Triple Dog Dare

  The cars were still gone.

  He knew Micah Donovan was holed up there with his new mate. Donovan’s truck hadn’t moved from where it’d been parked for several days. And that was a wolf he didn’t want to mess with any more than he wanted to tangle with the Lyalls.

  He followed one of the Lyalls to town when he left the house to run errands. To the feed store, hardware store, groceries. No sign of the Pardie bitch.

  Later that afternoon, another of the brothers, he couldn’t tell them apart from a distance, drove into Arcadia and went to a plumbing supply store. Again, no sign of their mate.

  He strongly suspected she’d left the property with the dragons. Unfortunately, he had no idea where they went.

  Returning to his hotel room, he knew he had to rework his plan, quickly, before Abernathy started crawling down his neck for results.

  Chapter Ten

  The next day, they all got up and moving and headed out, eager to be on the road. They made good time, stopping only for food, gas, and bathroom breaks for Lina. When they stopped that night for dinner and hotel rooms, Lina called Lacey and told her they would see her the next day.

  They awoke early the next morning, ate, and got moving as quickly as possible without wasting any time. Elain nervously looked forward to meeting the Seer. Lina had told her their last visit had been nearly a year earlier, although they talked by phone almost every week.

  Elain had never been to Maine before. From listening to her men talk about it, she wasn’t sure what to expect. The Clan compound was more a small, rural town area than an armed fortress. The entire area, while on the coast, was also heavily wooded. Elain and Lina rode with Carla and Liam for the last leg of the journey.

  “Not much has changed,” Liam softly said from the front passenger seat as he stared out at the passing landscape.

  “How long has it been since you’ve been here?” Lina asked him.

  He turned to look at them from the front seat. He wore a sad smile. “Too many years. I used to have several friends in this Clan. I wouldn’t blame them if they didn’t want anything to do with me now.”

  Lina patted him on the shoulder. “You’d be surprised. Don’t count them out.”

  “Do you know Lacey?” Elain asked him.

  “Not as well as her own Clan. I’ve met her a couple of times at Gatherings. Not sure if she’ll remember me or not.”

  Lacey lived on a rural country lane in an old wood-and-stone cottage fronted by a white picket fence. In the front yard, beds of late summer flowers were still holding their own against the arrival of autumn. Large pots of flowers and herbs dotted the front porch.

  As they parked their cars, the front door opened. A large, shaggy black dog bounded out the door and down the front steps, followed by an older woman Elain assumed was Lacey. When they got out, the dog made the rounds of the newcomers, his tail fiercely wagging his whole rear end.

  Lacey walked down to meet them and gave Lina a hug first. “Hello, dear. It’s so nice to see you again. I’ve missed you.”

  “Me, too,” Lina said. “Who’s this?” She reached down to pet the dog. It stood nearly as high as her waist.

  “That’s Jasper. He seems to have adopted me. He showed up one night a couple of months ago after a storm. No one claimed him, so he’s mine. The vet says he thinks he’s part Bernese mountain dog.”

  “Is he also part moose?” Zack asked as the dog nosed him in the crotch, leaving a large drool mark behind on his jeans.

  Lacey laughed. “He might be. He does have a habit of using people and furniture as napkins.”

  Lina grabbed Elain’s arm and pulled her up next to her. “Lacey, this is Elain Pardie.”

  Lacey smiled. “Hello, dear. It’s nice to finally meet you. I had a nice chat with Aindreas last night on the phone.” She opened her arms and Elain gave her a hug.

  Elain immediately felt enveloped by a warm, friendly welcoming feeling. “Thank you,” Elain said, reluctant to step back. “This is my mom, Carla Taylor. And my dad, Liam Pardie.”

  Lacey hugged Carla. “Very nice to meet you. I guess this has all been quite the shock for you.”

  Carla laughed. “You could say that.”

  Liam stepped up. “Hello, Lacey.”

  She smiled warmly as she took his hand in hers. “Hello, Liam. It’s been a very long time. How have you been?”

  “I’m a lot better now.” He glanced at Elain and Carla.

  “I would imagine so. You’ve been away for so many years.”

  “Did I do the right thing?”

  Lacey shrugged. “That isn’t up to me to say. Your daughter is happy and healthy and you will all find healing. It wasn’t your decision alone. Maureen knew what had to be done to keep Elain safe.” She pulled him in for a hug. “Let your past heal and focus on the present and what is before you. Or, should I say, who is before you.” When she stepped back, she looked at everyone. “I called Daniel and Callie. They’ll be here soon. They’re looking forward to seeing you all, and meeting Elain and her parents.”

  Parents. That was a term Elain was still trying to come to terms with after so many years of only having a mom.

  “Well, I hope you all are hungry,” Lacey said. “I’ve got lunch waiting for you.” She smiled at Elain. “I’d rather fill our stomachs first before we do our talking.”

  * * * *

  Daniel and Callie Blackestone appeared to be a very nice couple. Callie seemed like a normal woman, not an immortal one. Lina greeted them both with big hugs and introduced Elain first.

  Daniel, also called Blackie, smiled as he shook Elain’s hand. “You able to keep Brodey in line? I know he’s a handful.”

  Elain laughed. “I do okay.”

  When she hugged Callie, she felt a wave of friendliness tinged by something she couldn’t decipher from her. Perhaps a deep sadness? It disappeared when their embrace ended.

  “Nice to meet you,” Callie said with a smile.

  “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

  Callie grinned. “Don’t believe all of it. Only most of it.”

  Lacey had prepared a simple but delicious lunch of ham with sandwich fixings, potato salad, and some of her famous banana nut bread. Elain felt at home with the Seer. While she missed her men, she couldn’t help but relax in the midst of her newfound “family.”

  Callie, Carla, and Elain insisted on helping Lacey clean up, but they shooed Lina back into the living room with the men. It didn’t take long. Once they’d finished, Lacey dried her hands on a dish towel and reached for a leash hanging beside her back door. “Lina, are you up for a walk, dear?”

  She heaved herself, with Rick and Jan’s help, up and off the couch. “Yo!” She waddled over to the back door. “Are we going where I think we’re going?”

  Lacey smiled as she clipped the leash to Jasper’s collar. “Yes. Elain, I’d like you to join us. Not to be rude,” she said to the rest of them, “but I hope you all understand that I need to talk to them alone.”

  “No problem,” Callie said with a smile. “Actually, I think we need to get going.”

  Daniel nodded. “Yeah, I’ve got some work to do.” They bid everyone good-bye.

  “Ready, girls?” Lacey asked.

  Lina’s men nervously looked at each other. “Um, as long as you’re sure it’s safe,” Jan said. “We don’t need the Lyall men killing us for letting something happen to her.”

  Lina jammed her fist against where she assumed her hip was supposed to be, although with her pregnancy belly it was hard to be sure. “Honestly? Do you think we have anything to worry about?”

  Jan quickly shook his head and took a step back. “No, sorry, lovely. Of course not.”

  Lina let out an amused snort and hooked her arm through Elain’s. “Come on, girlfriend. We want to show you something.”

  Out on the porch, Lacey took Elain’s other arm. “We’ve got a lot to talk about.” Jasper led the way, not pulling but definitely eager to get going. The path led thro
ugh Lacey’s garden, which was lushly blooming with the last of her late-summer flowers and herbs. A sundial sat on a pad of paving stones. Past the garden, the path gave way into a needle-strewn path through the forest.

  “Ain and the guys said you could tell me if I’m a shape-shifter like them.”

  Lacey nodded. “Yes, I can.”

  Elain tried to hold in her nervous irritation. “Am I?”

  “Are you what, dear?”

  “Am I a shape-shifter like my guys?”

  “No.”

  Relief threatened to overwhelm her. “Oh, thank God! That would have been too much extra wackiness I don’t need right now.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I think you misunderstood me. You are a shape-shifter, but you’re not a shape-shifter like your men.”

  Elain stopped. “What?”

  Both Lina and Lacey urged her forward. “Keep walking, chica,” Lina joked. “We haven’t finished frying your brain yet.”

  “But…but you said I wasn’t a shape-shifter!” She really, really wanted to hold on to that little nugget.

  Lacey kindly laughed. “I’m sorry, dear. That was a poor choice of words on my part. You are a shape-shifter. You’re just not like your men.”

  “So what am I? Are you going to tell me I’m a raccoon or something?”

  Lina snickered. “I’d pay money to see that.”

  “Not helping!” Elain screeched.

  Lacey patted Elain’s arm. “Calm down, Elain. You are a wolf shifter. But you are not just like your men. Your men are Alphas, yes. As are you.”

  The longer Lacey talked, the more Elain watched her hopes for any semblance of a normal life go up in a puff of despair.

  “But you are far more than your men,” the old Seer continued. As they walked, Elain felt the path descend. The woods around them had thinned, and Elain distinctly smelled cold, salt water nearby.

  “Is there some sort of cure for this?” Elain grumbled. “Some way to un-wolf me?”

  Lacey smiled. “No, dear. Believe me, once you wrap your mind around everything, you won’t want to let go of your new life.”

  “Can I tell her?” Lina asked.

  Lacey laughed. “If you must, Lina.”

  Lina squeezed Elain’s hand. “You know how we talked about my Seer gig?”

  “Yeah?”

  Lina grinned. “Guess what? You’ve joined our club.”

  Elain stopped short, her feet planted firmly enough Lina and Lacey both had to stop, too, or let go of her arms. “Say what the fuck?”

  “You’re a Seer, like me,” Lina said. “Well, not exactly like me. I’ve got all the Goddess crap and found out about that first before the Seer shit. But you were born to the office, as it were.”

  “But…but I don’t have visions or dreams or whatever they are like you do.” Then she remembered the visions she had about her and her men and children.

  She shoved that memory out of her head. She already had too much to deal with.

  “You don’t have to,” Lacey said. “That will come as your power develops. Have you noticed lately that you seem to be able to read other people’s emotions?”

  Elain started to say hell no then stopped.

  Kimberlie, that day at the restaurant, when Elain went to have a talk with her about Brodey. She’d felt the other woman’s sadness.

  Lina, when they first met at the house, and several times since then. Not too long ago, when she met Lacey.

  And her own men, and others…

  Elain let go of the other two women and plopped down in the middle of the path, her head in her hands. “Fuck!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. Jasper, apparently worried about her outburst, nosed in close and whined, his tail slowly wagging in a sign of uncertainty.

  The two women stood there, quietly watching Elain pitch an epic temper tantrum worthy of the most cantankerous three-year-old. Then, she stopped screaming and took a deep breath, slowly letting it out again. She let out a hoarse laugh as Jasper pawed at her and whined again. She petted him, laughing again when he licked her cheek.

  “Feel better?” Lina asked.

  “Not really.” Elain climbed to her feet after giving Jasper one last pat. “But at least I got that out of my system. I’ve been wanting to do it for a while.”

  “Now don’t you wish you could make a tree explode?” Lina asked with a playful smile.

  Elain nodded. “I’ll admit it sounds like a handy talent.”

  * * * *

  They reached the rocky overlook at the shoreline a few minutes later. Elain had her doubts about either the aged or the uber-pregnant Seer being able to make it down the steep, rocky path leading to the shore, but both women, apparently well familiar with the trail, forged on ahead without hesitation. Lacey unsnapped Jasper’s leash, and he ran down first. Once on the trail, Elain realized it looked much more treacherous than it was. Within minutes, they were down at the secluded beach area. Jasper happily barked as he ran around, staying just clear of the water and bringing them small driftwood branches to throw for him.

  Elain stared out over the water. “This is beautiful.”

  “That’s what I thought the first time I saw it,” Lina said. She grabbed Elain’s arm again. “Come on. Over to the thinking rock.”

  Lina groused a little when she realized she needed an extra boost from Elain to clamber up onto the large, flat-topped rock, but once all three women were seated and staring out over the water, Elain took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

  Around her the gentle sound of the breeze and waves breaking on the shore filled the air. The occasional caw of a seagull, apparently a creature as ubiquitous here as on Florida beaches, punctuated the air. After a few minutes, Jasper settled down and clambered up onto the rock with them where he settled between Elain and Lacey. He laid his head on Lacey’s leg and promptly went to sleep.

  “This is nice,” Elain whispered. For the first time since her mom’s arrival in Florida just days earlier, she felt a sense of peace descend upon her.

  Hell, it was the most peaceful she’d felt since before Brodey and Cail took her to lunch in Venice a couple of months earlier and had her for dessert in the parking lot, which started her wild ride, headfirst, down the waterslide to hell.

  “You’re always welcomed here, Elain,” Lacey said. “Even if I’m not home, feel free to come down here.”

  “So what are we doing here?” Elain asked. “Please don’t tell me we’re going to hold hands and break out into rounds of ‘Kum Ba Yah.’ That’s really not my thing.”

  Lina snorted. “No, I’m more a Black Sabbath kind of girl.”

  “I feel like I’m on a crazy train, that’s for freaking sure,” Elain snarked. “Totally off the rails.”

  Lacey laughed. “For one thing, that was Ozzy, not Black Sabbath. For another, we’re not singing. We’re here to talk.”

  That took Elain aback. “I’m freaking impressed, lady. You don’t look like a rocker chick.”

  “You live as long as I do, you get tired of the same old shit.” Lacey let out a sigh. “Let’s get down to business, ladies.”

  Elain laughed. “Aw, I wanted to see Lina blow up a tree.”

  “I’m here all week,” Lina added. “Try the veal.”

  Lacey shook her head. “You two should have been born sisters.”

  “No, then we’d probably hate each other,” Lina said.

  “True,” Lacey nodded. “The family we choose is sometimes far better than the family chosen for us by Fate.”

  “I still don’t know what all this means,” Elain said. “I’m a Seer? What does that even mean?”

  “The wheel is constantly turning,” Lacey explained. “I still have many years left in me, but I will not live forever. As your powers grow, and you learn how to use them, you will one day take over for me.”

  Elain stared at her for a moment before flopping back on the rock and staring up at the sky. “Can I just kill myself and put myself out of my misery?”

&n
bsp; “Aaaand we’ve reached the kill-me-now phase of our fun,” Lina quipped.

  “No, seriously,” Elain said. “What am I supposed to do with this new information?”

  “Nothing,” Lacey said. “There’s nothing you’re ‘supposed’ to do with it.”

  She stared at the woman for a moment. “Say again?”

  “All we’re here to do today is tell you what we know. As Lina can tell you, her experiences are different than mine. I was friends with Bertholde, Lina’s predecessor. How Bertholde experienced her abilities was different than how I did. And different than how Lina does. No two Seers are alike. All we can do is offer our counsel to our Clans. Lina was a crucial key to bringing the wolves and dragons together. Her Clan’s prophecies were key in bringing us to the point we’ve now reached. What we must do is close our ranks and protect ourselves from those who would destroy us.”

  “Those chicken dudes?” Elain asked.

  Lina laughed. “Cockatrice. And yes, those dudes.”

  Elain had to ask. “What’s up with this whole blood oath thing? Do those asshats honestly think they have some claim on me?”

  Lacey frowned. “The Abernathy Clan has been…avoided for a long time now. They were troublemakers back in the old times. They started, and lost, several Clan wars. To the point their ranks were eviscerated of Alphas. They closed themselves off and required extravagant dowries of money, and blood oaths for children, to allow people to mate into and out of their Clan.”

  Elain tried to absorb that. She sat up again. “That makes absolutely no sense. What about finding a One?”

  Lacey shrugged. “They could care less about that. Rodolfo Abernathy, as long as there is still breath in his hide, rules his Clan with an iron fist. It is said he killed one of his own sons and one of that son’s sons because they disappointed him. He is an Alpha. One of the very few left in his Clan.”

  “He doesn’t realize there’s no fucking way I’ll go with him? Much less that the guys won’t let it happen? I triple dog dare the fucker to try to take me.”