Feeling safe, and with her fingers defrosting in Brodey’s fur, she crashed into sleep.
* * * *
Morning dawned bright, crisp, and cold. The men waited for her to move first before shifting. Brodey donned his makeshift kilt and handed Wally another piece of tent fabric to wrap around his waist.
She blushed. “I need to…go find a tree.”
“Yeah, me too,” Wally said.
The three of them split up to three different trees. They met back at the deadfall a few minutes later. Brodey made Lina eat the last of the crackers and drink more water. There was still one bottle left.
“What’s the book?” Wally asked.
“We don’t know,” Brodey said. “The chickenshit was reading it. Looked important. I figured I’d better take it.”
“Well, let’s go. This way.” Wally returned the makeshift kilt, shifted, and set off down the hill.
Brodey shouldered the pack, laced his fingers through Lina’s, and followed. They hiked all day, sometimes hearing a helicopter or plane but not seeing one. By dark, Lina neared collapse again and couldn’t go on. Brodey picked her up.
“How far are we?” he asked Wally.
Wally shifted. “Another couple of miles. Want me to carry her?”
“Naw, I got her. She’s not heavy.”
Lina sleepily muttered, “You’re delirious. I’m a cow.”
Brodey nuzzled her nose. “You’re the delirious one, babe. You’re talking to a kilt-wearing wolf and a bear.” Wally, who had shifted back to his bear form, snorted with amusement.
She laughed, but a few minutes later she softly snored in his arms. Wally shifted to human form again. Brodey stopped so Wally could unzip the pack and find the other makeshift kilt. He donned it, and an hour later they saw the lights of the Old Faithful complex glowing beyond the trees.
Wally walked up the steps and knocked on the Alexandr brothers’ cabin room door while Brodey held Lina.
The door burst open. Zack, Jan, Rick, and Kael pushed out. “What happened?” Zack asked.
When they spotted Lina in Brodey’s arms, all four men happily yelled and swarmed him.
“She’s okay,” Brodey assured them. “Get her into a hot shower to warm her up, and get some water in her. She may be a little dehydrated.”
Zack shouldered to the front of the pack and tenderly took her from Brodey. Brodey felt a melancholy pang releasing Lina to her Watcher, but he brushed the hair from her face as he let her go.
Drawn by the noise, Cail and Micah rounded the corner and nearly tackled Brodey. “Fuck me, asshole! Do you know how worried I was?” Cail threw his arms around him and hugged him.
“Thank Wally. He found us last night and led us out.” Brodey started for his room when Rick and Jan stopped him.
Rick’s eyes looked too bright, like he was near tears. “Whatever you need, anything you need, anytime, it’s yours. You name it, we’ll beg, borrow or steal to get it. You’re family, man.” He engulfed him in a hug.
Brodey nodded, too tired to talk.
Jan also hugged him, then they hurried into their room to check on Lina.
Cail had retrieved Brodey’s clothes earlier and found his room key. He opened the door for him and stood in the doorway.
“What?” Brodey said as he stripped off the makeshift kilt and dropped the backpack on the floor.
“You okay?”
Brodey nodded and headed for the bathroom. “I need a shower and a side of bison and a keg of beer and I’ll be fine.”
“What about the guy?”
“Dead.” Brodey turned on the bathroom light and started the shower. He heard water running in the next room, knew the men were helping Lina get cleaned up.
“Want to talk about it?”
“All I want to talk to right now is my pillow as I go to sleep. Wake me up for breakfast, please.”
Cail left.
He stood in the shower and let the water run. Dirt and soot sloughed off him, creating dark streams as it flowed down the drain. He turned and rested his forehead on the back shower wall, closed his eyes, and thought about Lina.
He felt calm. She was close by.
He raised his hand and rested his palm against the wall as a peaceful smile caressed his lips.
* * * *
Lina let the men strip her and help her into the shower. Only one person fit in the tiny shower stall, leaving room for one in the bathroom. Zack pulled off his shirt and reached in to gently scrub her with a soapy wash cloth. She inhaled. Rose-scented soap.
Brodey stood on the other side of the wall, in his shower. She heard the water running. An exhausted smile escaped her as she raised her hand and rested it, palm flat against the wall. After she was clean, Jan and Rick enveloped her in a towel. Zack left, and she was safely snuggled in bed between her two men, who kissed her, held her, stroked her arms and laced their fingers through hers.
“Go to sleep, baby,” Jan whispered. “We’ll talk in the morning.”
Rick kissed her forehead. “Sleep tight.”
She mumbled something as she drifted to sleep.
“What’d she say?” Jan asked.
Rick shook his head, looking puzzled. “I think she said at least we don’t smell like wet bear.”
* * * *
Lina awoke a little after dawn the next morning, firmly sandwiched between Rick and Jan. Jan had one arm draped over her chest and his fingers laced through hers. Rick had slung an arm around her waist and captured her other hand.
Moving slowly and carefully, she wiggled onto her side. Jan and Rick stirred a little, but they must have been as exhausted as she’d been. They mumbled a little in their sleep as she freed herself. When she returned from using the toilet, they’d curled up together.
She laughed. They looked like two puppies.
Fucking Florida time. While physically worn out, she knew further sleep was out of the question. She quietly dressed and pulled on Jan’s jacket since her own lay in a pile of filthy clothes on the bathroom floor. When she emerged from her room, Brodey was rounding the corner of the cabin.
They stopped and looked at each other. Then he opened his arms and she flew into them, softly crying.
“Shh, it’s okay,” he whispered as he tightly held her. “You’re safe.”
“Thank you so much.” They ended up sitting on the steps to Zack’s room. He opened his door a moment later and sat, his arms around them both.
“Welcome to the family, wolf man,” Zack snarked as he patted Brodey on the back.
Brodey’s eyes looked a little bright, like maybe he was close to tears. “Thanks, man. You guys need to come down to Arcadia. Three thousand acres of pastures and woods you dragon dudes can play in.”
“Cool. We’ll be taking you up on that. And thank you from all of us for this. We’ll never be able to thank you enough.”
Brodey looked at Lina, but he spoke to Zack. “Please make sure the guys understand I’m not trying to put moves on her. I love her, but not like that.”
“They know.”
“I’m his princess Prozac,” she joked.
Zack laughed. “Well, they’ll definitely understand that. Let me get my shirt and we can go eat breakfast. You two have got to be starving.”
The men walked with Lina to the lodge, her arms hooked through theirs. Brodey told most of the story since Lina had been woozy or unconscious for some of it. Zack perked up at the mention of the book and other items. “You brought them with you?”
“Yeah. In my room.”
“Oh, dude! I love you!”
Brodey smirked. “Sorry, not doing you. You’re not my type. Besides, I don’t want your Kael roasting my wolf ass for moving in on his territory.”
Lina laughed and covered her mouth to keep from snorting coffee all over the table. She knew Brodey would be okay. His green eyes were lit with a sweet laughter from within his soul. He still hurt, but he was healing.
Bertholde and her gang entered the lodge and sat acro
ss from Lina and Brodey. Her emerald eyes shined brightly, matching her smile. “There’s our wolf. How are we?”
He nodded. “Fine, ma’am.”
She nodded, then looked at Lina. “You did very well for your first test.”
“Did I ever mention I hate pop quizzes?”
Zack and Brodey laughed.
Bertholde nodded again. “Are you ready for your binding Ceremony?”
Brodey gathered his dishes to leave, but Lina snagged his arm and wouldn’t let him go. “Yeah. About that, I’ve been thinking.”
“That’s dangerous,” Zack snarked.
Lina continued. “I want Brodey there.”
Bertholde smiled. “It is your Ceremony, Goddess.”
Brodey turned beet red, embarrassed. “Seriously, it’s okay, I can—”
The old woman laughed, cutting him off. “Wolf, it’s not like the Ceremonies your people have. Relax. It’s like a wedding. Like your people’s recognition Ceremonies, not like a marking.”
Okay, that tripped Lina’s curiosity. She turned to Brodey. “What did you think I was going to ask you to do?”
Brodey wouldn’t look at her, just shook his head, his face still red.
“I want Brodey to give me away,” Lina told the Seer. “And I want Zack and Kael—with a K,” she added, “to also be in the Ceremony.”
Bertholde arched an eyebrow. “Really?”
She grabbed Zack’s hand. “He’s my Watcher, right? You guys said we’re together forever like that.”
She nodded.
Lina forged ahead. “Well, he and Kael are mates. That means Kael’s going to be in my life as long as we’re all alive. And Rick and Jan, duh.” She took a deep breath. “Kael and Zack can’t get married. This can sort of be a wedding for them, too. If this is my Ceremony, it’s going to be my Ceremony. I want us all bound together.”
Bertholde leaned back, contemplating. “Andel will not be amused. It is not customary. He will most likely bluster and complain about it.” She grinned. “I like it! A very fitting honor for you, wolf. You brought her back to her men, all of them. It is only right you should give the bride away, as it were.”
He stared into Lina’s eyes. “It’d be an honor.”
Rick and Jan hurried into the lodge shortly after, followed by Kael, Cail, and Micah. Before they arrived, Lina swore the others to secrecy about her plans for the Ceremony, wanting it to be a surprise. After breakfast, Brodey retrieved the book and other items from his room. The wolf and dragon shifters and Lina huddled around Zack and Kael in a quiet corner of the lodge while they studied the book.
Kael frowned. “This is some fucked up shit.”
“What is it?” Lina asked.
Zack leaned back and looked at the wolf shifters. “I hope you guys have a lot of room. I think we’re gonna be seeing a lot of each other. Apparently the cockatrice assholes have their own prophecies. They’re swinging into an era of coming after a common enemy.”
“Who?” Cail asked.
“Everyone that’s not a cockatrice,” Kael muttered, disgusted. He stood and stared into the unlit fireplace.
Not sure what was going on, she stood and walked over to him, laying her hand on his wrist. When she did, a surge of grief and vengeful rage washed through her, making her gasp.
Kael’s jaw clenched. “Fuckers killed my family,” he muttered. “We never figured out who did it. Eighty years ago. My mom and dad, baby sister. And I mean baby. She was only five.” As his fingers curled into a tight fist, she felt him tremble. “Ritualistic killing. Fucking page in the book is dog-eared. Exactly like they died.”
Brodey said she calmed him. Maybe she could help Kael. She wrapped her arms around him and rested her head against his shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
He sobbed, then crumpled to the floor. Zack raced over and together they held him as he cried.
* * * *
Cail and Micah took over looking at the book. “Some of this is in Welsh, some is in Gaelic,” Cail said. “Some old French, but I’m rusty in that. And other languages I don’t know.”
Jan and Rick flanked them, looking over their shoulders. Jan pointed to one passage. “That’s old German. This is like a metaphysical cookbook from Hell.”
Brodey joined Zack, Lina, and Kael. They got the distraught dragon shifter moved to the sofa, where he lay across Zack, his head in Lina’s lap. She stroked his hair, trying to soothe him. Zack held his hands. Brodey sat on Lina’s other side, his arm draped around her shoulders.
“They’ll pay, bro,” Brodey assured Kael. “I swear, we’ll help. You’ll have our Clan behind you all the way. I’m sure we can get most of the others to help, too.”
Bertholde returned, alone, and walked over to the sofa. “I don’t want to rush you, Goddess,” she softly said, “but I won’t be here much longer. You and your kin have a lot to do. May we have your Ceremony soon?”
Lina wanted to say no, so she wouldn’t have to make Kael move, but he sat up and sniffled. “I’m okay, Lina,” he softly said. “Thanks.”
Lina looked over at Rick and Jan, who nodded. “Okay,” she said. “Give me a few minutes. I’d like to do it by Old Faithful.”
“It will erupt in about forty minutes, according to the board in the lobby,” Bertholde helpfully offered.
“Okay.”
She smiled. “Excellent. I’ll inform Andel.” She left.
Zack snorted at her departure. “Funny, I figured she’d say some sort of nonsensical bullshit before she left. She’s good about doing that.”
* * * *
They returned to the cabin. Zack shooed Rick and Jan out of the room and unzipped a garment bag he’d brought with him. He held up a skirt. “This is from me to you, sugar. I knew you wouldn’t want to dress up, but you’re going to look beautiful. Get nekkid.”
She laughed and started undressing. “You’re lucky Jan and Rick like you.”
“Remember, they’re like Kael. They know the gig. They know we’re two halves of a whole.” He handed her the skirt, a soft emerald green material with shimmering undertones of blue, red, and orange.
“This is beautiful,” she said, amazed.
He proudly grinned. “I know. Got all the colors of your two dragon boys in it when they’re shifted.” He helped her slide the matching corset over her head. She held it in place while he laced it up the back for her. When she looked in the small mirror over the sink, her eyes widened. “I have a shape!”
Zack brushed her hair. “A gorgeous shape, sweetheart. We keep telling you that. Why do you think those two go around with their pants looking like pup tents? You’re beautiful.” He loosely braided her hair and draped a matching shawl over her bare shoulders.
“Oops, shoes!” He dug a pair of sandals out of the bag and helped her slide her feet into them. “See, flats. I thought ahead.”
She turned to look at him. “Are you happy with Kael? Really?”
He smiled and wrapped his arms around her. “I think you misinterpreted Baba Yaga’s torture. That would be too easy for her. I’m sure she’ll torture you somehow. Or maybe her ‘torture’ is she’s fucking with your mind and you’re not being tortured. I am happy. You should be happy, too. No, we don’t get to settle down together this time around.”
He gently kissed her, then brushed his thumb along her chin. “However, this time around, I don’t lose you in a few short years. We get hundreds or thousands of years together now, not a few lousy decades. Your guys aren’t jealous of me. Anymore. And I’m not jealous of them.” He smiled. “I think that’s a pretty fair trade.”
She tightly hugged him. “I love them, but promise me I won’t kill them.”
He laughed. “That I can’t promise. I think every time they look at that charbroiled pine tree in our backyard, they’re gonna think twice about pissing you off.”
It was nearly time. He walked her outside, where Brodey waited. Zack handed her off to him. “I’ll meet you down at the boardwalk.”
She watc
hed him go, knowing the others were already there and waiting. When she looked up at Brodey, he was smiling.
“You starting to get the hang of this Goddess gig yet?” He offered his arm and she hooked hers through it.
“Yeah, maybe.” She rested her head against his shoulder as they walked. “Nice to know I’ve got friends I can count on to save my bacon.”
“Honey, you won’t need any help once you get a handle on those powers.”
“Hey Brodey,” she softly asked, stopping and turning to him.
“Yeah?”
She grinned. “Original recipe, or crispy?”
He laughed, loud and hearty. He picked her up and swung her around. When he set her down he planted a kiss on her forehead. “Crispy, babe. Definitely crispy.”
Chapter Eight
Andel and some of his entourage, she’d be damned if she could remember most of their names, waited on the boardwalk. Cail and Micah were in attendance, and some of Rick and Jan’s close shifter friends. Bertholde and her two remoras stood next to Andel. Jan and Rick’s eyes followed Lina’s progress down the trail until Brodey walked her up to them. Before Brodey let go of Lina, Bertholde stopped him.
“No, you stay,” the Seer instructed. She had Kael stand on Zack’s left, and made them hold hands. Then she placed Lina’s left hand in Zack’s right. She arranged Rick and Jan so they both held Lina’s right hand.
“Wolf, place your hands on her shoulders.”
Brodey did.
Bertholde placed her hands over both of Lina’s and wrapped her fingers around them. “Our Goddess in place, as she should be, where she belongs, with those she loves and who love her.” Bertholde squeezed. Lina felt an odd, tingly sensation in her fingers. “Before all here, let it be known they are bound. The Goddess and her men, her Watcher and his love, and the protector and friend who returned her safely home. An unbreakable bond, a completed circle.”