These were the trappings of his noble home. His sanctuary. It was, in all of its majesty, a palace he enjoyed in solitary splendor, for he was one of a very few individuals strong enough to see the mansion for what it truly was.
It would be the same for Chloe, once the queen came home to her castle.
If she came home to her castle.
She will, he insisted. She would know her home right away. There was so much inherent power flooding her body and soul, she would see it as he did… and perhaps to even more detail.
Jason took a deep breath and straightened, rising from the leather seat and striding to the hearth. He leaned against the mantle, reaching down to hold the black diamond before the flames of the fire.
It looked like stardust.
*****
“You gonna shoot or do I need to do it for you?” Dannai wriggled her finger, pointing it threateningly at the dart her friend Lily was holding. It wavered in Lily’s hand and earned Dannai a dirty look.
Dannai smiled, shrugging and tossing a long, thick lock of jet-black hair over her shoulder. This was the first night she and Lucas had taken away from the twins. It felt strange. It was like her arms were too light; the weight that had been unloaded from them beckoned and burned. She wanted her babies back, but she also knew that she and her husband desperately needed this time together without them. For sanity’s sake. For their sake.
So Lalura Chantelle was watching the twins, with the “help” of Lily’s son, three-year-old William Kane. Dannai would never have placed such enormous responsibility in a single mortal, ordinary, human’s care, especially one as old as Lalura. However, Lalura was no ordinary woman.
“What’s the point?” Lily retorted. Your brother-in-law is messing with the board.” Lily Kane, a tall, slim woman with honey colored eyes and like-colored hair shot another man the same teasingly dirty look. “He’s cheating.”
“I most certainly am not,” Byron Caige insisted, crossing his thick arms over his broad chest.
Dannai glanced at him. He was her husband’s brother and their looks were so similar, that Dannai easily recognized the slight guilt in the man’s expression. “You know, I thought the scores seemed a little skewed,” she said.
Byron’s slightly guilty expression expanded to encompass his handsome features, and his gray eyes twinkled. Oh, he was damned.
Every alpha werewolf possessed a unique power of some kind. Dannai’s husband, Lucas, had incredible luck. He was like that comic book character who never lost at games, which was further proof that Byron was cheating. This time, Lucas was losing.
Byron Caige, his brother, possessed the ability to manipulate technology. Fifty years ago, when he’d first discovered this ability, it hadn’t seemed all that useful. However now was most certainly another story.
He’d apparently changed the electronic score readouts on the dartboard, managing to do so without anyone noticing the changes out-right.
“You’re unscrupulous my love,” accused Katherine Dare, Byron’s mate. She shook her blonde head, the corners of her mouth turned up just enough to show she was teasing, and then she reached down, scooped up four pointed darts at once, and shot them toward the board with incredible speed.
One dart embedded itself in the bull’s-eye. Two more landed in the bullring. The fourth stuck dead center in the 20 triple ring.
Dannai shook her head. “There’s just no point in playing with you two.”
Katherine Dare may be the “Curse Breaker” amongst werewolves, the one responsible for breaking a 4,000 year-old curse by sacrificing herself to a terrible evil, but she was also a former Hunter and trained by the Hunters. She was very good at just about anything having to do with fighting. Even darts.
Katherine, who also went by “Kat,” smiled a giant smile, flashing rows of bright white teeth. Everyone else laughed. Lily gathered the darts, placed them in the bin for someone else to use, and she, Dannai, Kat, Byron, and Lucas all headed toward the booths on the other end of the pub.
Dannai had been hoping Charlie, Malcolm, and Daniel could join them tonight as well, but Daniel, who was Lily’s husband, worked nearly non-stop as the chief of police in Baton Rouge. Malcolm Cole was a famous author and currently on tour signing autographs overseas. Charlie, his mate and one of Dannai’s best friends, always accompanied him when he traveled if he traveled abroad.
Dannai couldn’t blame her. Charlie’d had a rather rough childhood as a dormant who didn’t know she was dormant, an even rougher young adulthood, and she’d lived in a state of fear more or less for decades. Now that she was a turned and mated werewolf and knew where she stood in life, she had a good deal more confidence and a lot less anxiety about getting out and seeing things. Plus, Malcolm could barely stand to have her out of arm’s reach. So, traveling together was best for the both of them.
The five of them squeezed into an oversized booth and Lucas ordered them drinks.
“I had a vision last night,” Lily began as the waitress deposited their beers on the table.
This got everyone’s immediate attention. With as volatile and heated as the supernatural world had become of late, any visions the seers had were imperative and vital.
“What was it about?” Lucas asked immediately. His dark gray eyes glinted with keen interest. Everyone leaned forward, their elbows on the table.
Lily turned her mug around in her hands to grip it properly and said, “There’s a girl in a school in Oregon who is only now coming to realize she is a werewolf now that the curse is broken. She’s adopted. Her parents have no idea what she is and thus far, they have no idea that she’s experiencing… changes.”
Everyone was silent for a moment as this was digested.
“Well, it’s not the apocalyptic vision you had before, but it’s still disturbing,” said Lucas.
“Actually, I wasn’t finished,” Lily interjected with a smile. “The rub? She’s dating a Hunter’s son.”
“Okay, that’s admittedly worse,” said Kat.
“And it gets even better,” said Lily. She took a drink of her beer, replaced it on the table, and added, “The Hunter father is somehow involved with a vampire – the very powerful vampire working for an unknown source.”
A strange chill went through Dannai. Somehow this felt personal.
“How do you know this?” she asked before she could stop herself. It was a rather stupid question for her to ask. Everyone knew that a seer’s visions were odd, obscure sorts of things that no one but a seer would understand. And everyone also knew that a seer was never wrong in his or her interpretations. It was instinctual, like breathing. “Sorry,” she added almost immediately. “I just….”
“You have every reason and right to ask,” Lily assured her, reaching across the table and giving her hand a squeeze. “You’re more involved in this than anyone at this table – and so are your kids.” Lily let go of her hands and added with a big smile, “And you’re a good mom.”
Another companionable hush fell over the group as Lucas leaned over, pulled Dannai close to his side with a strong arm around her waist, and placed a gentle kiss to her forehead.
Dannai inhaled, breathing in the scent of her husband, leather and aftershave and wind – and then she froze. A familiar feeling rushed through her, one of memories and warnings and emotions both good and bad. She straightened in her booth seat and turned, looking over her shoulder toward the club’s front door.
Jason Alberich stood at the opening, his green eyes reflecting the dim overhead lights. He was looking straight at her.
Slowly, he nodded.
She returned the gesture, and he began to make his way toward their booth.
Everyone saw him at this point, and none of them spoke. The group’s feelings toward the Warlock King were perhaps as mixed as it was possible for feelings to be. Jason Alberich was their hero. He’d saved Katherine’s life, bringing the Curse Breaker back from the dead and sparing Byron’s life in the process, for he would not have survived wi
thout his mate. In doing that, he’d also spared Lucas Caige, who had only just found his brother again after fifty years without him. It was a pivotal event, and one that none of them were likely to forget soon.
However, Jason Alberich has also been a dark shadow in Lucas and Dannai’s past. A very dark shadow. And this, too, was something none of them were likely to forget any time soon. Alberich was capable of very great things – both good and bad.
“I’m sorry to interrupt,” he said as he approached the table, all darkness and magic so strong it was nearly stifling.
Alberich’s power seemed to almost double every time Dannai was near him of late. As a witch herself, she could feel it like it was a physical thing. She had the strange sensation that Jason had in fact always been this powerful, and probably more so, but donning the robes of sovereignty had merely freed his magic from its shackles, and now it fed and exercised and grew.
“Have a seat,” said Byron. Byron Caige would always be the first to welcome Jason Alberich at his table. Ironically, his brother Lucas would probably always be the last.
The Warlock King glanced down at the small, very full booth.
And then suddenly, the booth was not as small as it had been a second ago, and there was plenty of elbowroom among the five others. A chair had also appeared behind him, large and leather, at the end of the table.
Dannai was impressed. He’d performed the magic without so much as a gesture, and seemed to have done so for no other reason than to make them all more comfortable.
Jason took his seat gracefully – as a real king would – and leaned forward, his elbows on the table. Dannai couldn’t help but imagine him like this at the notorious table of the 13. Is this how he appeared? Were they all so powerful? So charismatic?
She shivered.
“I’ll be blunt,” said Jason, his smooth voice reaching across the table with the grace and influence of a vampire’s. “I’ve come to ask your help.”
Lily leaned forward. “You’ve found your queen.”
Jason nodded. “Her name is Chloe Septeran. She’s a very special Akyri, and she needs protection. At the moment she’s on a flight from Honolulu to Los Angeles.”
“Congratulations on finding your queen, but please don’t take this the wrong way,” said Lucas, and Dannai’s heart skipped a beat. She looked up at him as he went on, “You’ve got magic leaking out of your pores. What can we possibly do that you can’t?”
“You don’t fight fire with fire,” said Jason. “And you don’t always fight magic with magic.”
“You want us to protect her when she gets to LA. With strength and might, not magic,” said Dannai.
Jason looked down at her – and that tender smile he saved only for her curled his lips. “It couldn’t hurt. The force we’re up against is sure to have realized that the queen to the Warlock King will most certainly be surrounded with an abundance of magic. He’s sure to take measures to counteract this.”
“You’re right,” said Lily. “It stands to reason. And everything we can do to help the 13 Kings protect their queens will ultimately help us as well.” She looked at the others. “Like Lalura told us.”
Dannai considered this. Lalura Chantelle and Jesse Graves had called a meeting with the entire werewolf council and all of the more powerful members of the werewolf community several days earlier. There, she’d filled them in on what was happening with the 13 Kings, their fated queens, and the “force” of unseen and unknown darkness that was determined to claim them himself. This mystery force seemed to be pulling everyone’s strings as if they were puppets in an unscripted play. No one knew what his plan was; no one knew his design.
Dannai had a feeling Lalura knew something she wasn’t letting on. But then Dannai always had this feeling about Lalura Chantelle.
It was imperative that the kings find and “claim” their queens before this dark force did. The wellbeing of the entire supernatural world rested in the balance.
“You don’t have to convince us,” said Katherine, cutting to the chase in the no-nonsense way that was so like her. “I’ll go personally.”
Byron placed his hand atop hers on the table. “We both will.”
“Cole is in LA,” said Lily. “We’ll contact him and Charlie. I’m sure they would be willing to help as well.”
“Why don’t you just kidnap her and tie her to your bed?” Lucas suddenly asked. Dannai’s stomach clenched. Her husband’s dark eyes were burning with memories. The table had gone quiet. “Don’t tell me you’ve lost your romantic touch, Alberich.”
Dannai prepared for a fight deep down in her soul. She was pretty sure everyone else at the table was doing the same.
But Jason wasn’t the man he used to be. In a move that surprised them all, he neither rose to Lucas’s saber rattling nor even paid it all that much heed.
Instead, he slowly stood. “Thank you for your offer of help. In the meantime, if something should happen to me, I would like for you to give Chloe this.”
He extended his arm, opened his hand, and a black diamond the size of an apple appeared in his palm.
Dannai’s jaw fell open. The werewolves around the table stilled. Black diamonds that size were not supposed to exist. What’s more, everyone there, Dannai in particular, was well acquainted with what they signified in the warlock world. Jason had once given a black diamond to her, in fact. In another, less friendly time.
“You’ll have to trust me in this,” Jason said, looking down at Dannai as he spoke. Their eyes met. It was like he was talking to her alone. “I promise it’s a good thing. If I can’t be there in the end, please be sure she gets it.”
Dannai almost didn’t want to touch the black diamond. As inanimate objects went, their potential for darkness was unsurpassed. At the same time, she very much did want to touch it.
But Lucas spared her from having to make the decision. Before she could take it, her husband reached out, grabbed it, and snatched it from Jason’s hand. He stared up at Jason with frank distrust.
Jason’s expression was unreadable. “It’s a house key,” he said. “Whatever happens to me, Chloe Septeran was destined to be queen. She should have a fitting home.”
Dannai felt a stunning sensation rip through her. Jason had just given them a very deep secret. He’d given them the means to find his hidden mansion. Everyone knew he had one. No one had ever seen it.
Jason was trusting them. Implicitly.
Dannai reached out and stole the diamond from her husband’s hand. He blinked, surprised. And then he sighed and sat back against the bench cushion, admitting defeat.
Dannai looked back up at the Patra to her twins, her closest friend, the mysterious and multi-dimensional Warlock King. “I’ll make sure she gets it.”
Jason lowered his hand and turned to her. “Thank you,” he said – just before transporting away in the blink of an eye.
Chapter Nine
Chloe was fairly sure that the biggest and most significant difference between first class and coach on an airplane was that the flight attendants went out of their ways to treat coach travelers with disdain just so one could more readily tell the difference in the fore-section of the plane.
That was where she sat now, and before she’d even fully finished packing her bag in the overhead bin and settling into her seat to buckle her belt, the flight attendants had zeroed in on her and offered her a “complimentary” Mai Tai. She’d declined it and they’d instead offered her bottled water and a glass of ice.
Meanwhile, the people in the back went thirsty.
This disparity, this subtle form of grave mistreatment, was disturbing to Chloe, especially since as far as she was concerned it was the less fortunate who probably needed the drink more. In fact, she could feel that they plainly did.
Now she huddled under a complimentary blanket she didn’t strictly need but that offered comfort in the way of a barrier between her and the rest of the world. The first class seat beside her was empty, as were many of the s
eats in that section. A complimentary pillow cushioned her head, and her oversized, plush leather chair was reclined at a comfortable 45-degree angle.
As she started to drift off to sleep, she imagined that somewhere in the back, a child shivered under the cold air of the plane’s interior, and a mother tried to hug her closer. Chloe’s eyes flew open. Her teeth set.
Just as she was rising to take her pillow and blanket to the back and donate them, a shadow fell over her.
“What will you do when one blanket isn’t enough?”
Chloe looked up.
The rest of the plane receded a bit, and all that remained was the infamous warlock that stood at the exit to her row, blocking the way out.
It seemed that the world should have noticed him there – the way he looked, the magic oozing from his pores, the fact that he’d appeared out of nowhere. His voice. His presence…. It seemed as though the plane’s engines should have stopped running, and everyone should have stood up and stared in awe. But if anything, everyone else in the first class section of the plane was asleep.
Chloe quickly took account of her situation. Apprehension threatened to overwhelm her. She was stuck on an airplane. If she’d had a store of magic taken from a host warlock, she could have transported off the flight. Hell, she wouldn’t be on the flight to begin with.
But even if she could do that, it was a bad idea to disappear from a US flight these days. Things like that were noticed, and she would end up on a No Fly list and under intense government scrutiny that was too close for comfort.
There was nowhere for her to go and nothing for her to do.
“One blanket is a start,” she told him, allowing a note of defiance to enter her tone.
“Help one person and others will expect it,” Jason told her, his green eyes glittering with some kind of amusement or knowledge or both. “Are you going to find blankets for all of them?”
“You could conjure them up.”