feel the heat rising off of his body in waves,
his energy writhing as if alive as he came closer. His stride was
steady, determined, unhurried. His powerful torso was bared to the
night, clearly not feeling the chill of the evening as I was. Gavin
was every bit the predator, and I couldn’t fight the feeling that I
was his prey.

He came to a stop several feet away, bowing with mock
respect to Jynxx. His heated gaze swept from me to Teigan and back
to Jynxx. “She’ll no longer be yours when next the moon has
undergone its cycle, Jynxxie.” He said it so simply, so
matter-of-factly, that I winced like I’d been slapped.

“You can’t challenge him if I defeat you here
tonight, Gavin.” Teigan put in, his voice as frosty as the air
around us.

Gavin gave the taller wolf a small smile, his whole
manner condescending. “You won’t,” he stated flatly, all humor
fading from his features and voice.

The five young men were silent as they went about
setting up the fire, now and then stopping to mumble some sort of
prayer in a guttural language that sounded as if it wasn’t meant to
be uttered by a human tongue. I watched it all silently, waiting
until the fire was started and roaring before I stripped off the
robe, letting the boys and Elomina see my outfit for the first
time. Rather than dwelling on the hungry gazes I felt settling on
my backside, I stared into the flames, idly toying with one of my
long curls and resisting the urge to put the cloak back on.

Two inhumanly warm hands slid around my waist,
pulling me back against a bare and well-muscled chest, gasping in
shock at the sudden temperature change that drew me out of my
trance. I recognized who it was, and I was not amused. “Gavin, get
your hands the fuck off of me... Now.” I half growled the words,
trying to cover my unease.

He chuckled warmly in my ear, pressing a slow and
teasing kiss to my throat just over the pulse. “Always be wary of
wolves at your back, milady.” There was a hint of mockery in his
tone that punched all my rage buttons in a bad kind of way.

“You don’t own me, Gavin. And you’ll never have a
chance to once Teigan kicks your ass tonight. Until you’re the one
sitting on that throne, you’ll never have a chance. And even then,
you know that I won’t really be yours.”

His teeth grazed my skin and I cringed, tensing
completely in his arms. I freed the knife in the sheath on her
forearm, dragging the tip up Gavin’s thigh, resisting the urge to
gag as his blood spilled over my hand. It was so hot it almost
burned me, and steam rose from the wound into the night. He jumped
slightly, but his grip and his resolve didn’t loosen. He turned me
in his arms, holding my wrist and squeezing until I finally dropped
the blade from the pressure.

“Gavin. Let. Me. Go.” I said each word slowly as I
stared up into his blue eyes, my fear overpowered by the rage
rising inside of me.

“Or you’ll what? Sick the others on me? Go ahead and
scream, Highness... It won’t do you any good.”

I didn’t bother gracing him with an answer, mainly
because I was suddenly distracted and enticed by his scent. There
was something… powerful that hovered around him. It wasn’t whatever
enchantment had been cast on him, this energy was purely Gavin.
Skadhi certainly seemed to like the way he smelled, and I found
myself having to fight hard not to lean into his embrace.

“What in the hell are you staring at?” he asked,
shocking me from my stupor and bringing my eyes back to his. I
shook my head, opening my lips to give him some scathing retort,
and all words died on my tongue as he lifted my hand in his and
drew my slick fingers between his lips. I watched in morbid,
disgusted fascination as he slowly licked his own blood from my
fingers, his eyes closed in ecstasy.

I shivered and his eyes opened, their color that dark
lupine amber that I’d come to recognize as a sign of bad things to
come. “JYNXX!” I screamed, trying in vain free myself from the arms
of the beta, knowing that there was no way in hell I could
outmuscle him.

I heard the click of a hammer on a gun being drawn
back and stopped moving immediately. Looking towards the noise, I
saw the muzzle of a pistol pressed to Gavin’s temple. “Let her go,”
Elomina said slowly. “You know that I’ll do it, Gav.”

The wolf slowly drew his arms away, holding them up
to appear non-threatening. “Good dog.” Elomina practically purred,
concealing the handgun somewhere on her person.

I knelt down to retrieve my knife, my eyes never
leaving Gavin as he took a few almost respectful steps backwards. I
didn’t say another word to the red haired wolf, nodding thankfully
to Elomina before going to Jynxx and hugging him tightly. He held
me close, neither of us speaking for a moment as I forcefully
calmed my panicked pulse.

Kenshin approached us, glancing at his watch. “It’s
about that time, you guys.” he said, sounding calmer than he must
have felt.

We nodded and everyone took their places. There was a
large granite throne near the fire pit, worn smooth by many ages of
use. Jynxx lounged casually on it, as if it had been hewn from a
boulder for none other than him many ages ago. I sat beside him on
the hard packed earth to the right of the throne, knees bent and
legs to the side. I almost felt like a slave seated like this next
to him, but I knew that the powers I possessed made us
stronger.

Conner mirrored me on the left side of the throne,
seated on the ground much like I was. He drummed his fingers
nervously on the dirt, his nails seeming freshly manicured. I
smirked a little, although I understood. The guys didn’t have fancy
clothes they were wearing, so they had done their best to make
their bodies display both power and perfection.

Kenshin stood directly behind Jynxx, his hands
resting on the back of the throne, the ring in his nipple
reflecting the firelight. His hair looked odd to me, his normally
spiky blond locks down and purposely mussed. I noticed that his
knuckles were white from the strain of gripping the stone so hard.
I half expected it to crack under the pressure.

Gavin and Teigan stood on opposite sides of Kenshin,
Gav on the left and Teig on the right. Since I hadn’t been invited
to any of their rehearsals, I wondered if that was their normal
formation, or if they were that way because of the battle that was
to occur later. Teigan looked much more intimidating shirtless than
I expected. His mannerisms were normally rather submissive and
almost feminine, but without anything to cover up the cut of his
muscles, it was hard to deny his strength. He seemed calm and at
ease, but I knew better. I feared for him, even though the brunette
wolf had four inches and almost thirty pounds up on Gavin.