Shifters’ Fae Captive by Lacey Carter Andersen
Chapter 17
Onyx
Fucking Wraith.We need every man we can get, but even so, Phantom had to kill him. Right now, we don’t know if he took her for himself or the king, but either way, he’s too dangerous to allow to remain alive. I only wish I was the one to end his miserable life, but Phantom got there first.
I’m still wired. Dusk is holding Ann in a corner of the cave, away from where Phantom and I are by the fire. After we told the others what happened, they apologized profusely for not watching her more closely, and left, taking their wounded with them.
Yes, I felt a small bit of guilt watching them leave, but they knew enough that it was safer for them to leave than to stay. With our current state of mind, we could end up hurting them. They knew that, understood the strength of the mate bond, and left without argument, also promising to destroy the bastard's body when they came across it.
She looks up and I nod at her because while I’m ready to go out and slay the world for her, I also want to be the one holding her against me.
“One of us should stay with her at all times. We can trust no one,” Phantom says, while signing.
I agree. The prophecy says a light fae will mate with shadow beasts and end this war, so every beast in this room thinks he can gain power or advantage by being with her. I don’t know what Wraith’s plan was, but she’s safe for now. And we’re going to keep her that way, no matter what it takes.
“She needs the protection of the mate bond.” I sign back. He knows this already, but I am giving him an opening to share his plan. Phantom always has plans and they almost always work.
He turns to look at her and the want is plain on his face, the desire dark in his eyes. I recognize it because I feel those same things deep in my guts. I want her too.
“She’s been through some… turmoil.” I haven’t shared anything she told me about her boyfriend, Rayne. That she confided in me isn’t something I take lightly. But she had told all of us about him and suggested he was part of the reason she didn’t want other mates or feel like this thing between us could be real.
He nods. “Yeah.” He doesn’t ask me what I know, and I’m grateful. I’m not sure if I would be able to tell him.
“We have to find a way to persuade her. This… stubbornness,” I know it isn’t wholly obstinance standing her way, “could get us all killed.”
He nods, signing back to me. “The king won’t take her and she’ll be safe if she mates with us. It will happen. She can’t fight the mate bond forever.” I wish for the kind of confidence he has. Until he frowns, anyway. “I’ll also tell her that we can’t make her.” Because Phantom is nothing if not honest on a level I’ve never seen matched.
I follow him to where she’s sitting huddled with Dusk. That lucky fuck. He has his arm around her shoulders, her head tucked against him. As far as protectors go, she could do worse. And I smile. I won’t be telling him that.
She looks up and gives me a soft almost smile, then at Phantom, or maybe it’s him first, but it doesn’t matter. She’s not fallen apart despite what she’s been through and what she’s seen. That alone marks her strength.
“Are you all right?” I read the words off Phantom’s lips, then turn to her for the answer.
She nods. “Yes.”
“Wraith won’t be bothering you anymore.”
“He made a deal with the king,” she tells us. “He was tired of fighting.”
My gut churns. Phantom and Dusk didn’t think the others would betray us to the king, just that they would try to steal her heart. I reminded them that the last time they underestimated someone, we paid dearly.
They said nothing else, but I don’t think they believed it could actually happen until this moment. Now, I see it in their faces. Their people aren’t just exhausted and miserable. They’re looking for an easy way out, and that’s never a good thing.
Dusk looks at me and winces.
I nod back at him and sign. “It’s okay. Not all of us can be as jaded as I am.”
Their mother died, but loved them every second of her life. My own mother sold me to a man she probably thought wanted to use me for unspeakable things. It was pure luck that the captain of the guard felt I reminded him of the son he lost, and so, took me in to keep me safe. Even as a small boy, I trusted no one, until Dusk and Phantom.
And I still didn’t.
Although Ann is growing on me.
I move to sit facing her though I wish I could sit beside her. And I could. Neither Dusk nor Phantom would deny me so, but I wouldn’t be able to talk to her if I did.
For a moment, I miss hearing. Am angry that I can’t. It’s been so long since I’ve heard the sound of a woman’s voice. Since I’ve heard any sound. And I again wonder whether hers is sweet and soft or if she has a huskiness, a depth to her tone. I would love it either way.
It bothers me that this seems to matter to me. The knowledge that I can’t hear her seems to circle in my mind any time I’m alone with my thoughts. Since my injury, I’ve mostly kept any frustration at my circumstances shoved deep in a dark box inside me. I didn’t understand why I can’t seem to do that now too.
I sign. “Are you really okay?”
Dusk speaks my words to her.
She smiles, and I watch her lips as they move. “It was a little scary, but you guys got there in time.”
We watch each other, her eyes piercing, as though she’s trying to see inside my mind just as I am hers. When she looks away, I smile. There are things I want to say, things I want her to hear, but I don’t dare because I’m not sure that I remember how to. And I can’t hear myself to know how I sound.
What if I embarrass myself? What if I horrify her?
She looks at me and holds out one hand, offers the other to Phantom while Dusk continues to hold her. “Thank you for rescuing me.”
It seems like a year ago rather than only a few days since I wanted the others to leave her behind. Now, I’ve risked my life twice to protect her. And I would do it again. As many times as she needs. And as scary as some deep part of myself feels about that, there’s another part of me that feels excited.
Maybe I’m not as broken as I thought I was.
I nod, even though I want to tell her that I’ll always save her, and she gives my fingers a squeeze and tugs me closer. I scoot, but it isn’t what she wants. She pulls until I’m leaned in far enough to kiss her. She’s as delicious as she was when I was injured. When she healed me with her touch, saved me with a kiss like this one.
Her mouth is soft, lips full and I savor the touch for a second after it’s over before I pull back and she kisses Phantom with the same fervor, the same desperation. He tangles his fingers in her hair and holds on, tilts her head, opens his mouth.
When she finishes with Phantom, she kisses Dusk and I’m lost to everything I feel, everything I want. The three of us have shared women before, a lifetime ago, but it was always just sex for me. I never thought I was capable of feeling close to anyone other than Dusk and Phantom. Not even a woman. But now, I like watching her kiss my best friends. Not just because it’s strangely hot, but because it feels like it deepens our bonds, with her, and with each other.
She’s ours whether she knows it or not. And no way in hell are we letting her go.
After she’s kissed the three of us, she nestles with Dusk on one side of her and Phantom on the other, but she stares at me. I want to know everything about her. I want everything she has to offer and so much more.
“How did you come to be with Phantom and Dusk?” Her gaze holds mine as I sign the story and Phantom translates.
I struggle to find the right words. “My mother sold me as a child to the captain of their guard. Their mother had just died, and the captain, in his wisdom, thought we would be good for each other. He trained me as a guard, but when he was busy, I spent my time with Phantom and Dusk. As time passed, we formed an unbreakable bond.”
There was more, so much more. Even now, I remember the three broken hearted boys coming together. We were less playmates, and more a strange support group. We spoke about our losses with ease, and for a time it felt as if no one in the world existed outside of us.
When we got older, things became more complicated. Phantom would be the future king. His brother, a prince of our world. And me, their ever-loyal guard. In public, we were formal. In private, we were family.
Until the event.
I’m not going to tell her about my hearing, or how I lost it, but Phantom fills in the gaping hole in my story. “He almost died saving my life when… the Shadow King tried to kill me.”
“I’m a warrior.” I smile as I sign the words. “I could no more let the shadow prince die, than I could let my friend die.” The words translate well enough and Phantom shoots me a rueful smile. There are days his guilt is bigger than he knows what to do with. He’s never quite gotten over the fact I lost my hearing to save him.
“Why did the Shadow King want you dead?” Now she’s onto Phantom.
“He’s a bad man.” Phantom doesn’t say more, and I don’t blame him. I would cut the story off there, too. No need to get maudlin or haul the family skeletons out of his closet.
“His arrogance makes him a bad king.” Dusk looks down at his lap.
“And his greed. And his unwillingness to change.” I smile at her as I finish and Phantom, again, translates.
“I wish I could hurt him with my powers, but I tried with Wraith, and nothing happened.”
“Some things can’t be solved with magic,” Dusk says.
We’d all learned that lesson well.
“I tried to save that sleeping warrior, Adrik.”
That surprises me. When had she done that?
“Why?” Dusk asks the question we’re all wondering.
She shrugs, and there’s hurt in her eyes. “First, I just wanted to see if I could do it. But also, in a strange way, he reminded me of Rayne. Of my first mate.”
First, the word holds a special meaning, but I try not to focus on it.
It was noble of her to try, but we could have told her it was pointless. He’s dying slowly, but it’s only his body that’s still alive. His mind and spirit went to the Moon Goddess long ago, to walk the Ever Fertile Fields. It is the same way with all warriors in his condition.
Phantom squeezes her hand. “Adrik was dragged into the shadow world and fought, but a smoke dragon consumed his soul. Now, his body is dying.” There’s so much more to the story and I wonder exactly how much she knows. “He’s already gone. Only his body remains.”
To my surprise, she nods. “It’s like the opposite of ghosts.”
“Ghosts?” Dusk asks with a frown.
“Yes, the dark fae have the power to see ghosts. They’re actually all around us. People who died with unresolved issues.”
That surprises me.
“So, their spirits are here, but not their bodies?” Phantom asks, and I see some disbelief in his eyes.
I don’t blame him. The idea that all unhappy spirits could be walking around us without us able to see them is creepy and unsettling. In our beliefs, those who were good in life go to the Ever Fertile Fields. A place of peace and prosperity. And the people who were bad in life go to the Wastelands. The smoke dragon is one of the few creatures that’s capable of devouring the soul of a person and leaving their body behind.
But ghosts? That’s too strange a notion for me. These fae have very different beliefs from our own.
“Yes, that’s exactly it!” Ann exclaims. “Dark fae have had to stay hidden for a long time, so no one sees their powers, but I read a lot of the lore about them with Rayne. They don’t just see ghosts; they speak to them and often help them to find peace.”
Dusk looks around the cave and his mouth says. “Do you think there are any of them here?”
A coldness rolls through me, and I shiver. Glancing around me, I feel a strange sense of unease. Was the chill from a spirit or ghost? Or had I just imagined it?
My imagination. Definitely my imagination.
“Let’s eat again,” Phantom suggests. “Then take turns resting. The others are patrolling the outside of our cave. If something tries to attack us, we’ll know before anything can get in.
And that’s what we do, passing the night by eating, resting, and talking to Ann. She nods off to sleep many times, but when she’s awake, it seems, she always has something to say. Dusk and Phantom ask her about her life. I see hurt in her eyes, but I don’t press her for the things she doesn’t want to share. She simply tells us about her mom, who got pregnant by a human. In order to cover up the fact that she’s not a full fae, another man claimed her child as his own.
The man, apparently, loved another man. Something that is common even among shadow beasts. Mates, after all, can be of the same sex, or different, it didn’t really matter. And because this father of hers could never have a biological child of his own, he was more than happy to take on the role of her father.
She describes a good life, if a lonely life. Until she comes to her mother marrying another man. Then, she seems to struggle with her words before she says she’s tired and pretends to sleep.
I decide that one day I will ask her about this man her mother married. And if he was unkind to her, I’d find him and kill him.
Not that I’ll tell her that.
Outside the cave, day is about to break and she yawns, this time for real, her eyes open, but they’re pooled with tears of fatigue. My mind spins with memories of happier days, of times when I could hear, and I can imagine Ann there with me, putting her in the vivid scenes in my mind. Making her laugh. Showing her our world before it all fell apart. And I smile to myself because it isn’t a surprise that she fits with us. Into our lives. Now, yes. But when things are better, yes too.
I yawn and my eyelids close so I can drift off to sleep, I’m strangely filled with hope that after tonight, after getting to know us better, she’ll be willing to mate and form our bond.
Then, hopefully, we would have more good days than bad before us.
