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Authors: Elizabeth A. Reeves

Tags: #urban fantasy, #Fantasy, #witches and wizards, #Romance

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BOOK: Baehrly Alive
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Letting Kodi kiss me would have been letting Kodi kiss all those dead people—and most of them were not the ‘good’ kind, either.

“I wasn’t expecting you tonight,” I said, pulling my hand away from Kodi’s and heading toward the fridge to see if he had left anything even slightly edible behind for me to eat.

Kodi shrugged. “I missed you,” he said gently. “I was thinking about you all day.”

I knew I should tell him that I’d been thinking about him all day, too, but I had been a little too occupied. I didn’t want to tell him that he had scarcely crossed my mind all day, so I shoved a chunk of banana into my mouth so I wouldn’t have to say anything at all.

“I think I found our venue,” Kodi said. He apparently hadn’t noticed that I hadn’t replied to him.

I choked on my banana. “Our venue?”

Kodi nodded enthusiastically. “You’re going to love it—it’s the same cathedral where my parents were married. It has all these amazing glass windows full of bears and knights and fair maidens—it’s spectacular.”

I frowned. “I thought we were going to do something small,” I said. “Like… you know, elope?”

“You only get married once, right?” Kodi said. “I want it to be special.”

I closed my mouth on the snarky comment that my mother had been married twelve times. Kodi was in love with all this wedding stuff. For weeks now, he’d had old shoes and enchanted birdseed on his mind. Conversations were dotted with lace and first dances.

Why rain on his parade?

“The cathedral sounds amazing,” I told him, forcing a smile to my lips.

Kodi grinned. “All we need to do now is set the date. I was thinking… June?”

I thought about that for a moment. I wanted to get married as soon as possible, but I also wanted Kodi to have the wedding of his dreams. “Is that enough time to get everything done?”

He nodded enthusiastically, grabbing me up in his arms to swing me around. “It will be perfect, you’ll see! I’m assuming you want chocolate cake?”

I winced. Of course, I couldn’t expect Kodi to remember that my sister, Cindy, was currently missing and had been ever since the Council of Magic decided that she’d had ‘criminal contact with Faerie’. I’d always planned on her making my wedding cake, but now it looked like she wouldn’t be making it to my wedding at all.

Having anyone else make my cake felt like a betrayal.

Kodi hugged me tightly. “Oh, honey, I’m sorry. I forgot about Cindy. I’m sure she’s all right.”

I nodded, even though I could barely move with my face smothered in his chest like that. Kodi had a pleasant scent about him—something piney and wild that clung to him whether he was in his human or bear form. I breathed in the aroma of his skin and tried to let it relax me.

This was Kodi—the man I had loved for the better part of three years.

I just wished I could bring myself to be more enthusiastic about marrying him.

Marrying Kodi was the right choice. I knew it with every logical part of me—and it helped that my heart and bear generally enthusiastically agreed.

Kodi was a part of the Magical world. If anyone could understand everything I was, and what I was fighting every night, it was Kodi. He had grown up around were bears and witches and vampires… he could face all of that with his eyes open.

I needed that right now.

If anything happened to me, Kodi would be able to pick up the pieces and take care of my family—both human and the furry or scaly kind.

Kodi was my rock, my anchor.

My smiling knight in furry armor.

“I love you,” I whispered, rubbing my face against the front of his shirt.

His arms tightened around me. I could feel the warmth of his smile, even with my eyes closed. “I love you, too. This is going to be wonderful, Goldie. We’re going to be so happy.”

I nodded again.

I knew we would be.

If we ever had the chance.

And if I felt any reservations, well that was only natural. Kodi had blithely ignored any of the signs that I wasn't ready. I wasn't sure I would ever be ready to marry him. I wasn't sure if he was just oblivious. I'd tried to hide the panic I felt when I thought about getting married, but Kodi knew me better than to buy into my smiles and lukewarm enthusiasm.

I tried to ignore the voice deep inside of my head that tried to remind me of how I felt about Donovan.

It was too late. I had made my decision. This was better for all of us. Donovan had no idea what was happening to me. He couldn’t understand. He didn’t know enough about Magic to be able to handle what was to come.

I needed that knowledge now. I needed someone who could pick up the pieces when I finally cracked.

And that was Kodi.

Wasn’t it?

 

 

 

Chapter Three

 

 

“Easy,” I murmured to the unicorn colt in front of me. The halter he had come to the preserve in was dangling dangerously over one eye.

I’d worked with unicorns before, but those had been domesticated unicorns. The herd I was currently dealing with was a feral band that had been found up in the mountains around Waterton, Alberta.

Despite the beliefs of most Ordinaries, unicorns didn’t look all that equine-like. They had beautiful faces, like Arabian horses, but they also had cloven hooves like mountain goats and a single curly horn in the center of their foreheads. Even the youngest unicorns sported what I had to call ‘goatees’ and very long, thick manes and tails.

The effect was breathtaking and an indescribable combination of some sort of gazelle crossed with an Arabian horse with the hair of a Gypsy Vanner.

This band also came in every shade and color imaginable as long as it was
shaggy
.

The herd stallion was a formidable beastie of splashed gold and white, with a thick, arched neck and snapping teeth toward anyone who tried to do anything with a member of his family.

This was a problem, because some of them had injuries that I was trying to take care of.

This flock had been discovered by Ordinaries, who had been fooled by the unicorn glamorie that tricked them into believing they were dealing with a herd of mustangs.

A herd they then chased out of the mountains with a helicopter and sent to auction for adoption.

That was when the Council of Magic had stepped in and I’d been called to deal with the situation.

I’d had the herd for over a month now, and the stallion—Bash, as my twin sisters who could talk to animals, had told me—still considered me that enemy.

And those he considered an enemy, the other unicorns considered the enemy.

“Come on, Shimmer,” I said gently, holding out a radish toward the colt. He’d been wearing the halter someone had put on him since arriving, but now it had broken and was dangling in his eyes—which made him and the rest of the herd panic.

I pushed a little prodding Magic into the ground, trying to call up the Earth power to assist me.

At first, I thought that the Magic would answer me.

Then the Earth gave a sort of shiver—nothing physical, but a Magical shrug, rejecting me and snapping my Magic back to me with all the force of a giant rubber band.

“Ouch,” I muttered.

Trouble with my Magic had been happening more and more lately. I couldn’t seem to control it, and tapping into the Earth—as I had just tried—always resulted in instant rejection.

The Earth saw me as a creature of the Dark.

I’d had Magic my whole life. I couldn’t remember the first time I had helped a flower grow, or assisted my father in taking care of Magical creatures.

These days I had to settle for manual labor. I couldn’t heal anyone without hurting them worse than they were already hurt. I couldn’t use my Magic to calm, soothe, or even to travel.

My bear was even beginning to be affected by my malady. I could see—with my other eyes—the bones through her thick fur—and one side of her face had withered away so that I could see the bone and the bare eye socket.

I wondered what that meant.

I mean, I knew that my soul looked like Swiss cheese with a black mold infection, but why should my bear be affected by that?

Despite our one heroic attempt at blending to fight off the vampires six months ago, my bear and I remained very separate—more so than any were my bosses—the three Baehr brothers—had ever heard of, or that Hypatia, the Librarian, had been able to find in any book or parchment.

It was a blessing and a curse.

Because of that, I didn’t have to change into a bear if I didn’t want to—and my bear, in return, didn’t have to play fair when I was asleep or Kodi happened to be around.

We had called a truce on the honey thing.

Honey was pretty awesome in Gwyn’s herb tea.

I drew the line at eating grubs.

What my bear and I had was an uneasy truce. We cohabitated the same psyche—we had learned how to deal with that.

Sometimes I even liked her.

She was a bit of a honey-bear—chubby, soft, and cuddly. She spent all of her time sleeping—and most of that time dreaming about food.

If she hadn’t been trying to take over my brain, I would have liked her a lot more.

She was also, quite possibly, the only reason I was still alive.

But now she was starting to show damage from the vampire venom.

It looked like I might be running out of time.

Shimmer danced past me, squealing as I tried to thrust the radish under his nose.

“He says you’re dirty,” Thomas said. He stood at the fence, with his nose wrinkled.

“Dirty?” I asked. I sniffed at my hands and at my armpits. I’d just gotten out of the shower before heading down to the unicorn herd. How dirty could I be?

“No,” Thomas said. “You’re dirty—like inside.” He frowned. “You know how unicorns are.”

I did know how unicorns were.

And my soul-stuff was dark and full of holes.

I was usually smarter than that.

“Here, kiddo,” I said, handing Thomas the radish. “See if you can get that halter off of him before he gets lamed, okay?”

Thomas nodded, his face too serious for an eight-year-old. He climbed over the fence and held out the radish.

With me standing back, he was immediately mobbed by the wild unicorns.

Go figure.

I watched while Thomas singled out Shimmer from the rest of the herd and was able to unbuckle the halter and slide it off of the colt’s narrow head.

I breathed a sigh of relief. That thing had been bothering me for way too long. Whatever idiot had put a halter on the colt knew nothing about horses—or unicorns. Halters on loose animals could be a deathtrap.

“Why aren’t you in school, kiddo?” I asked, ruffling my brother’s hair as he returned to me, his face triumphant.

Thomas shrugged one shoulder. “Mom’s having a rough day. I thought I should take the day off and keep an eye on her.”

I felt like swearing, even though Gwyn would have my skin if I did—even as sick as she was. “Is she a lot worse?”

Thomas shrugged again. “I don’t know. She just seems tired today. Don’t tell her, Goldie, but sometimes I’m scared that she’ll die while I’m at school and I don’t want to miss saying good-bye.”

Tears stung my eyes. I pulled my brother to me. “I know, sweetie. I wish you didn’t have to worry about things like that.”

“That would be nice,” he agreed. He frowned at the unicorns, which were browsing goat-fashion on a nearby hedge. “You haven’t found anything to help her yet?”

I winced. I wished with all my heart that I had never told him about my work for the Ouroboros Society—trying to find a cure for Gwyn’s soul-sickness.

I’d never realized how cruel hope could be.

“I haven’t found anything yet, Bud,” I said reluctantly. “But I haven’t given up, so you don’t get to give up either, all right?”

He nodded. His jaw was set, but I could see his eyes turning a little red.

After all, he was just a little kid.

A kid who knew that his mommy was dying.

“I’m not going to let her die,” I murmured to him, knowing that I shouldn’t make promises I didn’t know how to keep. “You know that, right?”

Thomas nodded and sniffed. “I know, Goldie. I’m just so worried. I—I wish that I could do something to help. It feels wrong to just sit around and do nothing.”

“You do help,” I told him honestly. “You help me and your mom all the time—maybe a little too much sometimes. You’re a kid, you know. You are supposed to get into mischief and have fun.”

“Maybe when Mom’s better,” Thomas conceded.

I had to grin at his faith. “Let’s keep our fingers crossed that Hypatia will have something new for me. We’re having tea this afternoon.”

Thomas’s eyes grew round. He had never met the Great Librarian, but everyone in the Magical Community knew who she was. “You are?”

I nodded and dropped a kiss on the top of his head. “I am. She’s going to help me find the cure for your mom. If anyone can help me, it’s her.”

BOOK: Baehrly Alive
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