Once Untold

Chapter 1

Wednesday, February 4th 2015 5:42 p.m. PST

Las Vegas, Nevada

Ace

“Do it again,” I demanded.

I could feel Andromeda trying to give up emotionally, as well as physically, but I pushed her harder. I knew what her body and mind were capable of, and we were nowhere near her breaking point. She was a lot stronger than she thought she was.

Our connection, as we both liked to refer to the bond, seemed to be growing stronger, rather than weaker, like Andromeda had hoped it would. She wanted to find a way to reverse the ritual.

I didn’t.

She could feel my every emotion and hear my every thought—unless I blocked the telepathy—but it worked both ways, so she could keep me out of her mind, too. Unfortunately, we couldn’t block the emotions.

I felt each and every happy memory she’d had with Phoenix and each and every sad moment she’d had without him. The only time she wasn’t thinking about him was when we were training. So I planned to make her train. A lot.

This damn rollercoaster of feelings was literally driving me insane. I had never in all my life felt as much as I had in the last week, and I hated it. Me… with one girl… forever… I rolled my eyes at the absurdity that my life had become in only the blink of an eye. But as crazy as that all sounded, and even though I had in no way asked or planned for any of it, I couldn’t bring myself to hate the fact that I was finally ready to settle down.

I blocked Andromeda’s kick, grabbed her shoe and threw her to her back on the workout mat. Grinning down at her furious, pale-green eyes, I offered her my hand.

She huffed as she got to her feet on her own, looking down as she limped away from me. What a terrible actress. Chaos could have done a better job of fooling me.

I shook my head as my hands came up to rest on my hips. “Don’t give me that shit. It might work on your wolf cubs or even your boyfriend, but you can’t fake it with me, Andra. We’re bonded. I know you’re not hurt, so don’t—”

“I’m tired, Ace—”

“You shouldn’t be tired,” I sneered. “You slept the whole flight here. But for the sake of avoiding a pointless argument, humor me. What are you going to do when you’re in battle and you get tired? Are you going to limp away? What if I’m not there to kill the fucker for you next time?”

“I never asked for this!” she screamed as she whirled around to glare at me, her beautiful eyes brightened by the tears shimmering in them.

“I didn’t, either!” I roared back. She flinched as our emotions tangled together. I knew those tears weren’t there because she was sad, because her fury washed over me like I had been doused with boiling water. The rush of it almost hurt. The anger sucked, but I knew anger. I could deal with anger. Anger was my friend. It was the sadness and the heartbreak and the sappy-frilly-frilly I couldn’t fucking deal with. Unfortunately for me, Andra seemed to be full to the brim with all that shit.

With more effort than I really wanted to put forth with the mood I was in, I waded through her rage, then through my madness and forced calm over us.

This bond was new to us both, but getting it through her thick head that it would be easier on us if she would dump her boyfriend was like trying to breathe under water. I might have understood her side of the argument a little better if she had been dating the vampire longer than a month, and never mind the fact that two of those weeks she was locked in a silver cage as a wolf. They hadn’t even had time to get to know each other. I knew her. She knew me. We had direct contact with each other’s thoughts, memories and emotions, yet she wouldn’t even consider the idea of us being together on an intimate level. I didn’t understand it at all.

After a moment, I held out my hand again. “Come here.” I’d be dead and damned before I went to her, not with how she’d been acting since we left Montgomery, Alabama.

She looked down at my hand and set her jaw. I knew she wanted to touch me just as much as I needed her to, but I also knew by her thoughts that she wouldn’t without a little more encouragement.

“I know you promised Phoenix that you would try to be happy with me, here in Sin City. Do I need to make a call to the High Vampire of Montgomery to let him know you aren’t playing fair, Andra? My first attempt at getting him to break things off with you was just that: my first attempt. You may hate me before this is all over and done with between you and your bloodsucker, but, in the end, you will still need me and you won’t have him. I can live with that. Can you?”

Her lip quivered, and I nearly caved. I couldn’t handle the tears, but I could counteract with a little rage, just enough to give her a taste of how I felt. “Ace—”

“You’re mine, Andra. I’m willing to give you some time to let that soak in, but I won’t wait long.” I hardened my voice to a steely edge, even though she could undoubtedly tell I was serious. She had bonded with me, damn it! She was mine. She didn’t belong to some vampire nearly two thousand miles away. And when he got here, he still wouldn’t have her completely. I had to tamp down the utter rage at Andra’s memories of the vampire in bed with her, his skin sliding against hers, his mouth on my mate’s mouth. Fuck. If she wasn’t going to realize it on her own, I’d have to push the issue. “He can’t have you, Andra. I won’t let that happen.” I said the last part slowly, maybe for dramatic effect or maybe it was because, deep in my heart, I knew it to be true—I wouldn’t let him have her. By the fear in her widening eyes, I could tell she was seeing things from my perspective now. It was about damn time.

“I knew you would do this! I knew you would get me here and try to control me—”

“The only thing I’m trying to do is train you, but you won’t stop thinking of him long enough to concentrate on keeping your lovesick ass alive if this were a real situation!”

“Why do I need to learn how to fight so fast? We’ve barely stopped since we got here. And why haven’t you let me in your mind in two days? You shut me out the moment I asked about Justice.”

I huffed. I couldn’t tell her about Justice yet. If this upset her, I could only imagine how enraged she would be when I told her that I nailed a huge target on her head with our bonding. The worst part was that I knew it before I even did it. I didn’t know how to break the news to her without her hating me for it. Hell, I hated me for it. “I’m not ready to talk about it yet.”

“Well, I’m not ready to stop missing Phoenix yet,” she bit back. “I’ve only been away from my home for a little more than half a day, Ace. Cut me a little slack.”

I guess I was damned and dead, because I took a step forward, reached out and took her hand. The relief was immediate. Our rage subsided and our tempers calmed as if we’d never been angry at all. Our fight seemed so petty now. “I’m sorry. I am trying, Andra, and I will talk to you about Justice soon. I promise. I just have to figure out how to go about doing it the right way.”

She nodded as she wrapped her arms around me, and I looked up to the high ceiling, thanking the good Lord above us that He had given me enough sense to apologize. There was no better feeling in the world than when she was in my arms. It felt like heaven. It was new for me—totally unheard of for me—but I was quickly getting used to it. That in itself was mystifying.

“I’ll understand,” she said, and I lowered my head so that I could whisper in her ear.

“About what?”

“About him. Whatever it is, I’ll understand, Ace.”

God, if that were only true! Sighing heavily, I said, “I hope you will.”

“Were you lovers?”

I blinked rapidly at that. What the fuck? “No!” I had to laugh. Of course she would think something like that! “I’ve never been intimate with Justice… or any other guy, for that matter,” I said in disbelief, and then a smile crept across my face. “I like puss—”

Andra quickly clamped a hand over my mouth. “I hate that word. Call it something else.”

I threw my head back and laughed harder than I had in a long time. After I calmed down enough to speak clearly, I said, “What do you call it?”

Her eyes nearly popped out of her head as she blushed, and then those walls swiftly went up, blocking me out of her mind. Damn it! “I’m not telling you what I call my… my…”

“Pussy?”

She slapped my chest, and I laughed. “Stop! That sounds so gross to me.”

She did a little shudder-wiggle thing, and I couldn’t stop laughing. I’m serious. It was freaking hilarious watching her squirm over a word I’d said in everyday conversation most of my adult life.

“Okay, we won’t talk about what you call yours. What do you think I should call it in general? I have to call it something.”

“Why do you have to call it anything? People don’t go around talking about hoo-has all day long. You could just leave that particular body part out of your vocabulary altogether,” she said matter-of-factly.

My eyebrows rose as I stared at her in fascination. “Hoo-has?”

“Well, hoo-has is plural, meaning more than one. Hoo-ha is singular, meaning only one.”

Shit! Is she really giving me a grammar lesson on pussy slang?

“I know what singular means, Andra. I’m fairly educated.”

“Oh, then there you go. Hoo-ha and hoo-has.”

Frowning, I shook my head. “I don’t like that word. Call it something else.”

She grinned playfully, mimicking my head shake as she turned to walk away, but I grabbed her wrist and pulled her to me, enclosing her in the iron-like frame of my arms. Her skin—coated in a thin sheen of sweat—slid against mine, bringing to mind all sorts of erotic delights, but I only held her tighter. She stiffened, but she was too distracted to keep her walls intact. We were too close and she wasn’t as experienced with blocking as I was. I felt her desire for me the exact moment I smelled it.

Not only did the lion in me wake up, but the bonded male in me did, too. I wanted her. Bad. But it was too soon. She still had that vampire on a leash and I hadn’t told her my secret. My wants could wait for the perfect time. And there would be a perfect time. I was damn sure of that.

I had her right where I wanted her, though. Her walls were down and she was fully aware of how much she wanted me. The bonding did that to us. The attraction we felt for each other was unavoidable when we were this close. It may have been mean of me to use it to my advantage, but I had to know; she could not leave this room without me knowing. I did exactly what I intended to do from the start and no more. I bent until my lips almost touched hers, and then I dove into her mind. She hadn’t even tried to hide it from me. It was right there, for the taking, what she called her Golden Grotto, her Holy Grail or, in her words, hoo-ha.

I smiled as I whispered, “Kitty-cat.”

Desire left her eyes as she pushed against me. I let her go with a light chuckle.

“You’re an ass, Ace,” Andra said as she avoided looking at me. I could feel her embarrassment and guilt. Yes, guilt was there, too. The fucking vampire was cock-blocking me from seventeen-hundred miles away.

There was no need to bring up the fact that she would have willingly let me pet her kitty-cat if I had only kissed her. There was no vampire here for her to run to now. She wouldn’t have stopped me, but she would have regretted it. I didn’t want her to regret being with me. Ever. I had to play my cards right. There was no folding or losing in this game. I would win.

The gym doors opened, and Slade walked in with Kai, Rogan and Chaos. Chaos ran straight to Andra, and she knelt down to ruffle his ears and baby-talk to him. She was spoiling him, and he was eating it up. I frowned, my mood turning a bit sour at admitting to myself that I was envious of my Rhodesian ridgeback.

“Great timing, assholes,” I grumbled.

Slade’s grin was a mile wide as he watched Andra pet my dog, and then his green eyes cut up to mine, his black eyebrows rising in amusement. He thought it was funny as hell that I’d finally met a woman I liked and she wouldn’t put out. His words, not mine. And what made it worse, I hadn’t even told him. My Beta knew me better than I knew myself most of the time. I guess he could tell by the sexually frustrated look on my mug that I hadn’t gotten any—or any worth bragging about—in a while. I was never, ever telling him what Andra called the cockpit. Hoo-ha… What kind of word is that for something so awesome? The fucker would never let me live down how vanilla she was.

Slade nodded to Andra. “Has Ace been a good host? Are you getting settled in okay?”

She smiled shyly as she gave him a curt nod, but her face was still a little pink from the embarrassment I had caused only a few moments earlier, so I closed the distance between us and took her hand. She squeezed my fingers in response, and I winked at Slade.

“I’ve got it taken care of. She’s staying in my room.”

All three men did a double-take. My dog even looked at me funny. It didn’t surprise me. No female of mine had ever been allowed in my room—not that I kept one for more than a night, but that was beside the point. I took care of my women away from the lion’s den. None of the other pride members who lived here were allowed to bring anyone to the house with them for some kinky play, either. It was best for everyone if humans didn’t know shifters existed. Every Tom, Dick and Harry would grab their pitchforks and hunt us. That’s all we needed, a bunch of simple-minded rednecks who didn’t understand a damn thing about us, trying to become slayers. That wouldn’t do anything except get a bunch of humans killed.

Rogan’s whiskey-colored eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. “Huh?”

“Your room?” Kai said as he swept his shaggy blond mop out of his deep blue eyes so he could see me with both of them. “But you—”

“How did I miss that?” Slade said, interrupting Kai. “I thought Olivia had an extra bed in her room that Andra was supposed to sleep in while she stayed here.”

Narrowing my eyes at him, I released Andra’s fingers so I could drape my arm over her shoulder and pull her closer to me. I already knew she had access to everything about my past, since she’d received all my memories the moment we bonded, but I didn’t want these dickweeds making her think she was like those other chicks. “Andra is special, guys. Shut up, will ya?”

The guys just stared at me in disbelief. I wasn’t joking, but they were obviously waiting for me to tell them I was. Did they expect me to be a bachelor forever? Of course they did. Five days ago I would have expected that of myself.

Andra snickered, I was guessing at the nervous feeling I was sending her through our connection. “I got settled in just fine. Thank you, though I haven’t had much time for rest. Ace has had me training since we arrived.”

Slade grinned at her mischievously. “He’s easily bribed. Give him something he wants. He’ll do whatever you want him to do.”

“You can go now,” I said, letting the lack of amusement that I felt seep into the tone of my voice.

Andra laughed softly. “I’ll have to try that. What would he want?”

Kai snorted. “What does every man want from a woman?”

I looked up to the ceiling and huffed in annoyance when her embarrassment crept over my skin. Every damn hair on my arms was standing on end. “Get the hell out of here, guys. We’re about to turn in for the night. The rest of the pride will be here early in the morning to meet Andra.”

“Turning in for the night?” Rogan said, and then looked at the other guys, as if he was missing something important. “We came to tell you it was time to leave for work. None of us are as good as you are, Ace.”

A muffled curse passed through my lips as I ran my free hand down my face. “Uh…” I stammered, and Andra turned to look at me, confusion pouring out of her and into me in waves. She was on the verge of freaking out that I might leave her here alone. I forced a smile as I pried my wide eyes away from the guys to look at her. “It is, uh… tonight is poker night, and kind of a tradition I started a few decades ago. I’m pretty good at it, hence why I named my lion Ace. Most of us don’t really work around here. We gamble. It’s how the bills get paid. And I guess it’s my night to make sure we have a place to live next month.”

She glanced around the huge gym that was only a small fraction of the house. “You gamble and win enough money to pay for this place?”

“Yeah… and then some. Look, I won’t go if you don’t want to go, but I’m better than anyone here. We’ll lose everything pretty quick if I depend on some of these losers to cover the bills. A few of them lose more than I win sometimes.”

“Wait… the chick is coming with us?” Rogan said on a chuckle, and then his expression turned serious. “You’re fuckin’ joking, right?”

I saw red, but managed to shove Andra out of the way before I shifted—the welcome feel of bones stretching and changing, the fur sprouting, the muscles morphing—and pounced on Rogan. My teeth not-so-tenderly brushed the skin above his jugular where his pulse was pounding hard enough I could hear it. Kai and Slade backed away, but I could sense Slade wanted to interfere, and I suppose that was the only thing that stopped me from biting Rogan’s head off.

“Rogan doesn’t know about the bond, Ace!” Slade shouted. “Nobody but me and the crew that went with you knows that you’re a bonded male now! Don’t kill him! Christ! He didn’t know any better!” I didn’t glance up, but I imagined that he was running his fingers through that stark black hair and gripping it hard enough to pull it out by the roots.

“Ace,” Andra’s startled voice said. “Don’t kill him.”

I moved my head back enough to close my mouth, and then just stared down into Rogan’s eyes as a low growl rumbled up my throat.

“I would advise against ever calling her a chick again if you value your life, Rogan,” Slade said on a relieved exhale. “Ace bonded with Andromeda in Alabama. She’s your Alpha now, too.”

There was cold fear in Rogan’s confused eyes. He knew he’d screwed up, but I could tell that he wasn’t sure how he’d managed it. The truth was that none of us knew how strong this bonding thing was—well, aside from me and Andra; we knew exactly how tough this bitch was, but I wasn’t in the mood to give lessons or talk about it unless bloodshed was involved. I’d let Slade explain it to Rogan. Instead of backing away, I stepped forward, placing one of my back paws on Rogan’s groin as I made my way back to Andra.

Howls of agonizing pain issued from behind me as I shifted back to my human form.

Ignoring the scene behind me, I chuckled when Andra held out my shredded gym clothes, her head turned away from my immodesty.

I took the threads and covered myself enough to make her comfortable. “So, how are you at poker?” I said as we walked toward the doors to leave.

She laughed. “I’m better at Blackjack.”

“Let’s go Double Down then, my dear,” I said with a flirtatious grin, and she beamed at me. God, I loved that smile.

“I need to take a shower first,” Andra said.

I grinned playfully. “Good. You can shower with me. There’s a spot on my back I can never quite reach.” She gaped at me, and I nearly busted a gut laughing. “I’m kidding… unless, of course, you want to shower with me. I wouldn’t tell you no. I’m nice like that,” I said with a wink.

Catching me off guard, she shoved me into the corridor wall, and then laughed when I hit my funny bone and let out a loud curse. “You are not showering with me, Ace.”

I scowled as I rubbed my elbow, until I glanced up to see her walking away from me. That high ponytail and the look of her ass in those workout shorts had me forgetting all about the sharp pain shooting from my elbow to my wrist. I bit my lip as I watched her hips sway, and then I ran to catch up with her before she noticed I had started panting.

She might not shower with me tonight, but she would soon. She would soon.

I’d always wondered if Heaven looked the same to everyone or if it changed to fit our versions of paradise.

My version would be a recreation of my grandparents’ garden in Trinidad, and I would sit there and read poetry forever. But instead of a garden, I opened my eyes in my bed at the resort, still wearing the gloves Sarah had placed on my hands.

Someone had removed my oxygen tube, and they’d taken the IV out of my arm without leaving any puncture wounds. My usual marks from blown veins and years of being a pincushion had also disappeared. So had the heart monitor and every other sign that a sick person had lived in this room.

Pale gray light floated in through the curtains and illuminated the dust particles in the air. As I watched them, I lay perfectly still on the bed, waiting for something cosmic to happen. Minutes passed and nothing moved in the room but me. My chest rose and fell at an easy pace without pain or wheezing. It made sense for pneumonia not to follow me to the grave, but why was I breathing?

Hesitantly, I placed my gloved hand over my heart, and it hummed against my palm. Corpses didn’t have heartbeats.

I was ninety-eight percent sure that I’d entered some sort of post-death trance, but I wasn’t going to get anywhere by staying in bed and waiting for my new life to start. It had started, albeit strangely, and I wanted to meet it head-on.

I sat up with no discomfort for the first time in weeks, and a vase of peonies on my bedside table caught my eye. They were a vibrant shade of red, like freshly spilled blood, with drops of dew rolling down the petals.

Someone had left a note next to the vase.

Try to enjoy this day. It’s the first of many. The first of eternity.

As I stood on my own for the first time in forever, I whispered, “Okay. This is weird.”

The world stopped spinning for a second as I looked into the mirror that hung over my dresser. The girl inside of it was wearing black gloves, and she looked like someone I hadn’t seen in a long time. The healthy me.

Chapter 1

ANA BREATHED IN the early autumn air as she headed away from the university and onto the darker streets of the neighboring suburb. It was an older neighborhood, built in the 1920’s when the town of Rivelou had begun to spread from its central location on the river across the railroad tracks to the north. This particular section of the town had been built for the railroad workers, with tiny shotgun houses lined up on even tinier lawns.

As Ana crossed Roosevelt Avenue and headed into her own neighborhood, the streetlights ended and the sidewalk became lighted only by an occasional porch light or walk light. She loved walking home from her night classes at this time of the year. The air, while it could not yet be called crisp, had lost its summer sultriness, a welcome change from the blistering heat of a Midwest summer.

And these walks home after her night classes were one of the few times during her week when she could be truly alone. No bosses, no teachers, not even Sophie chattering away in her ear. She’d been a mom long enough not to feel guilty at enjoying a a little time alone without her child. Her thirteen-year-old daughter was the light of her life, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t enjoy a little time by herself, too.

As she headed down Harlan Street, farther from the more heavily trafficked avenue, the street became even darker. It was too soon for most of the leaves to have fallen, they were just beginning to turn red on this last week in September and they were so thick on the trees that they hid the full moon. Part of the charm of the old neighborhood was the beautiful, large old maples and oaks, but their roots also tore up the sidewalks. Ana tripped on one of those cracks, and shook her head in disgust. How could she always trip in the same spot, night after night? It wasn’t as if she hadn’t memorized the bad spots in the sidewalk after years of walking this way.

She smiled; only one more year of classes and, with luck, she wouldn’t be taking this same walk anymore. She would have her teaching degree, be able to quit her job as an admin at the university, and start a new life with her daughter, maybe somewhere else. She would enjoy teaching, preferably high school, but she’d take whatever grade she could get to start. Sophie would miss her friends; they would both miss their family. They’d come back a lot to visit. She was sure of that—her family, particularly her grandfather, would certainly insist on it. But it would be nice to start over. Of course, Jonathan, her ex, would probably object if she moved even to the next county. The one good thing she could say for the man was he always fulfilled his obligations to their daughter, even if it was only because he thought about running for political office someday and didn’t want to ruin his reputation with the other lawyers and judges in Rivelou.

She shook her head as if to change the direction her daydreams had taken her and sidestepped another large crack in the sidewalk. She wasn’t going to let thoughts of Jonathan ruin a lovely evening. Maybe after Sophie was in bed she’d have a chance to get outside again and enjoy the full moon and beautiful weather. She wouldn’t indulge herself in a run; she couldn’t leave Sophie alone, but some time out in her backyard to appreciate the full moon would be good.

She stopped and looked around, working to regain her pleasure in the evening, when she heard a low growl nearby.

A dog? No one on this block had a dog big enough to make that sort of sound. That growl had definitely come from something larger than Mrs. Ahearn’s yappy little Pomeranian. She began to walk more quickly. Only a half block until she turned onto Sycamore, then another half block until she arrived at her own home.

The growl came again. She tucked her purse more securely on her left shoulder, her computer bag on her right, and doubled her pace. There were no lights on at any of the houses on that part of the block, and of course, the moon took that moment to hide behind a cloud. She took a deep breath and tried to walk at a steady pace. She wouldn’t run, even though she could hear the animal behind her as she rounded the corner. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw her own porch light on, as well as that of her neighbors, Joe and Lindsey, who kept Sophie evenings when Ana had class. Only a few more steps to safety.

She was almost in front of her own door when she heard the rush of paws with nails clicking on the sidewalk. With a howl, the animal knocked her down.

She held her computer case in front of her face, “Take a bite of that, you nasty beast,” she said, pushing the case at its huge, dark head. It was all teeth and glowing eyes as it stood over her, growling. “What do you want?” she shouted.

Though it had her on the ground, it didn’t make a move, just stood gazing at her. Somehow she sensed if she did move, it would strike. She had to do something. She drew a deep breath and prepared to scream when she heard someone running up behind her.

“Hey, you, get back! Get back!” She turned her head and saw a man come running toward her and the slobbering animal. The man grabbed a stick from the ground and waved it at the animal as he rushed forward. “Back! Get back, you ugly beast!” he shouted again, striking the creature who turned, snarling at him. They stared intently at each other for a moment when the dog finally dodged the stick and lunged to take a bite out of the man.

The man got in a couple of good blows before the dog suddenly grabbed the stick, tugged at it, and knocked the man to the ground. Ana decided it was time to take action. She fumbled through her purse as the dog leaned back on its haunches preparing to strike. Just before he lunged on the fallen man Ana found her can of mace and hit the dog in the face with the noxious spray. With howl of pain, it ran into the darkness.

Several more porch lights suddenly popped on to light the night, and the street was filled with neighbors coming to check on the unusual commotion.

“Are you all right?” her rescuer, still gasping and out of breath, asked. “It didn’t bite you, did it?” He made his way to his feet and held his hand out to her.

“No, no. I’m fine,” Ana replied as she was suddenly bowled over by an armful of an anxious thirteen-year-old. “Mom, mom, are you okay?” Sophie asked.

“What happened?” her neighbor, Joe, questioned her at the same moment.

“It was a dog. A huge one. I’ve never seen it before. This man chased it away,” she said, turning to the man who was wiping his face with a handkerchief and coughing.

“I think you were the one who chased it away. Wish you’d had a little better aim with the mace, but under the circumstances I don’t think I can complain,” he said between coughs.

“Hey, are you okay?” Joe asked, looking the man over. “You’d better come in and let us take a look at you. My wife’s a nurse. She can check you out. Just a whiff of that stuff can be torture on the eyes.”

“No, I’m fine, I’ll …” he protested, but Ana cut him off.

“I insist. If it wasn’t for you, I’d have been bitten by that animal.”

“I think we’d better make a police report,” Joe said as they headed for his house. “Joe Lessing,” he added, holding out his hand to the stranger. “And this is our neighbor, Ana Dugan, and her daughter, Sophie.”

“Good to meet you. Chris Spier,” the man said, shaking hands with Joe as they reached the porch. At the top of the steps he turned to Ana, where, under the porch light, she got her first real look at her rescuer.

He was just shy of six feet, with the build of teddy bear, the kind you’d like to give a big hug and take to bed with you, Ana thought, then inwardly blushed. Where had that thought come from? She didn’t have time for men. It wasn’t that he was soft, or fat, she added, mentally adjusting her initial teddy bear image. He was muscular, and he had a kind face, soft brown eyes, shaggy light brown hair and beard, both of which needed a trim. There was something about his worn khakis and wrinkled plaid flannel shirt that said he wasn’t used to being cared for.

“I’m so sorry if I hurt you,” Ana said, taking his hand. Chris held onto it until Joe said, “Come on in. You need to wash off that mace.”

He guided Chris into a small, warm living room and back to a kitchen where Sophie was animatedly, if with little accuracy, describing the incident to Joe’s wife and daughter.

CHAPTER 1

Whispered voices filter through the watery realm of semiconsciousness and grow louder the closer I rise to the surface. Anxiety fills their muffled tones, both male and female. My body shakes, and sharp points dig into my back. The side of my face suddenly lights up with a sting.

“Tell me you did not just slap her,” a male voice accuses.

“She needs to wake the hell up.” The female reply sounds like music, even in its harshness.

“Vanessa, you can’t go around slapping our matriarch,” another woman’s voice reprimands.

The first one huffs. “She’ll get over it and then probably slap me back.”

As my fingers brush over my cheek, I try to open my eyes. My lids feel heavy and scratchy, but I manage a slit. Sunlight glares, and they shut again on their own. With a few flutters against the light, I finally focus on the scene before me. Or rather, above me. I’m lying on the ground with three faces hovering over me—two females and a male—and behind them gleams the sun through an entanglement of bare tree branches.

Where am I? What happened?

“See? It worked,” says the musical voice. My gaze finds her stunning face with skin nearly as white as her hair that’s pulled back into a tight ponytail. Her light blue eyes, however, are like ice daggers as they glower at me. But they fail to pierce through the fog in my mind. “Come on, your highness. Enough of the dramatics. Get up. We need to get out of here.”

A pale hand wraps around my upper arm before I can move, and I flinch.

“Vanessa,” the other female admonishes again, her brown hair hanging around her face as she looks down at me. Her breath plumes in a thin fog as she speaks. She places a long, thin hand over the first and pulls it away. “Give her a minute. She passed out.”

“We don’t have a minute,” Vanessa growls. “And she’s fine now.”

“Sheree’s right,” the guy says. Worry etches three lines between his sapphire eyes as he studies me. He rubs his chin covered with thick scruff, which is a slightly darker hue than the straw-colored hair sticking out from under his knit cap. “She looks out of it. Alexis, are you okay? It’s me, Owen. Can you see me?”

I blink, frown, and try to sit up. My vision wavers, and I close my eyes for a moment, pressing my fingers to my lids. What the hell has happened to me? I slowly open them again. Everyone’s stepped back to give me space, but their gazes remain heavily on me. I swallow, or try to. My throat feels like sandpaper. I lick my lips, tasting the slightly bitter odor hanging in the air, but the effort is pointless, my tongue as dry as my throat.

“Thirsty,” I manage to croak out.

“Aren’t we all,” someone else mutters.

My perspective shifts outward to find two other men beyond the circle around me, both dressed in thick parkas, knit hats, and gloves. They’re armed with a crossbow and a gun that they keep in ready position as they each make a slow circle, watching the woods surrounding the clearing where we’re gathered. The trees are half brown and half gray, with a few withered leaves fluttering from some of the branches as though hanging on even in death. Most branches, however, are bare. Something about them seems odd, as though the limbs aren’t naked only because of the time of year, but for another reason. I can’t pinpoint what I feel like I should know through my hazy mind. Off to my left, the surface of a large lake glitters in the sun, the far shore barely visible in the distance. I gnaw on my lip. I have no idea where I am.

“What happened?” I ask as I rise to my feet.

Vanessa’s hand darts out to help me, her touch cold as ice. I withdraw my arm from her hold as soon as I’m standing and take a step back. Her eyes narrow as they visually assess my condition, the look in them causing a shiver down my spine.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Sheree’s upper body leans toward me, and her head tilts. Her brown-eyed gaze never leaves my face, looking down at me from her much taller height. She has to be nearly six feet tall, her body rail thin and all legs in her cutoff denim shorts. A thick belt cinches the waist, a long knife hanging from it. She probably has another in one of her combat boots. Weapons hang from all kinds of places on everyone in the group, including me.

I press my fingers to my aching temples and rub circles into them. “No, not really.”

“Awesome,” Owen mutters as his long leg kicks a small rock across the clearing. “It’s gotta be dark magic messing with your head, too deep for me to reach.”

“This is your fault,” Vanessa snaps at him. “I can’t believe you let her drink the water.”

He rolls his eyes as his hands drop to his hips. “It’s not like I didn’t try to stop her. Besides, you know how she is. She does what she wants. If she wants to test the water herself before anyone else does, she’s gonna do it.”

“God forbid anyone else take a risk.” Vanessa’s voice changes to a higher pitch, mocking. “They might die, so I better do it instead.”

Owen snorts, and the other guys in the group chuckle.

Sheree frowns. “Hey, be nice. That’s who she is. She wouldn’t ask anyone to do what she won’t do herself. That’s why she’s here. Right, Alexis?”

My brow furrows as they all stare at me again, and I rub the back of my neck. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Of course you don’t,” Vanessa quips. “Come on. Let’s get the hell out of here before more of those little needle things start flying again. Whatever the hell they are.”

“We need to get these water samples back ASAP,” Owen agrees.

Sheree glances at me sideways. “Looking at Alexis, I’m not so sure about that water.”

Owen lifts a brow and holds his hands up, wiggling his fingers. “Do you doubt my magical abilities, woman? It’ll be as pristine as newly fallen snow by the time I’m done with it.”

The guy with the crossbow chuffs. “I don’t think newly fallen snow is so clean anymore. It was blue last time.”

“And purple the time before that,” the other guy adds.

Vanessa gives an impatient flick of her hand as she settles her gaze on Owen. “Are you going to make a portal or what?”

“What about our search for the others?” Sheree asks. “Are we giving up on them?”

Everyone turns and looks at me expectantly. I stare back at them, not understanding what they want. My thoughts bounce all over the place from trying to follow their conversation.

Vanessa sighs and shakes her head. “Let’s get the hell going.”

She strides out of the clearing and into the woods as though everyone would automatically follow, and pretty much everyone does. All but Owen and me. Sheree looks over her shoulder at me and stops.

“Aren’t you coming?”

I shake my head. Is she crazy?

“Do you want to portal back then?” she asks.

When I don’t answer, Sheree and Owen exchange a look. The others stop their movement into the woods.

“Damn water.” Owen gestures toward the lake. “What the heck did it do to you?”

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“I thought I hit the bottle out of your hand, but you dropped to the ground like a stone, lights out for a good two minutes. And now look at you. You’re all whacked out.”

“Whacked out?” I echo.

“Disoriented.” Sheree joins us back in the clearing. “Right? That’s how you feel?”

I squeeze the back of my neck again as I glance around. “That’s one word for it.”

“Hopefully, that’s all it’s done to you, and there’s no other damage,” Sheree says. “Does everything else feel okay?”

I look down at my black boots, leather-clad legs, and torso barely covered in a tight-fitting tank top. A dagger hangs from a belt on my right hip, and a knife is strapped to my left leg. Everything seems to be in order. No pains or aches anywhere but in my brain. “Yeah, I think so. It’s just my head.”

Owen shifts his weight. “I tried to pull the black magic out of you when you went down, but there’s apparently something I can’t reach alone. Let’s get you home, and Blossom can help figure this out.”

“Home . . .” I can’t picture home. My mind comes up completely blank.

“You know, The Loft?” Sheree says. “Where Tristan and the babies are, and the rest of our people?”

“The place we’ve called home for over a year now.” Vanessa returns to the clearing, too. Annoyance crosses her face when I show no recognition. “You know, since that day Lucas and the Demons pretty much destroyed the world with their nuclear and magic bombs?”

My gaze swings to the trees. That’s what I’d noticed to be wrong with them—many of them lack any color at all, even what remains of the leaves. Barely a trace of orange or even brown. I squint my eyes as I look out at the lake and the surrounding land. Lots of gray out there, too. Not all of it, however, as though color has slowly seeped into the landscape. Winter colors, though, except for some scattered specks of pink and yellow on the ground and tree trunks. Is that some kind of pollen? In the middle of winter?

Owen moves his hand closer to my back, a familiar yet hands-off gesture to move along. “Come on. We’ll get you all fixed up, and the whole hellish story will come back to you.”

My muscles stiffen, though, as a small stick, like a miniature arrow or a long needle, whizzes by my nose. A poof of colored dust trails behind it, although none of it lands on us, as if we’re each encased in an invisible bubble. Several more needles sail through the air around us.

“There they are again! What the fuck are they?” Vanessa takes off, running in the direction the sticks had come from.

Owen, however, somehow swoops me into his thickly muscled arms before I know what’s happening and sprints the opposite way.

“What the hell are you doing?” I yell and kick and squirm, the rough wool of his sweater scraping against my bare skin.

“I need to get you home.”

“The hell you are. Put me down!”

“I’m not fighting you on this. Tristan will—”

“I said to put me down!” With a burst of energy, I spring free from his arms.

At the same time, a ripping sound comes from behind me, large, dark shapes explode from my back, and I sail into the air, high out of Owen’s reach. I look over my shoulder and gasp. Purple and black wings spread out to span nearly five feet from each side of me. Although somewhere in the back of my mind I must have known they were there—that they’re a part of me—their unexpected appearance takes me by surprise.

“Come on, Alexis,” Owen growls as I hang in the air above him. “That’s not fair.”

He lifts his palm up toward me as though it’s some kind of threat. With a mere thought, the wings bat against the air, and I rise higher until I hit the tree branches and careen back to the ground. I barely adjust my legs in time to land in a crouch.

Owen steps toward me.

“Stay back,” I warn.

“Then pull yourself together and let’s go,” he counters.

“I’m not going anywhere with you!”

Owen takes another step closer. I draw the dagger from the sheath on my hip. I bend my knees, coiling my muscles, and hold the blade between us.

“Leave me alone!”

He moves to take another step, and I twitch the blade. His deep-blue eyes narrow.

“Alexis . . .”

I rock forward on the balls of my feet.

“Seriously?” He lifts a blond brow. “I’m not going to fight you.”

I glare at him, dagger still out, and then my gaze bounces to the others who’ve come up behind him. They all look at me like I’ve lost my mind. Maybe I have. But they also carefully watch me as though I’m a wild animal. And that’s okay. If I scare them enough, they’ll leave me alone and go back to their so-called home. As if anyone has a home anymore.

“I lost them, whatever they are.” Vanessa runs back over, so fast her body’s nearly a blur. “They must have flashed because they disappeared. Come on. Let’s get the hell out of here.”

When she stops, she glances at everyone, her eyes landing on me while I brandish a weapon at her companions. She blows out an annoyed huff.

“Enough of this. We’re taking you home.”

I don’t see her move, but she instantly has an arm braced around me like a steel bar locking me against her body. She carries me through the woods at an unnatural speed, the trees blurring by us. I thrash against her and dig the tip of the dagger across her forearm. She doesn’t even flinch, and the wound closes up right away. I kick her shins and throw an elbow into her ribs. Her hold loosens. I seize the opportunity and twist free, landing on my feet, dagger pointed at her. She stops in her tracks, and everyone else does, too, as they approach from behind her.

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” I snarl once again. “Who the hell do you think you are to expect me to? I don’t know where I am or who I am, and I certainly don’t know any of you!”