Perizada smiled. “They are. Times are changing, Ember.”
“So it would seem,” she said, but her voice quickly lost its tone of wonderment when she remembered what she had to tell the high fae council member.
“I have been living in the human realm in a city called New Orleans,” she began, speaking quickly, sure that time was of the essence. “There’s enough supernatural presence there that I can maintain my magic undetected. But tonight I came across a supernatural being that I haven’t seen in a very long time. She was a healer, like them.” She pointed to the three women whose mouths had dropped open. All of a sudden, two males jumped to their feet. Perizada immediately threw up her hand, and they froze.
“Don’t mind them. They tend to become stupid when their mates are involved. Please, continue.”
“When I saw what she was doing, I knew I had to come quickly. The healer was wielding some very dark magic,” Ember said.
“How was she wielding it?” Perizada asked in a careful tone.
“I watched her kill two human women.”
The wolves who had been frozen were snarling like rabid beasts but still unable to move. Ember took a step back from them and then looked back to Perizada. “I assume you know her.”
The high fae nodded. “We do. Was she a redhead or brown?”
“Red,” Ember said simply.
“Then she belongs to that one.” Peri pointed at the large male with cool blue eyes. He looked ready to kill.
Perizada stepped up to Ember and lifted her hand. “May I?” she asked, motioning toward the other fae’s head.
Ember nodded.
Perizada pressed her palm to Ember’s head, and the woman felt the high fae sifting through her mind.
When she pulled her hand away, Peri turned to talk to yet another werewolf. “Remember what I told you, that the pixie had come and told me about two women dying a few months ago? When I was … indisposed,” she added through gritted teeth.
“Follow the bodies,” the blonde man said.
Perizada nodded. “It’s time.” She turned back to Ember. “Thank you for informing me, Ember. It is good to see you after so many years. I would ask that you consider returning to your place among our people. We are in need of strong warriors.”
Ember swallowed hard. “Does this healer have anything to do with Volcan?”
Perizada didn’t seem surprised that Ember knew.
“She has everything to do with him.”
“I will consider your request.” Ember gave a slight bow to the healers and then flashed, heading back to her home, back to a life she knew was about to change.
Peri glared at the two wolves who were glaring right back at her. Lucian stood next to her, not really glaring so much as just making it clear he wouldn’t tolerate any threats toward his mate.
“I know I cannot leave you here, no matter how much I might want to. You both have a right to see your mates, and I have a sick feeling that without you they are going to go down a very, very dark path. Jewel is already on that path, Dalton. You must, I repeat, you must keep your crap together when we find them. Reign in your possessive, protective, macho bull and keep a clear head. Otherwise, you might lose your mate forever.” She let out a harsh breath and added, “I’m going to release you now. Think about how you should react when I do because my fuse is short, and my desire to kill something is very, very high.”
She waved her hand, and Gustavo and Dalton each took steps back as they gathered themselves. They were both shaking with emotions, which Peri knew could explode at any moment. Not only did they need to see their mates, but if she left them there, they’d destroy her home. And that would suck.
“You.” She pointed at Dillon, who stood silently watching his Beta. “Go home. Your mate has been without you long enough. I will make sure your wolf is safe. I’m not asking. You three”—she pointed at each of the healers—“stay here and stay out of trouble.”
“They’re with us. What kind of trouble could they get into?” Nick asked.
Heather raised her hand and waved it erratically. “Me, me! Call on me to answer please.”
Peri rolled her eyes. “By all means, Helen, share your knowledge.”
Heather dropped her hand, and her brow rose. “Oh, you really want me to share, because I totally thought you were going to ignore me. Alright then, Nick, the kind of trouble a female can get into with a man, especially a man she’s attracted to tends to be of a sexu—”
“Nope,” Peri cut Heather off. Then she looked at Nick, who was covering Kara’s ears. “Really? You think she doesn’t know this stuff?”
Nick’s eyes danced with humor. “She’s jailbait. I feel very strongly about keeping things PG.”
“And once she’s not jail bait any longer?” Heather asked.
“All bets are off,” Nick said with a smirk. “And I’ll be the one showing her how to get into trouble.”
Peri loved seeing this lighter side of all of them. She loved seeing how the mate bond changed the males for the better, and as much as she harped on them, she cared deeply for their species. She wanted to sit and shoot the breeze with them, to tease Kara for turning bright red, and threaten the males bodily harm if they hurt her healers. But she couldn’t. She had two others who were in need of the very bond she was now seeing at work. The growling behind her grew more insistent. She held out her arms for them to touch as she spoke. “I’ve got the location in my mind from Ember, so l know where we’re going. When we get there, we don’t act rashly. We assess the situation. We do not run off like feral dogs.” She stared pointedly at Dalton and Gustavo as she said this.
When they arrived in the alley that Peri had seen in Ember’s mind, the high fae nearly gagged at the thick scent of evil mixed with magic. Her eyes were immediately drawn to a woman lying motionless on the ground. Peri walked over, leaned down, and touched the woman’s head. There was nothing. No memories left, no soul to feel. She was an empty shell.
“I can smell her,” Dalton said, his voice taking on a thick guttural quality as if his wolf was struggling to emerge. “But I smell him as well, and his scent is getting stronger.”
Peri could tell it was hard for Dalton to say those words, but she was glad he was accepting the reality of the situation so she wouldn’t have to hit him over the head with it later.
“Let’s go.” Peri motioned for them to touch her arms. “I can follow the magic.”
They flashed from location to location, finding a lifeless body at each one. She knew that with every single kill, Volcan’s magic grew stronger inside of Jewel. Peri was truly beginning to wonder what they would find when they finally caught up with the healer.
By the sixth female, Dalton was pacing as Lucian used his dominance over the wolf to keep him from phasing. Things were going from bad to full-blown nightmare very quickly. When they flashed the seventh time, there was no body.
“Thank the Great Luna,” she muttered and looked at the building in front of her.
“Anna,” Gustavo growled at the same time Dalton said Jewel’s name.
Peri should have seen it coming, but both wolves were in a state of shock. So when they went straight through the glass windows of Little Shop of Horrors, rather than taking time to actually open the front door, all Peri could do was shake her head. With a muttered spell, she repaired the glass and then followed her own level-headed mate through the front door.
“Lucian,” Peri spoke quietly. “Make them phase. Their wolf will be less intimidating for the girls right now. A human male will be too overwhelming, especially for Anna.”
“Agreed,” Lucian said as he grabbed both males, who were attempting to smash their way through a locked door. Normally they’d have gone through it like a hot knife through butter, but Peri held it in place with her magic. “Phase,” he said in a command that even Gustavo had to obey. Both males were in their wolf forms from one breath to the next. Clothes were shredded, and Peri made quick work to make them disappear.
/> Peri dropped her magic, and the door opened slowly. A woman Peri had not seen in a very long time walked through it.
“Jezebel.” She said the woman’s name with affection. This was a woman that Peri had been friends with when Peri didn’t have many friends. And she respected the hell out of her for the choice she made so long ago.
“I figured you wouldn’t be far behind them,” Jezebel said as she hugged Peri. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“I’d have been here sooner, but I’ve had other crises to handle. Let me make introductions quickly before the two snarling hair balls explode.” She pointed to Dalton. “The steel grey one is Dalton, Jewel’s mate. And the one with the red tips over the grey undercoat is Gustavo, Anna’s mate.”
Jezebel’s eyes widened. She took a step toward Gustavo, and the wolf growled viciously.
“I mean you no ill will,” Jezebel said softly. “I simply want to meet the man who’s destined to keep my Anna safe. I am thankful the Great Luna has given you to her. As her mother, I must insist that you be better than good to her. You need to be remarkable because she is remarkable and deserves nothing less. Not perfection, but the continual pursuit to have a relationship that seeks the need of the partner first. You do that and you will have my sincere gratitude.” She paused and then added. “But if you hurt her, Volcan’s destruction will look like tinker toy blocks compared to what I will bring down on you.”
“And on that note, why don’t we go up and find their mates before Gustavo decides he doesn’t care that you’re his mate’s mother.” Peri pointed toward the door.
The two wolves were moving before any of them could take a step. Peri flashed to the top of the stairs, forcing the pair to come to a quick stop or risk running over her.
“Remember, keep your crap together,” she reminded them.
When Jezebel met them at the landing, followed by Lucian, she opened the door and stepped aside, allowing them to enter. Both Dalton and Gustavo took off down the hall, and just before they turned the corner, they phased back to their human forms.
Peri shot her magic at them, clothing their nakedness while cursing them at the same time. “Damn wolves never listen,” she muttered and followed Lucian, who was jogging after them. When she got to the door where Lucian paused, she walked up and stood beside him. Tears filled her eyes, and she felt her heart break. She often forgot how incredibly gentle the males of her mate’s species could be. And it never ceased to take her breath away when she witnessed it.
He was everywhere all at once, and she felt as though the weight of the world had been lifted off of her crushed body. Jewel shook violently from head to toe. Her vision was non-existent, and it was hard to breathe as she wept. She’d held it together throughout the night, but during the last two women, she’d turned off her emotions altogether. It made her sick and relieved her at the same time. But as soon as Dalton touched her, it was as if a light was being shone into a dark room in her heart, forcing the shadows to retreat. All the emotions that the darkness had covered came rushing back, flooding her like a hurricane, and she was lost in it.
“I’ve got you.” She heard him speak, and she latched onto those words as if they were the only life raft in an ocean void of any people but her. She’d been treading water, and her legs were so tired. She’d given up. She’d allowed herself to start sinking into the dark sea of Volcan’s magic. And then, suddenly, Dalton was there. He hadn’t walked calmly into the room, or hesitantly. He’d barreled through the doorway, honed in on her, and wrapped her in his arms without any words passing between them.
“Shh, Little Dove, it’s going to be alright. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.”
She hadn’t realized that in the midst of all her weeping she was talking. “Don’t leave me. Please, please, just don’t leave me.” It was her mantra. It was the only prayer she had in that moment. But she knew once Dalton saw how evil she’d become, he would leave her. How could he not? Who could love a person who wantonly murdered innocent women, repeatedly? No one. She answered her own question. No one could love someone who’d done what she had. With her mother gone, the only person who might have loved her completely, flaws and all, had been Dalton. But now she would lose him, too.
“Jewel, hear me, I will never let you go.”
He tried to pull away, and she felt a desperation she’d never known as she clung tightly to him.
“I just want to look at your face, love,” he said in a voice so gentle that she broke all over again.
“Peri, do something.” She heard Dalton growl. “She’s going to make herself sick.”
Jewel was sick. She was like a virus that had spread from victim to victim, unleashing her life-stealing infection. It was too late for her. She wanted to tell him that. She wanted to tell him not to waste Peri’s time with her because there was nothing that could be done.
Jewel felt a cool hand on her forehead and the pulse of magic. It was painful and she recoiled from it, but the fae held her still. The last thing Jewel remembered hearing was Peri’s voice. “Meet her in her dreams.”
Dalton felt helpless. Nothing he said did anything to calm his mate, and every word uttered from her mouth ended with him leaving her. How could he get her to understand that he would never leave her if she refused to listen to him? He tried to pull her back so he could look in her eyes, but she’d reacted like a terrified child, clinging to him with a desperation that stabbed him in the gut. He didn’t know what was going on around them; he didn’t even know who else was in the room. All he could focus on was his mate and how devastated she was.
He rubbed her back and ran his fingers through her hair while he spoke softly to her, trying to reach her chaotic mind. He wished he could simply reach into her mind and speak to her through the bond. Then she’d be able to feel him and feel the certainty in is words. His actions would have to convey what the lack of the mate bond wouldn’t allow.
When she started shaking so violently she couldn’t talk, Dalton turned and growled at Peri to do something. He didn’t know what she’d done, but Jewel had calmed and fallen asleep.
“Why did you put her to sleep?”
“So you can meet her in her dreams,” Peri said. At his confused look, she sighed and pointed to his neck. “That stone you wear is powerful. I don’t know who gave it to you, but they bewitched it so that it is loyal to you alone. Jewel has an affinity for magical stones, of course. If you direct the magic in that stone to seek her out in your dreams, you will be able to dream walk with her. The stone and Jewel’s affinity will protect you in the dream from any attack should someone try to reach you there.”
Dalton had known that the stone was powerful, but he’d never attempted to learn what it could do. He’d been told he would need it one day and that it was imperative that he have it with him at the appointed time. Since then, he’d never taken it off. When he phased, he didn’t know where it went, but when he phased back to his human skin, it was always back in place, around his neck again.
“Dalton.”
He heard his name and turned to look at Jezebel. “I have another room where you can take her.”
He stood with his mate in his arms. “Thank you. She wouldn’t want to wake up with everyone around once she is calmer.” He knew she would be embarrassed, though no one present would judge her. He followed Anna’s mom to a room just next door. Once he was inside with Jewel, Jezebel shut the door quietly.
Dalton laid her on the bed and then stretched out beside her. He wrapped an arm around her waist and tucked her close against him. She was tiny compared to him. And it just reminded him of how fragile she was.
Dalton closed his eyes and focused on the stone that lay just below his sternum. He didn’t fully understand what he was supposed to do so he simply gave his request. “I need to dream walk with my mate, Jewel.” He felt the stone grow warm on his chest just before he slipped into sleep.
“Where are we?”
He blinked several times and then turned arou
nd to find Jewel looking at him. “We’re in a dream.”
Her lips pursed. “Is this another one of those dreams where you aren’t real?”
He walked over to her and took her face in his hands, the way he had wanted to do when they were awake. “No, Little Dove. I am very real, as are you.”
Her eyes widened, and she took a step back. “You’re really you and I’m really me? I mean you aren’t just my subconscious mind producing an image of what I need at the darkest hour of my life?”
He reached for her, but she stepped back again. He growled. “Quit backing away from me, Jewel. I need to touch you and hold you.” He didn’t say that he needed to soak her in like a dry desert soaks in the first rain of the season, but that’s how he really felt. “Please.”
“So, you are the real Dalton actually speaking, not just the dream Dalton?” Her bottom lip quivered as she held up a hand to keep him from getting closer. “Because I don’t want dream Dalton right now. I don’t need dream Dalton.”
In a blur, Dalton pushed her arm away as he took two steps and then had her in his arms. “You need me,” he whispered as he pressed his forehead to hers. “I am not a figment of your imagination, Little Dove. I am dream walking with you like we’ve done in the past. I’m real. I’m here and I’m not going anywhere, not unless you’re going somewhere because where you go, I go.”
“But—”
“No,” he cut her off. “There are no buts.”
“How—”
“No,” he interrupted again.
“Why? I don’t understand why?”
“Because there is no me without you.” He breathed out in a plea for her to understand.
“You won’t think that when you find out what—”
“Jewel!” Dalton’s voice rose above her growing protests. “I know. I know.”
She gasped as if he’d punched her in the stomach and tried to pull away, but Dalton wasn’t about to let her go.
“You know what, exactly?” she asked, sounding very much like she didn’t actually want the answer.