Primal Bonds (32 page)

Sean stood up, heart thumping, pulled out his cell phone, and called his father.

F
aerie wasn’t what Andrea had expected. Instead of shimmering mountains of ice or trees of silver, she saw ordinary-looking trees stretching up to gray sky, the muddy ground laced with ferns and other undergrowth.

On second glance, the trees weren’t ordinary. They were a species she’d never seen, with dark green needles, somewhat like pine, but the trees were studded with bloodred berries. Fallen berries littered the forest floor, scarlet juices staining the mud where the berries had burst. Behind Andrea, the rent in the fabric between the worlds snicked shut. She searched the air but found no sign of the bright light that marked the doorway.

Fionn let go of Andrea’s hands and pulled her into a bone-crushing embrace. “My daughter. I knew you’d come to me at last.” He released her and looked her up and down. “Now, where is the Sword of the Guardian?”

Andrea put her hands on her hips. “As a matter of fact, I came here to ask you about that. Why do you want the sword so much?”

Fionn’s dark eyes filled with fire. “Daughter, that sword has unbelievable magic. It is the original Sword of the Guardian, did you know? The first one forged by a Fae woman and her Shifter mate.”

“Yes, Sean told me.”

“That Fae woman, Alanna, was the daughter of kings, and her magic was great. It runs in the family. Our family.”

Andrea stared. “Our family? What are you talking about?”

“We are descended from Alanna’s brother. He was an evil bastard, I’m sorry to say, but we can trace our line to him through his pure-Fae offspring. Thus, the magic in her family has passed to me, and so to you.”

“And that means what?” And who actually used the word
thus
? “That I can wield the sword? I doubt that. Sean is the Guardian, chosen by the Goddess. And please don’t tell me I’m related to him, even distantly, because that would just be too weird.” Shifters had an even greater horror of inbreeding than did humans.

Fionn shook his head. “Sean is descended from the Shifter sword-maker’s sons by his Shifter wife, not from Alanna. He is pure Shifter as our family is pure Fae. But it means that both you and Sean are connected through the sword. By magic.” Fionn put a hand on her shoulder. “Think, Andrea. The sword speaks to you, does it not? It connects with you.”

Andrea thought of the way the sword’s threads wove through her fingers, how it seemed to whisper whenever she drew near, how she’d drawn in its power to heal Ely. “Yes.”

“That means it will connect to me too. We will defeat our enemies if we have it.”

Andrea growled. “It’s not for
you
. It’s Sean’s, and it’s not a weapon of war.”

“I never said it would be. Andrea, our Fae enemies want it. They know its power, and they know its power over Shifters. They want Shifters under their control, and having the sword is one way to get it.”

“
Fae
want it? But ...”

“Daughter, the enemy Fae clan believes that if they have you and they have the sword, they will gain power over Shifters again. They’d be able to bring Shifters back where they belong, as slaves of the Fae.”

Andrea grew cold. Mist was forming under the trees, and Andrea already missed the dry blue sky of Austin and the wind from the river valley. “Slaves of the Fae? How? Shifters will never let that happen again.”

“Think it through. If they capture the Guardian’s mate and the Guardian’s sword, won’t your Sean come charging in here to find them? And his brother and father will rush in after him, leading an army to best the hated Fae. So there we have it—some of the strongest Shifters on your earth, already weakened by the Collars, now in Faerie surrounded by thousands of Fae. It’s a trap, child, an elaborate trap. The Fae will defeat your Shifters, strengthen the magic of the Collars, and settle down to breed even more captive Shifters. And after that, what wouldn’t they be able to do with hundreds of Shifters forced to fight for them?”

Andrea listened, her heart constricting with each word. She knew damn well it could happen the way Fionn outlined it. If Andrea were trapped here, Sean wouldn’t hesitate to search Faerie to find her, and Liam and Dylan would come right behind him. They’d organize a rescue, and if it came to a fight, they’d fight.

She imagined them, all the friends she’d made in the last weeks—Ellison and Ronan, Connor and Liam, Dylan and Eric, Ely and his sons, the regulars at the bar—surrounded by armed Fae warriors. The Fae wouldn’t have to fight very hard, just wait until the Collars weakened the Shifters enough before taking them captive. Even Liam and Sean and Dylan being able to override the Collars wouldn’t help them for long. The pain would catch up to them all too soon, and then the Fae would have them.

“Holy shit,” she whispered. She wondered whether the Collars had been part of a grand Fae plot all along. A half-Fae human had come up with the concept and the magic for the Collars—what if he’d been employed by the Fae to help weaken the Shifters? The Fae resented Shifters for winning their freedom long ago, and Fae were just stubborn enough to wait centuries for their revenge.

“What makes you think the sword would be safe with you?” Andrea asked when she could speak again.

“Because if I have the sword, the other Fae would have to fight
me
and my armies. And they’re hesitant to do that. My armies are the best in the world.” Fionn said it without conceit—he was stating a fact. “I’ve been trying to keep you safe, child, from these ambitious Fae. What do you think your nightmares have been about?”

Andrea thought about the bright, white threads that tried to smother her in her sleep, how the voice had said,
Fight them!

“The white threads are from those Fae, trying to trap me in my dreams,” she said slowly. “You’ve been there too, trying to stop them.”

“Yes, daughter. When you moved here, so near a ley line, they tried to use your dreams to connect to your Fae magic. And it is my fault.” He looked suddenly ashamed, this tall, proud warrior.

“Your fault? How can it be?”

“Because in my arrogance, I thought it safe to contact you. I thought my enemies were down forever. I knew where you dwelled in the place you call Colorado, and I thought it safe to tap your dreams. And it was safe, until you came here. That’s when my enemies found you.”

When the nightmares had started. “But I was looking for you,” Andrea said. “I’d decided to start looking for you not long before I left.” Fear about Jared had begun her quest—her need to find out who she really was, her way of gaining some control.

“I put the suggestion in your dreams,” Fionn said. “And you went at it with determination. That’s what allowed me to find you again along this ley line, but my enemy Fae found you too. They seized the opportunity to enslave you or at least influence your mind. But you were so strong. They tried again and again to make you go to them, to become their tool against me, and you never let them. You are a Cillian, without doubt.” He radiated pride. “But you have no need to fear any longer. I will defeat my Fae rivals, kill their clan leader, and take command of their opening on the ley line. And I will teach you to resist all other attacks on your dreams. You have the strength; you simply need the training.” He spoke so casually, certain of his success.

“You’ll do all this if I bring you the sword?”

“I will teach you regardless. Sean has been able to help you resist them too, with the Goddess magic in him.”

Sean’s presence had kept the nightmares at bay until the calling had become too strong. “I’m right then,” Andrea said. “Sean is Goddess touched.”

“Of course he is. There has to be a way to choose a Guardian besides someone simply grabbing the sword.”

“Does Callum know that?” Andrea asked, half to herself. She’d bet that most Shifters didn’t know that Guardians had actual Goddess magic in them, that it wasn’t the
sword
that was important, but the man who wielded it. Or maybe Callum did know, and his ploy to get the sword was more like a ploy to get Sean. Hell.

Fionn went on. “Those Feline Shifters who have decided to fight against Liam Morrissey and his family play right into the hands of the Fae. The weak Shifters will easily lose the sword to the Fae who encourage them.”

Andrea’s heart squeezed again. Liam had been so certain that Callum would be kept down by his own clan but not if Callum’s clan aided and abetted him. Now Glory was missing.

“Damn it, Father, why the hell didn’t you tell me all this before?”

“I didn’t know. About my Fae enemies thinking about getting their hands on the sword, yes; about them seducing disgruntled and ambitious Shifters to help them do it, no. I was lucky enough to capture and interrogate a Fae spy yesterday. Before I killed him, I learned that this Callum person is ready to strike. Which is why you should have brought me the sword.” Fionn stopped, blinked. “Child, did you realize? You called me
Father
.”

Andrea had, but she was too distracted to think about that right now. “So Callum thinks he’s using the Fae, but the Fae are using
him
.”

“You have grasped it,” Fionn said. “My enemies can be beguiling. They probably put the idea in his head that he could unite Feline Shifters without this Callum even realizing it.”

“Goddess, Sean is out there looking for Glory. Alone.”

“You must find him and bring him to me. You will both be safe in my keeping while I defeat the Fae who seek the sword.”

Finding Sean made sense to Andrea. Fionn’s request that he have the sword for safe-keeping still didn’t—or it did, but Andrea wasn’t sure how much to believe him. If Fionn were beguiling
her
, and she handed the sword over to him, then
he’d
have the hold over the Shifters. But she’d work all that out once she connected with Sean.

Andrea whirled, but the woods looked the same to her in all directions. “Where is the damn door?”

Fionn’s hands on her shoulders guided her to the right place. “I can’t come with you,” he said. “I’m strong, but in your city, there is too much iron. Far too much for me.”

Andrea hadn’t expected him to help. The wolf in her wanted one thing and one thing only.

Protect the mate
.

Andrea dove through the slit that appeared to find herself back in Shiftertown—a Shiftertown too quiet and too still for a fine spring day. No cubs ran in backyards, no parents moved between houses, no one worked in yards or sat on porches. Everyone was inside or gone, the houses shut and dark.
This Callum person is ready to strike.

In this unnatural silence, Andrea punched Sean’s number on her cell phone, but he didn’t answer.

A
Lupine presence loomed up so strongly while Sean bent over the blood-stained grass that he had his sword out and at the other male’s throat before either of them could blink.

Jared Barnett stared at Sean down the length of the sword.

“What the bloody hell are you doing here?” Sean demanded.

Jared shrugged his massive shoulders. “I followed you. What are
you
doing here?”

“Looking for Glory. I found her blood. If you had anything to do with that, this blade goes into your throat.”

“I haven’t seen anyone but Wade and his mate since I got here.”

Sean inhaled, but Jared’s scent spoke the truth. Sean smelled only the strong odor of Jared himself and the fainter ones of Wade and his mate, the scent from their house. Nothing of Glory. He lowered the sword.

Jared smiled. “In fact, I had a good night’s sleep and I’m feeling energetic. So let’s do this.”

Sean gave him a look of disgust. “I don’t have time to fight you right now. Besides, a mate challenge has its proper rituals, as you should know. Wade should have kept you away from me until time.”

“Wade Sawyer is weak. We didn’t have to wait in the old days. If a Shifter wanted to challenge for a woman, he went after the other male, no rituals, no declarations. They just fought to the death.”

“That’s what you want, is it? A fight to the death?”

“Yes.”

No wavering. Jared’s scent of fear was smothered by that of anger and determination.

“Are you stupid, lad? If I fight to kill, I’ll kill you.”

“Maybe you will. Or maybe I’ll kill you. But it doesn’t matter. Because of you, Guardian, I lost Andrea—a submissive, half-Fae bitch who was my only chance at having a mate. There is no other unmated female of mating age in our Shiftertown, and I am the Shiftertown leader’s son. I’m expected to carry on the line.” Jared shed his jacket and tossed it on the grass. “So I have nothing to lose. If I kill you, I get Andrea. If you kill me, I avenge my honor.”

“I said I’d fight you,” Sean said, holding on to his patience. “I accepted the mate challenge. But not right now. I don’t have time.”

Jared pointed at the ground. “Right now. No referees, no rules, no one stopping us from killing each other. Just two Shifters fighting to kill or be killed. Like in the old days.”

“You’re bloody obsessed with the old days. What about your Collar?”

“I’ll fight through the pain.”