walker saga 06 - dronish Read online

  He didn’t pretend not to understand her question. “I do want to meet you. And …” he hesitated just briefly, before his cool eyes shifted to Josian. “We are joining the war. This is a big one, we can feel it, and the land whispers with the prophecy words. Pixies are gathering and faerie will also stand with Walkers.”

  Brace stared him down a little. “You’ve never involved yourself in Walker battles before.”

  Latinti’s expression hardened, the benign smile falling from his lips. “This war is different. Should this one be lost, then it will end our existence as we know it. This is not silly Walker politics in which faerie have no interest. This is a battle to live.”

  I lifted my chin to meet Brace’s gaze.

  “The faerie is right,” I said with conviction, projecting my voice loud enough for all to hear. “I’ve been thinking for a while that we need to gather these different powers. Maybe we should … I don’t know, set up a war camp.”

  Josian stepped to my side. Lallielle, as always, was right beside him.

  “Already ahead of you, baby girl. At the last princeps’ meeting we decided to start gathering our clans. We planned to meet in the large field again. We were taking the first steps in setting up a war council.”

  I’d been so busy lately I knew that I’d missed lots of what was going on with the Walker leaders.

  Josian continued. “I’ll contact the others. We need to move the time-frame forward.” He waved a hand toward Malisna and Latinti. “We welcome the involvement of pixie, faerie, and any others who arrive on our doorstep. But be aware, this is a Walker battle. In the end you must heed our commands.”

  “We’ll see,” Latinti said. “I’ve never denied that Walkers are the supreme power, but in your arrogance, you often miss things which might aid your plight. Don’t discount us yet.”

  Malisna let out a long breath. “I will retrieve the rest of pixie, and the forest sprites and we will meet you at the war camp.” She kissed her daughter on the cheek, still fixing narrowed eyes on Latinti. “See you soon, daughter, I am honored to have been here today at the mating to your beloved.” She fluttered up and kissed Colton on the cheek too.

  As she dropped down, Lucy reached across and hugged her mother, arms a little awkward over the wings.

  Latinti watched these exchanges with fascination, before he chimed in. “We’ll also take our leave for this camp,” he said. “It’s probably best …” His eyes flicked to the right. “If you set up separate territories for all fey involved.”

  Judging by the scowl from Malisna, the pixie and faerie camps should be on opposite sides.

  “It will be done.” Josian didn’t smile. Instead he saluted the faerie prince.

  Then just like that the different fey factions disappeared off into the air. Or wherever they went.

  “Guess that’s the wedding over.” Lucy sighed. “We were lucky to have as much time as we did.”

  She hugged Lallielle and then moved over to hug me also. “Colt and I can’t thank you enough. This was the best day ever.”

  “Yes, we owe you for organizing such an amazing celebration.” Colton’s gruff tones spoke of more than his words.

  I punched his arm. “Aw, you big old softie.”

  He growled deeper. “Stop saying that. I’m tough. I’m a freaking Walker, a warrior and a wolf.”

  Lucy and I snorted out our laughter.

  “Sure, sure,” I said between splutters. “The three Ws of Colt.”

  Colton turned to Brace. “Control your woman.”

  Brace held up both hands. “Are you kidding? No one controls Red. She’s got it all over me. We’re just going to have to live with the fact that, with these two around, we’ll never again have out of control egos.”

  My heart started galloping in my chest at the thought of the rest of my life with Brace. I was more than lucky to have him. He was my perfect other half, and the fact that he still didn’t have all of his memories of our brief life together rankled with me. We needed to get back to the lalunas soon, before I moved on to Dronish.

  “I love you.” I leaned in close and let the soft words trickle toward him. I hadn’t said that since before the bond was broken.

  His features froze. I had taken him by surprise: for him, that was the first time he’d heard those words from me. The sudden shimmery reflection of his eyes and the emotions on his face almost broke my heart. With a sort of rumbly growl he pulled me toward him. I went willingly. I had to bury my face in his chest to hide the tears that had formed in my eyes.

  Everything of Brace washed over me: his scent, strength and energy. It was like being cocooned in my favorite blanket. For a brief moment I was safe and protected, like nothing could touch me.

  Soft words added to my happy-place. “There should be a word stronger than love,” he whispered in my ear. “Something so unbreakable that nothing in any of the worlds or even gods above could tear it apart. If there was a word that defined this, then I would use it every day for you. But for now, I love you, Red.”

  Oh. My. God. He was killing me, but in the best freaking way.

  I had never doubted his feelings for me. Despite the fact he was relearning about our life, the emotions between us had never gone anywhere. His love for me … well, the lalunas had never had the power to sever that.

  “And there’s that sappy romance we’ve been missing.” Lucy broke the moment, but I was okay with it. This wasn’t exactly the place for anything more.

  Lallielle made a distressed noise. “I still can’t believe you allowed this, Josian.” She had not been happy about us keeping her in the dark about the broken melding bond. “You tampered with something so sacred … a blessing which has been lost to Walkers for many lifetimes.”

  I reached across and took her hand. “I’m sorry, Mom, we thought it was the only way.” My next few breaths were ragged as I fought my emotions.

  Josian didn’t say anything, but his face suddenly had that carved-from-stone look that Walkers pulled out when they were mega pissed off.

  Fury distracted us. “While I totally get your reasoning, you should have let the half-Walkers know. We’re a team … you can trust us with anything.”

  Cerberus came closer and licked up the side of my face. The hound had an innate sense of when I needed comforting.

  I sucked in a few more labored breaths. The air filled my lungs, but I was still lightheaded. “I do trust you all. It wasn’t about lack of trust; it was … I don’t even know. Fear, thinking I had no other choice, thinking I was the one who had to shoulder the responsibility to save these worlds.” I hung my head. “I’m really sorry. It was stupid. Keeping secrets has done nothing but cause problems, even if I had the best of intentions. So, from now on, full disclosure. No more secrets.”

  As I spoke, Josian’s gaze fell. My worries flooded back. I hoped that this meeting we were going to with the laluna would clue me as to what sort of problem Josian was having.

  Ria’s arms went around me then, and I hugged her back tightly. I knew she had accepted my lack of disclosure of the melding bond. She could be so kind when she wanted to.

  “Alright, so what do we do now?” the Regali queen asked, her demeanor calm.

  It was never difficult to see the methodical intelligence that Ria used to rule her people on Regali.

  “We go to this war camp.” This was from Delane, of course. Warrior-Walker.

  The Angelica had her massive wings tucked in behind her. She spoke with confidence but her expression was filled with unease. Life on Nephilius was solely about training and battle. Lucy’s wedding was a big – uneasy – first for her.

  “We must gather together, figure out the strengths of each group and plan our strategy. Not to mention that we half-Walker females need to tether our powers. We must strengthen ourselves and learn to work as a team.”

  “I agree,” I said. “I’ve been thinking for a while that the half-Walker females need to spend more time together. When we’re close our energy bo
unces off each other. We have complementary powers, and they need time to blend.” I exhaled loudly, my breathing finally coming easier. “But equally as important is me finding the last two of our group. I’ll make sure I continually pop in and out.”

  Talina laid her cool hand on my arm. “Finding the girls is really important, Abbs. While you’re gone the rest of us can still research and train. Then hopefully once you’re finished finding the last two, we’ll be ready to take the step as a complete power.”

  Josian interrupted us. “Jedi contacted me last night; he has some information from the pixie library. He’ll meet us at the war camp. He has a few scrolls to go through.” He glanced at our faces. “No one will be sitting around waiting for Aribella to return. We all have to do our part.”

  That was good. I couldn’t be everywhere at once. I had to trust that others could handle some aspects of this entire Seventine battle.

  Lallielle started to move. “I’ll send off all the First Worlders, and then we can focus on this impending war.”

  She scurried off to farewell those guests still lingering around the beach area. Brace and Colton left our group for a moment, stepping across to where Lasandra, Caty, Magenta, Petal and her dad were gathered in a group. I could see the men’s lips move as they updated the Walkers … eventually Magenta opened a doorway. Caty was the only one to turn back and give me a friendly wave as they all left via that doorway. Lasandra never glanced back.

  Magenta’s white-blond hair disappeared, along with the scowl that was pretty much permanently on her face. She’d made it perfectly clear to Colton that he was mated into this Seventine mess, and it had nothing to do with her. Magenta wasn’t a fan of mine because she’d wanted Brace – or mostly to be the princeps’ mate. And Lucy she hated and detested on a cellular level – to her my pixie friend had stolen her twin brother’s love and loyalty away. If the bickering and snotty comments continued between those two, sooner or later it was going to come to blows.

  After a few minutes of goodbyes it was just our core group left: the five half-Walkers and our mates, as well as Lucy, Colton, Josian, Lallielle and Quarn – who had made it in time for the ceremony. At the back of the group, sort of in a guard-like position, were our two sacred animal guides.

  Since we finally had a spare moment, I took three steps and threw myself at my guardian. Quarn caught me easily, anticipating my hug.

  “Ah, it’s been too long, miquerina,” he said.

  I knew now those words meant my little one. It still made me smile when he said it.

  “How’s the castle security going?” I asked as we pulled apart. I wished we had more time to catch up.

  “Great, except for Lucas having his moody crown on lately,” Quarn said. “It’s been quite the strained environment.”

  I glanced across at Ria, and noticed the subtle tightening of her features, especially the feathering around the delicate skin of her eyes. She had heard his words. It wasn’t a huge reach to guess the emperor’s recent asshat mood was because of the stunning Regali half-Walker. I didn’t believe these two could ignore their connection for too long. In the end these types of cosmic links, whether they were true mates or not, always came to a head. You had to deal with it, or it would force you to.

  Lallielle crossed her arms, all businesslike. “So, to reiterate, everyone is off to the war camp in the same field the Walker gathering was held. Except for Abby, who has to go to Dronish and find the half-Walker.” She rested her soft gaze on me. “While you’re gone, we’ll be making plans and gathering information; if all the Seventine are released, we’ll be ready for them.”

  Fury also crossed her arms. “Sounds about right, but I need to go back to Crais … well, Dune and I do. We have to check out this energy-gathering spot.”

  They’d been in the middle of investigating something on Crais when I’d called her to attend Lucy’s wedding.

  Ladre distracted us by stepping forward. In his right hand he held a device that pumped a fine mist of water toward his face. All Spurns – except Talina – needed to keep their hair moist or they could dehydrate and die. Ladre used the machine whenever he was away from the water.

  He spoke slowly so we could understand his lispy words. “At some point Talli and I should also return to Spurn. I have a few more locations to check for Seventine activity, and it’s time for the council to elect a new Baroon leader. I must assist in this transitioning.”

  Wow, it sounded like Ladre had most definitely chosen a life with Talina over his life on Spurn. I caught her small grin and I was so happy for my friend.

  I waved my hands a few times. “Okay, since we can’t ignore other responsibilities, you all should go do what you have to. But keep in mind that at any point I might have to call the half-Walker girls to me.” I narrowed my eyes on Fury. “And if you do find anything to do with energy-gathering or the Seventine, you have to let me or Dad know. This is not something you can deal with on your own, and the half-Walker girls are too important to risk.” I smiled to soften my words. “And I personally couldn’t stand it if any of you were hurt.”

  Fury met my unblinking stare, one side of her lips rising in a grin. “Fine, Supes, you win. I’ll let you know.” She persisted with the nickname, but it was still better than Super Abby.

  At least she had finally given me the promise I’d been trying to get out of her for days.

  “As will I.” Talina, as always, was agreeable.

  Great, one thing dealt with. Time for the next.

  I stepped closer to Delane before reaching out and gripping her hand. The Angelica’s features froze. She was not used to personal contact, which was part of the reason I did it. She needed to bond with us, and to do that she had to loosen up. Also, she needed a purpose and I was about to give her one.

  I spoke to the rest of the group. “While I’m gone I want you all to spend some time training with Delane. She’s an amazing warrior, with a battle-ready mind. Something we’re in desperate need of.”

  Delane’s expression didn’t change, but her black eyes flashed something in their reflective depths.

  I focused my attention on the four half-Walkers. “All of us have different strengths, but together we make a complete package. It’s time for us to cement these bonds between us.” I pushed back a few curls that had fallen forward. “I know that I’m not going to be here much for the next little bit, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t bond. I’ll connect as much as I can; we’ll strengthen our combined power.”

  “Hear hear, Supes.” Fury clapped a few times. “But I’ll reserve judgment on whether I follow warrior here. She needs to prove this battle mind to me.”

  Delane did not hesitate. “Challenge accepted.”

  “Oh, my god. Let me be there when Fury gets her ass kicked.” Lucy raised her head as if she were really praying.

  Laughter rang out. A smile even crossed Delane’s face. Fury was the only one with her signature scowl.

  I let go of the Angelica’s hand. “Well, that seems like a good plan for the next few days, and with that in mind I’m changing out of this dress and going to find me a laluna.”

  A thrill went through me as I shot my head around and clashed eyes with my mate. I let myself have a moment to eye-devour the heck out of him. He had been silent, letting us have our discussion, but my awareness of him was as strong as ever. As we stared, tension built between us. There was this slight curve to his lips as he caressed my features. That look filled me with heat.

  I had no doubt that he was excited to be reforming our bond. Actually, judging by that expression, excited was an understatement.

  Quarn distracted me. “Why do you need to go to the lalunas?”

  I refrained from fanning my face as I turned to my guardian.

  He stepped closer, his expression shuttered. “Everything I’ve heard of the stones is that they’re trouble.”

  On this I wholeheartedly agreed with him, but I would deal with creepier McCreeps than them for Brace. I quick
ly explained about the broken melding bond, knowing he had probably already heard most of the story, since he talked to Lallielle all the time. His concerned expression never abated. In fact, as the story went on, he looked graver. Which was giving me that bad-feeling cramp low in my gut.

  I was just finishing the story when a flash of light and energy flickered over the group. I glanced down. My blue laluna had just appeared in my hand.

  “Well, hello there,” I said. “Haven’t seen you for a while.”

  The blue flashed in a series of strikes and different colors ricocheted through the stone.

  I choked on my next breath because all of a sudden the stone was burning hot.

  “What’s happening?” I gasped out.

  Brace was at my side in a second, but no matter how much he tried he couldn’t touch me.

  I couldn’t stop the choked screams that were spluttering from me. “The laluna’s doing something.”

  Josian stumbled a little closer. “This is the first stage of the transformation,” he said, looking stricken.

  Just like Brace, he couldn’t move any closer to me. His bronzed, autumn-leaf eyes drooped at the corners, and it almost looked as if he were going to cry.

  The heat crisping through me increased, my whimpering screams amplifying in pitch. By my estimate, in about five seconds my hand was going to char right off my arm. Just when I thought I couldn’t take the pain any longer, the stone started to change shape. I watched as it kind of … melted. It was reforming into something else.

  My face began to ache from my alternate screaming and clenching of my jaw. Closing my eyes, I dropped to my knees, my sole focus on the simple act of continuing to breathe. The pain was almost beyond my ability to process. I wondered what would happen when my capacity to withstand this agony reached its pinnacle. I guessed I would pass out, a welcome relief.

  Although my eyes were closed I could feel the melting stone. It started to twirl around my hand, smoothing out, flattening, and curling around my wrist. The same wrist which had the purple, tear-shaped birthmark of my mother’s line.