Lorelei nodded. “Yes, absolutely. I’ve been over this terrain myself a number of times, tracking you more than once during the past four weeks, if you’ll remember. All of these gorges are between the Wheeling, Shauck, and Athalia Rivers. I even know their names: Bephotine, Clover, Emberith, and Inwether Gorges. Have I got that right?”
Cohoet leaned in. “Yes, exactly. These are some of the wider gorges in the entire range. They open occasionally into narrow stretches of land that can be farmed, and are maybe half-a-mile in width. We have dozens of hamlets and farms along all these lanes, and at least a thousand realm-folk.”
Valgus added, “A few times, homesteaders have tried to work the more remote regions, but the Invictus have wiped them out, no exceptions. Clover Gorge falls into my territory and I don’t allow homesteaders in the northernmost reaches, not since Mastyr Seth enacted the law.”
Having taken the alphas’ advice over a century ago, Seth had created and subsequently enforced a non-homesteading policy in the Shauck Mountains. The established shifter communities had a dozen safeguards in place, protecting a hundred hamlets that made up the intricate pack networks. Solitary ventures into wilder parts of the mountains had been banned for a long time.
A balancing force of good-natured troll families, who enjoyed mountain life as well as the earthy, volatile nature of the shifter packs, also lived, ranched, farmed and worked in the more habitable valleys and well-populated gorges, especially near the rivers and larger feeder streams.
The four gorge region that Lorelei’s vision encompassed represented at least thirty miles of territory.
“How the hell are we supposed to protect our people against a major Invictus attack?” Valgus’s cheeks turned a ruddy, angry hue as he scowled at Seth. “This is complete bullshit.”
But Ephyx stepped in. “Not bullshit. It’s the ancient fae. Margetta. Which means she’s after something.”
Lorelei straightened her shoulders. “That’s what I believe as well. These are her plans and intentions because for some reason she’s seen the future, that what happens at Big Timber with the Shifter Brigade, matters in a critical way to her war strategy. The sense I have is that if she’s not turned back at the Shauck Mountain Range, she will win her bid for total domination of the Nine Realms in the next few days. The vision also indicated that she’s been planning these recent attacks on each individual realm, beginning with Merhaine a few months ago, for at least the past nine hundred years.”
The men stared at her as though she’d just spoken in a foreign language. Seth watched her look around as she said, “What? Did I say something wrong?”
Alophi leaned forward slightly. “You’ve said what needed to be said, Mistress Lorelei. You’ve put your recent vision into words we get: war, the stakes, the purpose of the enemy, and the need for strategy.”
Seth knew that Lorelei had hit the right button and had ramped up the energy in the room in a positive way. Even he felt it now, the swelling of his battle vibration. “We need to establish our own strategy, right here, right now.” He pivoted slightly toward Lorelei. “And when does this attack take place? Do you know?”
“Tomorrow, at midnight, the first wave arrives.”
He nodded. “Good, that’s good. We have time to prepare.”
Ephyx crossed his arms over his broad, heavily muscled chest. All the shifters were built like they could wrestle bears. “First and foremost, we need to protect the communities.”
Cohoet narrowed his gaze as he scanned the map. “We should each take a gorge.”
Both Alophi and Valgus chimed in. “Agreed.”
Seth knew that this part of the plan was solid because it kept the packs separate, allowing each alpha to direct a completely different part of the defensive action.
Once more, he slid his arm around Lorelei’s waist. Thank you.
* * * * * * * * *
Lorelei had never had this experience in her life being part of a group with a mission, especially one designed to save hundreds of realm-lives. Even with Quinlan and Batya, she’d been the outsider, the one they’d been working to save.
But here, today, she’d had her first fae vision ever and was making a contribution in a way that helped her feel like she was doing something important. The resulting happiness surprised her, though she was pretty sure it had something to do with the shifter part of her nature, a need to belong to the pack and to find a way to serve the community.
As the shifters started brainstorming how to go about protecting the various gorge populations, she leaned into Seth and pathed, I’m so grateful for this.
For what, exactly?
I know this is going to sound odd, but for getting to help out.
I think I know what you mean. It’s hard to stand on the sidelines when you want to be doing and contributing.
Painful at times, especially when the source of all the trouble is related to you.
Don’t go there. But he smiled and squeezed her waist.
I won’t. I don’t intend to, but it will still always be a factor.
Over the next two hours, the alphas discussed a wide variety of tools for bringing down an in-flight enemy, including lures and nets, bows and arrows, and dagger-throwing, all of which most shifters excelled at and which they often used in battle against wraith-pairs.
She made a pot of black coffee. The shifters drank deeply and the energy ramped up another notch. She sipped a cup herself. Seth refused anything, but more than once his gaze fell to her throat and each time her heart started to labor, getting that heavy, blood rose feeling again.
Of course, knowing that Seth would need to feed again soon triggered other sensations. When he looked at her once more, and his nostrils flared, a blush once more crept up her cheeks. She didn’t like having her sexual desires understood so readily, but between her strong shifter DNA and Seth’s overdeveloped vampire abilities to smell blood and other things, she could hardly pretend not to feel what she was feeling.
I’ll need to feed soon.
I know. Cramping?
Not anymore, but what I don’t get is why so soon? I just fed.
Making up for lost time, maybe? She couldn’t help but smile.
He chuckled and the alphas glanced at him. He shook his head. “Sorry, men. Just having a private conversation with Lorelei.”
Each acknowledged his statement with an almost dismissive grunt, which meant they understood his attentiveness to his woman. They went back to studying the map and conversing with each other. Occasionally, they used their phones to contact their lieutenants and discuss details of their plans.
After another ten minutes, Valgus lifted his head. “We need to start running drills right now and keep them going through the day.”
Ephyx added, “Mastyr Seth, the entire Shifter Brigade has reassembled at Big Timber and we’re ready to go.”
Lorelei was so impressed.
Seth’s phone rang and he stepped away to answer it. He was gone only half-a-minute, but when he returned he looked deeply worried, his brows drawn together tightly.
Lorelei tilted her head, because this didn’t feel the same as his concern about Margetta’s attack. What is it?
He straightened his shoulders, his gaze sweeping over the alphas. “I have good news, actually. Mastyr Jude will be in Walvashorr within the hour. He’ll meet up with us at Big Timber.”
Lorelei now understood what was bothering him. She was an un-bonded blood rose and another mastyr vampire would soon arrive. She knew how Seth had reacted to Batya before she’d bonded with Quinlan.
Her heart pounded harder, another indication that her own blood rose abilities wouldn’t discriminate right now between the two mastyrs. She would be equally drawn to Jude as she was to Seth, at least in terms of her need to satisfy a mastyr’s chronic blood-starvation.
She hoped like hell that she didn’t run into Jude alone.
* * * * * * * * *
Seth flew Lorelei slowly over Meriwin Stream in Emberith Gorge. T
he shifters were on the ground, traveling primarily in wolf-form in order to move swiftly from farm to hamlet.
He hadn’t quite realized just how prepared the shifter community was for war, but everywhere snow-oriented camouflage nets went up over houses and barns. Farm animals were herded inside the latter, and families moved to either cavern systems located in the steep, mountainous ridges of each gorge or extensive, manmade tunnels that had been built over the past century just for this purpose.
I’m amazed, Lorelei pathed.
Her arm around his neck soothed him. He was jumpy as hell, as much from knowing that in less than twenty-four hours his men would be engaged in battle, as from the fact that Jude had arrived and was working with Ephyx and his pack at the far western Bephotine Gorge.
Even Lorelei had made it clear that her body would fail to distinguish between the men and that she knew she’d be in trouble if she got anywhere near Jude.
And he knew damn well what it was like to be drawn instantly to a blood rose. Memories of having attacked Batya gave him the shakes all over again.
So Seth had created distance to ensure that Lorelei and Jude didn’t actually see each other during these exercises.
Dawn would arrive within the next couple of hours at which time he’d take Lorelei back to his home for the day and get as much sleep as he could manage.
Ephyx’s voice begged telepathic admittance.
What is it?
We have a problem at Big Timber, a conflict with Cohoet’s pack and Valgus’s
Is Mastyr Jude still at Bephotine Gorge?
Last I heard, he was.
I’ll head to Big Timber now.
Seth shifted course and flew east toward Big Timber, explaining to Lorelei that Ephyx needed him to resolve a conflict at the conference grounds.
You need to feed, Seth. I can really feel it now. My heart is pounding.
Soon enough. I’ll have to head to shelter in just over an hour as it is.
And you’re sure you can wait?
Yes, absolutely.
He dropped down just in front of the snow-trampled stairs that led into the lodge. “Why don’t you wait inside until I settle this thing.”
“That would be great, unless you think I’m needed here as the prime female.”
He glanced around, but shook his head. “The sense I have is that you would only be needed if all four packs were involved. Would you agree with that?”
“I would, actually.”
“Good. See you in a few.”
“Right.” But she lowered her voice and smiled up at him. “You can kiss me if you want to.”
“That’s the trouble, I want to way too much. Not sure I could let it stop at a kiss, though, which means we’d end up with a huge audience.” He jerked his head in the direction of the central platform and the shifters waiting for him to arbitrate the latest dispute.
That radiant smile of hers broadened. Did she know that she glowed, that some internal light always seemed to be shine out of her, calling to him?
When she entered the lodge and closed the door, he turned around, heading in the direction of about forty shifters. The men faced off, bristling on either side of the nearest communal fire pit.
Valgus and Alophi had already taken up dominant positions in front of their men.
“What’s the nature of the issue?” Seth stood just to the side of both groups and crossed his arms over his chest. The last thing he should be doing right now was settling pack squabbles, especially when the brigade needed to be running drills and securing the safety of all four gorges.
The alphas each turned to talk to their men.
Valgus addressed Seth first. “My troops were working the ridge between Inwether and Emberith, exactly as we’d all decided while laying out strategies in your office, when Alophi’s Guardsmen challenged them.”
Seth met Valgus’s incensed stare as the shifter continued, “My troops had jurisdiction twenty yards past the central line of demarcation. And you know that ridge drops off sharply to the west. We agreed on that.”
“Yes, we did.” Seth turned to Alophi. “What say you?”
“Valgus’s troops were well beyond the demarcation point.” Dark wolf fur sprouted along his jaw line, then quickly disappeared.
If Seth hadn’t been as schooled in shifter politics and structure as he was, he would have lost his temper for what seemed to be a trivial matter. But the truth went deeper, it always did.
Someone was lying.
But uncovering the lie wouldn’t help because the mastyr, lie or no lie, would have to back his troops, no matter the infraction. This was one reason creating a unified fighting force had proved so difficult.
“Will you submit to my decision here?”
Both mastyrs nodded, if reluctantly.
He could never address the lie outright, so he said, “Some mistake has occurred, that much is clear, but right now I don’t care whose it is. I want everyone back to their assigned ridges and back to work. The twenty yard demarcation line stands.” He slowly drifted his gaze over the assembled shifters, looking each in the eye. “I expect obedience here. If I find that one of you is stirring up trouble, I’ll have your lands impounded for the next decade.”
Nothing struck fear into the hearts of shifters more quickly than having territory, including lands each owned, messed with.
The alphas nodded their agreement and the troops grumbled their acquiescence. Both Valgus and Alophi ordered their shifters to return to their assigned gorges.
Just as Seth turned back to the lodge, however, a new vibration went through him, one that had nothing to do with shifters, and which caused his vampire brain to start unraveling. In addition, he could smell Lorelei’s arousal, her apple blossom scent, leaking from the lodge in heady quantities.
Oh, shit.
“Where’s Jude?” he shouted, turning toward the shifters. Several had already gone wolf and bounded like lightning into the forest. “Is Mastyr of Kellcasse here? At Big Timber?”
Valgus frowned. “Yes. He’ll be bedding down for the day in the lodge. I told him where he could find the whiskey.”
Seth roared.
* * * * * * * * *
Lorelei loved the feel of Jude’s massive body as he pressed her against the wall near the fireplace.
The moment she’d entered the lodge, she’d known another mastyr was nearby, and most of her ability to think had fled. He’d come from the kitchens carrying a bottle of amber liquid and a glass.
The moment she saw him, her heart had started pounding heavily in her chest. She’d already produced an extra supply for Seth and now here was Jude, another mastyr in need of what she could give in abundance.
Jude had long, black curly hair, some of which had escaped his woven clasp, giving him a wild dangerous appearance. He had gray eyes and was incredibly handsome.
He lifted the bottle high. “Need something to take the chill off?” But as soon as the words left his lips, he stopped dead in his tracks. “Holy, fuck, you’re Lorelei. You shouldn’t be here.”
But that had been as far as he’d gotten.
She watched his brain shut down and his instincts take over as his lips parted. His chin quivered, no doubt scenting her, and he dropped both the bottle and the tumbler on the floor, the sound of shattering glass loud in the otherwise empty, massive main room of the lodge.
He marched toward her and because of her ridiculous blood rose curse, she couldn’t move. All she could do was wish for him to hurry up.
She swept her hair away from her neck.
He grunted and lowered his chin, moving faster still, then levitating to catch her up in his arms until he had her pressed against the wall, which was how she’d ended up here.
He licked the length of her neck repeatedly, growling and grunting at the same time, getting ready to strike.
Somewhere in her mind, she knew this was wrong and she wanted Seth, but her brain wouldn’t work. This mastyr needed her help and needed her now
.
The problem was, sex would follow. She could feel it and she didn’t think she could deny him because she was too far gone.
Seth. She cried out his name telepathically, but dear Goddess what would happen if he found her like this? What would he do to Jude and worse, what would Jude, built on massive lines, do to him?
The door burst open and Seth stood there in profile, not seeing her at first. His clasp was gone, his long hair writhing in a very realm way about his head, his green eyes glowing with rage.
“Jude!” His resonant voice blasted the air in the lodge. “Where the fuck are you?”
“Seth,” she called out to him.
He turned in her direction and the moment he saw her, he became a blur of movement as he reached Jude, grabbed him by the shoulders, and flung him away from her.
Jude flew through the air, landing hard in the center of the space, but at the last moment, he righted himself, levitating at top speed back to Seth.
He, in turn, met Jude midair and the fight was on. Both men threw punches and roared.
At the same time, a couple of dozen fight-loving shifters poured into the room so that Lorelei remained in the shadows.
Several of the shifters punched at the air and shouted encouragement to both men. The shared shifter excitement moved like fire over her skin and jumpstarted her own shifter nature so that white fur sprouted on the backs of her hands and warmed up her throat.
Seth looked magnificent as he swung his fists and struck Jude repeatedly.
She rubbed her throat and fondled her fur ruff. She shouldn’t be so excited, but she couldn’t help it.
Her heart still pounded hard, but for more than one reason now. She’d been ready to feed first Seth, then Jude, which meant she had a super-abundant supply and needed to get rid of at least some of it. At the same time, her interest in Jude had disappeared. She only had eyes for Seth, full of lust and need and desire. Passion rose in a swell of sensation so profound that her breaths came in ragged pulls of air.
However, Seth started to bleed from cuts the punches made as did Jude and neither showed the smallest sign of letting up.