Rogue Belador

  Tzader's world turned into a mash of colors spinning so fast his head felt separated from his body. Had Macha made good on her threat and pulled his head off after all?

  He landed hard on cold concrete, rolling twice before he stopped flat on his back. Why hadn't Macha just beaten him with a two-by-four? Couldn't hurt any worse.

  "Tzader?"

  Pushing up to his elbows, he found Lanna sitting on a bench. Dark had descended on Atlanta and it appeared they had been dumped in front of the Carter Presidential Center. At least Lanna was sitting, so maybe she hadn't been body slammed, but the young woman wore only jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt. She wasn't dressed for the middle of a winter night in Atlanta.

  If he had to guess based on the minimal traffic moving along Freedom Parkway, it had to be somewhere between ten and midnight.

  And cold, which explained the snow flurries. Tzader asked, "Are you okay, Lanna?"

  "Yes. Macha gave me smooth teleport."

  Thankfully, the bitch goddess had not taken her ire out on Quinn's teenage cousin. "Sorry to have put you in the middle of that mess."

  Unperturbed, Lanna said, "We must get back to Brina."

  "That's not happening any time soon."

  "You would abandon her?"

  "Hell no!" He didn't mean to sound so surly when Lanna was just as worried about Brina as he was. "I don't mean to keep snapping at you. I appreciate all you've done to help Brina and me. I just need a minute to catch my breath after flying Air Macha."

  Lanna smiled. "I must find out how to teleport that far."

  Heaven help them all if Lanna ever figured out just what she could do. "That would be handy right now, since I'm going to need to teleport again soon."

  "You have plan to save Brina?"

  "Working on it."

  "I will help. Cousin will help, too."

  That sounded encouraging and comforting, but Tzader couldn't involve Lanna, Quinn, or anyone else he cared about. Still, he could try to confirm one thing.

  He asked her, "Do you know why Brina has been sleeping so much?"

  "Yes, but when I try to tell you the words disappear from my mind. You know why. I heard you tell Macha."

  "Brina is pregnant."

  "Yes. Brina will be even more upset when her body changes and she does not know why. Macha keeps her from knowing."

  Tzader hadn't really needed the confirmation. Brina's pregnancy didn't change his goal anyway, but now he had a child at risk, and that upped the ante.

  He was going into TAmr Medb to free a dragon. If he pulled that off and the dragon made good on curing Brina, Tzader hoped to live long enough to see life fill Brina's eyes again.

  Who am I kidding?

  He had no way to teleport, and no idea how to break a curse of any kind, much less one cast by an immortal.

  Chapter 8

  With a quick check on the doggy-critter perched on the passenger seat of Storm's truck, Evalle stayed at the speed limit while she worked her way to Rowan's home in Midtown.

  All she needed was to be stopped by human law enforcement and have to explain a witch's familiar capable of taking off a hand.

  Storm's truck was warmer than her GSXR motorcycle in the winter, but she missed riding her baby.

  In spite of snow flurries, Atlanta never lacked for traffic even late at night.

  The good news? No wrecks to turn the highways into parking lots. Evalle reached Rowan's Midtown neighborhood by midnight.

  Please tell me Rowan is a night owl.

  Evalle slowed to navigate the historic neighborhood full of homes with wide porches and double-hung windows. With all the remodeling going on at the building where she and Storm intended to live, Evalle had been getting an education on things such as how the two movable parts of those windows were called sashes.

  Who knew?

  Storm was having custom windows installed in their future home, which had once been a commercial building, just so she could open them on cool nights. After living underground for pretty much her entire life, the idea of owning just one window thrilled her.

  She drove under a canopy of leafless limbs on big oak trees hovering over the road. The last time she'd driven Storm's truck to a house he'd owned in this area, he'd been trapped in another realm with an army of demons.

  Let's not relive that memory.

  She parked at the curb in front of Rowan's Victorian-style home. It fit in with so many others built a century ago, but this one had always felt different.

  Rowan lived in the big old house with her younger sister, Sasha, and brother-in-law, Trey McCree, who was also a Belador warrior.

  According to Trey, one of Rowan and Sasha's ancestors had built the house.

  She checked her phone. Still no text reply from Rowan.

  What to do now?

  If Evalle called telepathically to Trey, he'd hear her and let Rowan know she was here. He was the most powerful Belador telepath she'd ever met, but she hated to disturb him. Between his and Sasha's new baby girl and Trey's Belador duties, the guy's hair had a perpetual bedhead look from exhaustion. Not from any sense of style.

  Snuffling sounds came from the other seat, where her passenger had curled into a ball and closed its eyes.

  Her dangerous sidekick needed a power nap, huh?

  Might as well knock on Rowan's door and hope she didn't piss off anyone by waking the baby. She climbed out of the truck and had made it halfway down the dark path to the wide porch when a glow bloomed in a hanging oil lamp.

  Must be nice to be a badass witch.

  The leaded-glass front door opened and Rowan stepped out in a furry white house robe that stopped just above matching boot slippers. "Good evening, Evalle."

  "Hi, Rowan. Did I wake you?"

  "Not really. I was just napping so I could take a turn getting up with the baby, but I sensed someone here."

  "I sent a text first."

  "My phone is off to keep from waking the baby. She's been colicky."

  "Sorry to hear that." But Evalle was glad to know Rowan hadn't been ignoring her message.

  It wasn't enough that Rowan was the definition of drop-dead gorgeous, but the good-morning fairies had gifted her so she didn't even look sleep rumpled.

  Evalle took in her outfit and asked, "Are you warm enough?"

  "Oh, yes. I'm good. I'd invite you in, but the baby just got to sleep and she's showing early signs of her powers."

  "Really? Is she, uh, more witch or Belador?"

  "Hard to say yet." Rowan lifted a shoulder. "But she knows if a non-family member comes inside. Sasha will kill both of us if we wake that child."

  "Ten-four."

  "I'm surprised to see you here without Storm," Rowan said, taking a step down so that she could sit on the edge of her porch.

  "Storm's home, getting our new place ready." And, for once, Evalle would be going home early due to the men opting to deal with Sen. She walked over and leaned against one of the waist-high stone walls bordering each side of the steps. "VIPER sent me and two others to hunt down a demon, but it turned out not to be one."

  "Thought those were all caught."

  "Reports of sightings still pop up, just not as often now. Evidently the Medb left a few extras just to give VIPER agents something to do." Evalle could accuse the Medb of being at fault only when talking to someone she trusted. She didn't need a new round of arguments between the Medb coven and the Beladors right now. Not with the Tribunal set to finally make a major decision affecting the Alterant-gryphons.

  Currently, there were only seven others of her kind that were known, but this decision would also affect anyone else who woke up one day to find out they were of the same bloodline.

  Evalle had been on her best behavior during every Medb encounter for weeks. She hadn't killed any. That counted for good manners, right? The other seven gryphons were hidden away on Treoir Island where they couldn't antagonize VIPER, the Medb, or a Tribunal member.

  That put major responsibility on Evalle's
shoulders to cause no trouble or give anyone a reason to derail the Tribunal vote on recognizing the gryphons as an independent race.

  Her group had lived long enough with someone else pulling the strings on their lives.

  Evalle might carry the blood of both Beladors and Medb, but her loyalty sat squarely with the Beladors.

  Rowan shoved a handful of silky black hair over her shoulder. "The Tribunal and VIPER are fools for bringing the Medb into the coalition, and this world."

  "Tell me about it, and I'm stuck as the liaison for the gryphons," Evalle groused. She hadn't originally planned to stay long, but since Rowan appeared to be wide awake and chatty, it was nice to talk to someone she could trust.

  "Trey told me Tzader went to Macha about keeping you out of the middle of the Belador and Medb conflicts, but clearly that didn't happen."

  "He did, but she didn't. I can't really blame Macha this time."

  Rowan's eyebrows lifted. Her gypsy-shaped eyes questioned that comment.

  Evalle chuckled. "Don't misunderstand me. I'm not defending her for any other actions, but the goddess wasn't present when Loki pulled his usual crap during a Tribunal meeting and twisted things around until I couldn't possibly say no."

  "Ah. Got it," Rowan said.

  "The Tribunal expects me to find a resolution for the tug of war between the Beladors and Medb over the gryphons."

  "How'd that get dumped in your lap?"

  Running her hands over her hair, Evalle grumbled, "Not by my choice. It started back when the Medb captured Alterants and made us fight each other. Those battles forced us to evolve into gryphons who could die and immediately regenerate back to life again."

  Rowan sat up at that. "Really?"

  "Yeah. None of us knew about that ability before then, and the regeneration only works three times." Evalle had suffered through all three. "Every time we die, we become stronger as gryphons when we return. Flaevynn compelled us to attack Treoir and sent their priestess, Kizira, to lead us. She died during the battle. Once that happened, she no longer had control of the gryphons, so the most powerful one in the pack became the leader. His name was Boomer. He was a huge SOB and went after Brina, so I had to fight him when he busted into Treoir Castle." She shrugged. "I won and became the gryphon leader by default."

  Kill the biggest, baddest one on the team and, bam, you get to be in charge.

  She hadn't wanted that position, but for now she had to deal with the responsibility.

  Rowan leaned back. "Wow. Macha is so lucky to have you and the others. Why isn't she pushing her weight around in this mess with the Medb? She hasn't even shown her face in this world since the Medb started sending warlocks and witches into Atlanta, has she?"

  "No. She won't leave Treoir, not with Brina still having problems with her memory. The closest I ever came to seeing Macha show real concern was when she thought Brina had vanished forever."

  "But you and Storm brought Brina and Lanna back. Doesn't that matter to Macha?"

  "You're asking the wrong person, Rowan. I'm lucky Macha didn't leave me locked up beneath VIPER headquarters last year. I didn't care for the deal she made, but she did get me out. All I know is that I have to perform my duties. If she wants to stay on Treoir, I'm the last person in a position to share my opinion. And I don't want anything to happen to Brina."

  Rowan leaned forward and propped her chin on her hand in a thoughtful pose. "I can understand Macha's concerns, given that the entire Belador power base is dependent upon Brina being alive and on the island, but not stuck in that castle. Poor woman is a prisoner. Tzader is there. He's immortal, so why can't he watch after Brina?"

  Evalle froze. How did Rowan know that?

  Rowan chuckled. "Trey has told me nothing, but rumors did fly after Tzader died breaking through the ward on Treoir Castle ... and you brought him back to life. Now I understand how that happened."

  "Yep. It was my last regeneration, and even then, the fact that it brought Z back was a miracle. One I can't repeat."

  She smiled up at Evalle. "But you risked truly dying when you linked with him."

  Evalle shrugged. "He'd have done it for me."

  "I have no doubt. Isn't the warding around the castle still a problem for him?"

  "Tzader said it's back up, but he can cross it." Evalle shrugged. "Don't ask me about majik. I just kill things."

  Rowan nodded. "Back to my point, though, which is that Tzader can protect Brina as well as Macha, maybe better. His heart's in the right place at least." Rowan grimaced. "With Macha, who knows what beats in her chest? I doubt it's a functioning heart."

  This was why Evalle had stuck around for a bit. Rowan called it straight, with no concern over politics. "I couldn't agree more, but I have no idea why Macha does or doesn't do anything."

  Rowan shook her head. "I wouldn't leave my people to face off with their enemy. What's the point of being loyal to a goddess if she isn't just as dedicated to her people?"

  Sitting back and supporting her weight with her elbows, Rowan struck another cover-model-worthy pose.

  Men in this neighborhood who had turned in for the night were missing out, big-time.

  Evalle marveled over how the chilly air didn't seem to bother Rowan, but she felt it all the way to her frozen toes. "I don't know how we're going to get rid of the Medb now that VIPER has allowed them to populate the city, but their coven members will eventually screw up. When they do, we'll nail them even if it means taking them down one at a time."

  "Sooner would be better than later." Then Rowan added, "We think they may be attacking our witches. Some have gone missing."

  "What? Did you report it to VIPER?"

  "Yes, for what good it did. Trey delivered a message to VIPER for me, then returned with a curt reply. I was informed that I had no hard evidence to support my claim. Also, that if the white witch membership and council wanted access to VIPER's resources, they needed to join the coalition."

  VIPER kept ordering the Beladors to smooth out relations with the Medb, but the coalition had no problem blowing off a powerful white witch who had kept tempers calm and prevented a massive witch war back in November.

  Rowan sat up and seemed to shake off her irritation. "If you got your demon or whatever tonight, why're you here when I know you'd rather be home with Storm?"

  Just hearing his name brought a sense of peace to Evalle, and deep longing to get back to him. She explained, "Like I said, we don't think it was demon, but this particular creature had been gathering food or something, because it captured a lot of dogs."

  Surprise lifted Rowan's voice. "You got that dog thief everyone's complaining about? That's great ... wait a minute. I know this is going to sound bad, but why would anything preternatural grab an animal when it could have a human?"

  "I don't know. We kicked around several theories, and Lucien suggested it might be a tikbalang, but we don't know for sure and we've got no idea who controlled it, so we're just making wild guesses."

  Rowan's gaze narrowed at the mention of Lucien.

  Much like Lucien's reaction to hearing Rowan's name.

  What was going on between the witch and Lucien? Rowan didn't share her thoughts, so Evalle stayed on track. "I'm here because one of the animals was not exactly a dog. Lucien says it's a witch's familiar."

  That brought Rowan to her feet. "What does it look like?"

  "Cute in an odd way and not quite knee-high. Looks like a bichon frise, but it has shaggy salt-and-pepper hair and--"

  "--a horn jutting up from its forehead plus a mouth full of fangs," Rowan finished in a flat tone.

  Score. Evalle would be headed home empty-handed soon. "Great. You know who the owner is."

  "Yes, it's Mother Mattie. She leads a small, but powerful, coven of our oldest witches and she sits on the council, but ..." Rowan's voice drifted off. "I don't see how it could be Oskar."

  Evalle was missing something.

  Shouldn't Rowan be happy to get her friend's familiar back? Speaking of wh
ich ... Evalle cast a glance at Storm's SUV, where she found Oskar awake. He stood with his front paws on the window, watching them. His gaze went from Rowan to Evalle as if intent on keeping up with the conversation and waiting for a verdict.

  That wasn't creepy. Not a bit.

  Hooking her thumb in the truck's direction, Evalle asked, "So that's Oskar?"

  Rowan took one look and said, "Yes." She didn't sound very happy to confirm the familiar's identity. "He's been with Mattie for over forty years."

  "I didn't think dogs lived that long."

  "It's not a dog, Evalle, and he's very dangerous. In fact, no one should have been able to put their hands on him. That couldn't happen unless ..." Rowan lifted her fingers to her lips, looking worried. "Unless Mother Mattie was out of the picture.

  "You mean she's ... dead?"

  "No, not dead... wait a minute." She pulled a cell phone out of her robe pocket and ordered the phone, "Call Mother Mattie."

  She put the call on speaker. It rang and rang, but not loud enough to wake a baby inside the house. The longer Rowan waited, the more tension Evalle picked up.

  Rowan stared with disappointment at the phone and terminated the call. "This is bad."

  When Rowan said something was bad, Evalle took note. Pushing away from where she'd been propped against the short wall, Evalle asked, "You think something has happened to Mother Mattie, too?"

  "I'm sure of it. She keeps her phone handy, and Oskar even closer. I told you we have missing witches. If the Medb are behind this, and that would be the first place I'd look, VIPER is playing with fire by ignoring us." Rowan glanced up. "Did you find any evidence of the Medb on that ... what was it?"

  "A ten-foot-tall creature that held a dark, shadowy glamour until we fought it, and no, there was no sign of Noirre or scent of Medb. If they did create it, the Medb managed to hide their singed lime odor and--"

  Energy flooded the air.

  Evalle snapped to attention, turning toward the source in the center of the yard.

  Rowan stepped down to stand beside her.

  Power whipped around Evalle, then a massive chestnut-colored horse appeared ... with a man's upper body in place of the horse's head and neck.

  A centaur.

  Not just any centaur. Deek D'Alimonte.

  This night would not end.

  Or it would end, but not well.

  Chapter 9