Breanna (26 page)

“I can identify with wanting to rip throats out,” Jase said after Brea dismissed 318

them, giving them each a kiss before going back to work. They told her what time to be ready to head home and she nodded absently.

“I’m not so sure our mate understands the need, though,” Nick sighed.

“Hell, you might be surprised. There’s a hellion inside that delectable fairy, trust me,” Jase laughed and pulled applications out to review for the next interviews.

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Later that evening, Brea lay comfortably on the sofa, her head on Nick’s lap and legs over Jase’s. They’d agreed on a movie but just couldn’t wrap her brain around it so she snuggled down on her side and closed her eyes. She was comfortable and they were enjoying the movie, so all was well.

Until sleep gripped her and suddenly she wasn’t on the sofa any longer.

Amber eyes flew wide, her feet shoving against the ground and gaze swinging around her.

She didn’t know why this felt different. Only that it did.

The summoning was different, almost violent. Hard and angry. Filled with hatred that seethed through every pore of the once calm forest she’d first seen only days ago.

She looked down, grateful she had her normal jeans on, her feet bare but she didn’t take a step. Something felt wrong and she remained in one place.

She tried calling out inside her head for her grandfather. She tried forcing herself awake, forcing herself back to the safety of Jase and Nick. She was breathing too quickly. It wasn’t working. She couldn’t go back. Was it because someone else had brought her here?

Against the voice in her head she moved forward, turning now and then to look behind her, spinning completely to see behind her and then in front of her again. She could feel things watching her and it made her skin crawl.

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Tiny voices. Harsh whispers all around her kept her head jerking front to back.

She tried pulling Jase and Nick to her, but they were awake. They were watching their movie and didn’t know she’d been taken away.

She didn’t like this. The forest was too open, too wide. It had become a broad, flat plain, the tree line in the distance.

She needed a place where she could put her back to it and watch, a place where nothing could come at her from at least one side. She tried envisioning her grandfather’s house, focused and precise. She was stronger than they were, she growled in her mind.

Bare feet stumbled on the tiles suddenly beneath her feet, her breathing raggedly seconds before the scream was ripped from her chest.

Sullivan Moore went running up the walkway from the beach, the sound shattering an otherwise pleasant dawn. He found Brea in the center of the main area, on her knees and curled into a tight bundle.

For a moment. A long moment, he froze. He’d had a son. He’d spent little time with him because of his anger at the universe. He didn’t know how to deal with a crying female. But the love of his life did and somehow she was whispering to him, urging him forward until he had the delicate child cradled in his arms.

“Child….what happened?” He listened to her trying to catch her breath. “Are you alright?”

Her head shook.

“What happened?”

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“I….” she gulped in air. “I fell asleep on the sofa. They’re watching a movie.

And…and then I was in the forest…no, not the forest….a big open space of grasses….but I didn’t go there, grandfather and something…I could feel them watching me, stalking me….all around….and I tried to go! I tried to go back to the living room but I couldn’t! And I called for you….and there were whispers getting closer and closer.

Then….then I remembered you telling me I had to focus as if I believed I had the most power in the world,” she dragged in a shuddering breath. “Then I was here.” Sullivan picked her up against him, setting her on her feet and ready to help her return when she suddenly vanished. Before his eyes. In his spell protected house! His grand-daughter was taken from him!

The bellow that left his lips rattled the quiet neighborhood and the next instant, he was standing in the living room glaring down at two very surprised wolves.

“We have a problem and I hate to admit it, but your physical halves may be needed because magic isn’t working,” Sullivan announced flatly.

Jase immediately tried to wake Brea, his growl growing louder.

“Where is she?”

“Close your eyes and sleep and I’ll take us there. She was taken from here, she didn’t go of her own volition,” he said flatly. He waved a hand over them and promptly vanished, appearing in the forest with them standing at his side, confused and pissed.

“Brea!” Nick took a step forward, his head tilted and nostrils twitching. “She’s here.”

“I believe we’ll find your other halves more beneficial,” Sullivan had assumed the 322

visage of the black leather clad demon, tall and dangerous looking. “Lead us to her,” he ordered, his voice low and gruff. Hands with long, lethal looking claws flexed repeatedly as he followed the pair of them, muscled and snarling along the path.

Jase found Brea standing in the middle of an open field, immobile and staring around her as quickly as she could. She saw him and ran toward them, instantly falling to her knees and hugging him and the Nick.

“Why can’t I go back?” She screamed out, facing her grandfather with all the fury held inside the clenched palms.

“I don’t know,” he pushed the words between his teeth. “I don’t know the magic being used to keep you from going, child. I know it isn’t demon magic,” he added carefully. He could feel the same things she was, tension and anticipation. A frenzied kind of excitement beasts would have before a battle. Or before being set free from their leashes to do battle.

“I want to go home,” she whispered angrily, heat radiating through her as she stood there, feet parted and hands hanging at her sides. “If you’re going to attack me, do it already!” She screamed at the top of her lungs, leaves on the trees in the distance rattling and shaking. At first she thought it was whatever brought her there. But still, nothing moved.

Then slowly things began to form. Beings no taller than four feet, she guessed.

With pig tusks and hands edged in claws. They carried no weapons and Sullivan sensed no magic.

“They aren’t magical,” he said quietly. “And they aren’t mine.” 323

“Mercenaries?” Jase had shifted back. “Brea….can you pull some weapons for us? Think Warcraft, babe.” He stared down at his hand, nodding in satisfaction. At least his jeans and shirt were back and he wasn’t standing there with nothing but a damned big sword. He groaned at the analogy.

“You would do better as your wolf,” Sullivan said darkly.

“He does well as a wolf. I do better damage as human,” Jase promised, taking a stance and watching their approach.

“This isn’t right. It doesn’t feel right,” Brea watched the pig things approach from all sides. She sent out mental fingers, touching, feeling for the barrier that kept them there. That kept her there. Sullivan said it wasn’t his magic. It wasn’t his people making the attack. That meant it had to be Fae magic.

“If they die here…” Jase asked gruffly, watching their slow, plodding approach.

“They die. Just as we would,” Sullivan warned flatly.

“Nick, watch Brea,” Jase ordered with a growl through human lips that sounded more like his wolf. “Something is holding her here?”

“It’s magic,” Brea answered, taking little steps, her gaze aimed toward the incoming creatures. “They don’t belong to the demon world. I can feel them. Someone has given them Fae magic as protection.”

“Your magic? Then the someone trapping us here is Fae?” Jase felt more than a growl deep in his gut.

“Not you. Sullivan brought you here. Me,” she said curious, thoughtful.

“There are demons who want her blood for their spells,” Sullivan continued the 324

thread. “But why the Fae would want her dead….” His head snapped up with a snarl, his palm out and sending spears of lightening toward the creatures now racing toward them.

Brea heard the voice in her head, calm, quiet, directing her.

“I know you can hear me,” she watched the creatures continue the slow lumber toward them. “I’m giving you a chance. Stop!” She yelled loudly, eyes narrowed when the thundering feet abruptly halted. “You don’t have to fight. You can refuse.”

“They’ve probably been very well compensated,” Sullivan said in a low, snarling growl. “They won’t heed you, child.”

As if hearing his words, the creatures began moving again as one, a circle slowly and cautiously coming forward.

She looked around, Nick was at her feet, fangs bared. Jase stood with his back to her and Sullivan on her side. They were close, safe. She pulled in a long, slow breath and pushed her palms toward the ground.

The males with her watched the very visible concentric circle began at Brea’s feet and wave outward.

“Brea…” Jase reached for her only to have Sullivan grip his wrist, their eyes locked.

“Not now, wolf,” his voice was low and filled with pride. “She’s unlocking her magic.”

“What the fuck does that….” But Jase’s snarl came to an end when the creatures coming toward them fell like slow, hard stones. “Shit. What was that?” 325

Brea felt her knees shaking, her eyes wide and palms covering her lips.

“Brea….don’t even feel sorry for them,” Jase grabbed her at the waist and held up on her feet. “Can you get us out of here?” Brea looked at her grandfather, her hands moving forward to take his.

“Yes,” was the soft, strangled whisper. “But someone will die.”

“They deserve it, child,” he took her hands, knowing what she wanted.

Brea twined their palms and closed her eyes.

Jase swore he saw the same concentric circle but aiming toward the sky, as if there was a dome it were shooting for. The forest around them gave off a great shudder when it struck, echoing and making the ground tremble beneath their feet. The next thing he knew, he was standing in front of the sofa with Nick and Sullivan and Brea folded toward the floor without a word.

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Nick caught her before she hit the floor.

“Get blankets,” Nick ordered, holding her close. “Fuck, she’s like a block of ice.”

“She used all of her magic in those two strikes,” Sullivan took her palms in his, sending body heat through their link. “She used everything and some of mine to break the barrier.”

Jase came out with a couple thick quilts, helping Nick wrap her in them before laying her on the sofa.

“She didn’t just break it,” Nick said quietly, looking at Sullivan for answers. “Did she?”

“She sent it back to its owner,” he declared with a nod of satisfaction. “My granddaughter is not weak, merely untrained. And slightly reckless. She was afraid of risking your health to keep her safe,” he looked them over grudgingly. “You must be worthy of her for her to believe that.”

“So the someone involved in that plot is finished?” Jase ground his teeth together, his wolf wanting to howl in victory.

All heads went up when the kitchen doors slammed open, Hannah dressed hurriedly in jeans and sweater, looked at them before rushing to Brea’s side.

“What happened? I felt….oh, Brea….” Hannah took her hands in hers before running her palms along her arms and onto her throat and neck. Slowly, she shared 327

some of her heat, some of her magic until she saw the familiar lashes fluttering.

“What did you feel, Hannah?” Jase asked tensely.

“Hannah, did you relinquish your throne?” Sullivan stood there as if they’re been friends for years, looking from her to the stunned expression on his son’s face. “Hello, Rey.”

“Father,” Rey’s face remained stoic. “Why are you here?”

“Someone….something…..had Brea trapped in her dream forest,” Nick said quickly, not wanting a fight between them at the moment. He met the looks from both her parents.

“They took her when she fell asleep,” Sullivan explained, looking down at the pale woman. “She….somehow garnered enough will to escape and I found her in the middle of my villa when I returned from my morning walk. Before I could return her here, she was taken again. From me. From my home,” his voice had slowly turned into a furious snarling growl.

“She didn’t bring us into the forest?” Jase asked.

“I brought you. Whatever was there, was better dealt with using brute strength,” Sullivan answered after inhaling deeply. The child had brought him more emotion in a few short days than he’d known since he’d lost Regana.

“Tempest is dead,” Hannah’s eyes went wide, staring up at Sullivan’s stark expression. “What is going on?”

Midnight and Brea was blinking, staring up at people who looked very upset.

Before she could speak, a collective gasp went through the large room and she 328

heard Wade’s voice.

“I would have knocked but I lost contact with Breanna,” Wade went immediately to her side, his hands moving over her face only after he went through Jase and Nick who immediately moved to block him. “I am not your enemy, shifters. She’s weeded out the traitor among us.”

“Tempest?” Hannah’s voice was filled with surprise as she sat back on her heels, letting Wade examine her daughter.

“I’m alright,” Brea finally said but gripped the edge of the quilts and pulled them closer. She met the curious eyes behind the glasses.

“Why did you ask about the throne, Sullivan?” Nick looked from one to the other, trying to follow along with all the unfolding answers.

“Because while my kind wants something physical from the child; her own kind wanted her dead because of her lineage.” He informed the room flatly. “The things happening weren’t from one direction, but two separate reasons behind the attacks.”

“I never told Tempest where you were, Hannah,” Wade said simply, silver threads of magic flowing from his fingers to Brea’s. “You did very well, child. Very well.

There was no way to stop them without their deaths, so do not blame yourself for their choices.” He saw the answer in her eyes and shook his head. “She will be fine. Between her grand-father, Hannah and myself, we’ve restored what she expelled. And our lessons will continue until you learn that you do not have to use every ounce of your power to achieve your goal,” he lectured sternly, rising to his feet and sighing.

“Tempest was trying to kill us,” Hannah said in disbelief. She felt Rey behind her, 329

his arms secure and protective. “For the throne? They seem to be managing just fine without someone pretending to rule them.”

“Some covet power as if it will bring them completion,” Wade said with a shrug.

“She had a selected group who believed as she did but to accomplish her goal, you and Brea had to be eliminated. And there is the chief reason the royal guard was always in effect around your mother. To hear the rumors and ferret out the problems before they became serious.”

“This was about someone ruling?” Jase gaped, looking from one to the other before sinking next to Brea and pulling her onto his lap. “You scared the living hell out of us.”

“I’m still getting the hang of things,” she laid her head down with a sigh.

“The news is that word is already spreading not to mess with the princess,” Wade said with a smile, glancing over at Sullivan. “The strains of your magic with hers, has told them that she has powerful allies, as well.”

“You’ve known about this?” Rey stood behind Hannah, holding her close.

“There have been rumors since you vanished,” Wade answered simply. “But none seemed willing to take chances because of the unknown. Believe me, I’ve kept rumors of your life alive in the Fae community,” he smiled wanly. “Just feeding them enough to keep them civil.”

“What do they hope to gain?” Brea pushed her feet to the floor, watching the tension in her father and grandfather. “Are there taxes to collect or…..or some massive boon they get for taking over a community that appears capable of governing itself?” 330

“There are insurgents in any species, child,” Sullivan shook his head. “Each wants to believe they’re better than the other, when they’re all truly the same. Living selflessly comes into conflict with greed and ego.”

“But what would they gain by killing me? By killing us?”

“The bragging rights,” Jase said with a glance around at the others.

“I haven’t been visible, but I have not abandoned them, either,” Hannah said quietly. “I’ve listened and governed without their knowledge. A great deal of information can be collected when no one knows who you are. I was wrong to dismiss their behavior as….as petulant children. Testing the limits.”

“They know you exist now, Hannah,” Wade said quietly. “Perhaps one day every couple weeks to keep a semblance of order to things. And it would be wise that among her training, your daughter join you in managing your people.”

“I have a business to run,” Brea said hurriedly.

“I have discovered there are some things you can only outrun for so long,” Sullivan said from her side, tipping her chin up and kissing her forehead. “Stay out of trouble, child. Good luck, wolves.”

“What? Wait! Just you wait right there,” Brea stomped her foot and went to her father, grabbing his hand and pulling. “You two talk to each other. All of everything between you was wrong!”

“Brea…..” Hannah winced.

“Brea…” Rey frowned at his daughter and then his father.

“Child…..” Sullivan snarled.

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“I know my name,” Brea growled back, ignoring the laughter from Jase and Nick who had taken up seats to watch from the sofa. “And I also know I will make both of your lives hell if you don’t at least start to speak with one another. Now,” she crossed her arms over her chest. “I am making a big dinner on Sunday at two in the afternoon.

I expect to see both of you here. Is that clear?” One bare foot tapped on the carpeting, lips pursed into a taut bow as she looked from her father to the creased brow and narrowed gaze of her grandfather.

“I don’t hear anything, gentlemen. And I’m feeling testy,” she said softly.

Nick set his elbow into Jase’s ribs just as the topic of her discussion realized they were floating above the carpeting.

“Breanna….”

Brea raised one palm, her finger out and a slight frown on her face.

“I haven’t figured out how that happens yet,” she admitted, tossing a glare behind her at her mates. “You two are not helping here.”

“Babe, you’re safe. Hopefully, the idiots out to conquer all have been…..handled,” Jase chose a polite word to avoid the look of guilt in her eyes.

“What he’s trying to say and failing at,” Nick interrupted. “Your father and grandfather would love to have dinner with us on Sunday, wouldn’t you, gentlemen?

Because if you aren’t at least civil and perhaps even friends, when the time comes, neither of you will see your grand-children.” Brea beamed at him. “Brilliant. Exactly.”

“Sunday,” Rey said with a glower and wince at the elbow in his side by Hannah.

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“Sunday,” Sullivan said tonelessly, but a small gleam in his eyes when he winked at Brea before he vanished.

“Feeling pretty powerful, mate?” Jase asked with a chuckle.

“Maybe,” she swaggered a little across the floor. “Yeah….maybe I am.”

“I’ll be going,” Wade looked from mother to daughter. “I’ll be in touch, Hannah.

We’ll talk about governing, perhaps designing something less……kingdom like. More modern.”

“I think that would be best, Wade,” Hannah crossed to Brea and hugged her tightly. “If I had known, Brea…..Tempest….I’m so sorry,” she whispered.

“You can’t control the behaviors of others, mom,” Brea hugged her and then went to her father. They stared at one another for a long minute. “Mad at me?”

“Furious.”

“He’s not a bad guy…..he’s sad and lonely,” Brea said softly, lifting the locket from inside her shirt and opening it. “He gave me this. She was beautiful.” Rey touched the oval portrait inside the gold locket and then ran his palm over her head. “Just as beautiful as her grand-daughter,” he bent and kissed her forehead.

“Sunday,” he shook his head and took Hannah’s palm, both striding out the back toward the kitchen.

“I’m locking up,” Jase shook his head and went to check locks and alarms.

“Interesting night, mate,” Nick came up behind Brea, his arms surrounding her.

“I love you,” she said softly. Her eyes on Jase as he approached, his palms on her face. “And I love you. You make very good pets,” she teased, squealing and 333

ducking to take off running from the growls.

Her mates followed, catching her wasn’t a problem and keeping her was the best gift they’d ever known could exist. Especially since she wanted to show them how very important all their love had become to her.

For a very long time, she whispered to each of them long into the night.

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