He hadn’t seen her in a month, not since his last visit to her office at Endelle’s administrative HQ opposite Camelback Mountain Two. What surprised him was how little his thoughts had returned to her during the ensuing weeks. Even his desperate longings for her had dimmed in the face of his new mission.
He concluded that what had been a century of unrequited love had at long last come to an end, though he couldn’t say why. But his eyes faced forward now, settled strongly on Third Earth. He felt as though he’d sailed away on a ship intended for a very long voyage.
And in his heart, he wished Havily and Marcus well.
The door to the room opened, drawing his eye away from the branch. But what a shock when Endelle walked in. For one thing, he hadn’t been expecting her. For another, she looked like she was made for … nope, he didn’t know what she was made for.
All eyes turned her direction.
Endelle had traded in her scorpion motif and now wore a breastplate of small, blade-like shapes made of brass, each dotted with a cluster of red, green and blue crystals. There had to be thirty of them forming a plate that flowed to a point that hit her bare navel. She wore a sheer, cloud-like red skirt hanging from her hips to mid-calf, made out of some kind of mesh fabric. A skimpy red slip beneath covered the tops of her hips and ran to another point, hiding her womanly bits. Otherwise the bare sides of her hips were visible through the sheer fabric of the skirt.
And of course she wore stiletto boots that hit her above the knee.
Endelle had always looked like an Arabian princess, no less so now with her thick, black hair teased into a massive volume and studded with three peacock feathers.
She had to dip below the doorway just to enter the room. She was tall for a woman anyway at six-five, but her stilettos and feathers put her over the top. She looked absurd yet regal at the same time, vintage Endelle.
“Jeannie called and told me you were meeting at Jean-Pierre’s home. Thought I should be here.” She frowned as her gaze slid around the group. “So what’s going on?”
It struck Luken the woman rarely frowned. She yelled, shouted, and spoke with a resonance that hurt his ears, but generally her face maintained a less involved and quite beautiful expression.
“It’s about Duncan’s vision,” he said.
Her brows rose. “No fucking shit.” Her gaze shifted to Duncan and she acknowledged him with a slow dip of her chin. “So you’ve finally opened up a passage to the future again.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
Luken expected Endelle to begin grilling Duncan on the details. Instead, she turned her attention back to Luken, fixing her unusual wooded brown gaze on him. Then, without saying another word, or making even one snide comment, she crossed to stand beside him.
He wondered if she knew she’d been doing that a lot lately, taking up a position next to him, side-by-side. So, what the hell was going on with Endelle? It was as though the whole team had been thrown up into the air and he wasn’t sure where any of them would land.
Owen, Joshua, and Alex leaned against the horizontal branch, and each stared at Endelle, brows lifted, eyes moving to take in the sum total of her outfit.
But after a moment, each man looked away. Though there was a ridiculous element to the warrior-type costume, it was also sexy as hell. None of the men wanted to be lusting after their leader. It wasn’t right.
Merl, not surprising, hung back from the group, his broad, muscular shoulders planted against the redwood wall. He held an unlit cigarette between his fingers and didn’t even look at Endelle; he didn’t look at anyone. The brother was damn lost. He was here, yet he wasn’t, and it irritated the hell out of Luken because he still didn’t know what was going on with Merl.
Rachel stood beside Duncan, her expression intrigued as she looked Endelle over. She didn’t smile or smirk and he liked that about Rachel. She was a good woman and now a dedicated warrior. She also looked better than she had the night before. And as Luken glanced at Duncan, he could see the brother was more relaxed and was now sticking close to Rachel. Both circumstances led Luken to believe the couple might have made some kind of peace, which was a good thing. The entire team had felt the difficult tension between the couple.
As a new thought occurred to him, Luken stood up a little straighter. The breh-hedden was a mystery in his world and from the first had been connected to the emerging powers of the couple involved. If Duncan had shared his bed with Rachel, was that the reason he’d suddenly had a vision? Even Merl had suggested the failure of Duncan’s gift had been a result of his discord with his woman.
And that would be something to consider as he continued building his team, especially if more women entered the picture. Given the history of the breh-hedden and its march through the Warriors of the Blood, he had no reason to believe it wouldn’t happen to the ops team as well, Rachel and Duncan being a prime example.
But it was time to get things moving, so he called out. “We’re all here, Duncan. What have you got for us?”
As Duncan began to speak, an odd vibration passed through the room, a wave of power that made the hair on Luken’s neck stand up. Duncan spoke of a portal in the Third grid and a sequence of numbers that took him straight into Yolanthe’s prison, the place where Duncan had been tortured.
The more he spoke and gave himself to recounting the vision to the team, dammit if Duncan’s body didn’t start to glow. Even Merl pushed away from the wall, his attention caught. Luken was pretty sure Merl mouthed the word ‘shit’ a couple of times.
This had to be the grayle power Merl kept talking about similar to what Warrior Samuel now possessed. As a bluish stream of smoke left Duncan’s body, it was clear Duncan had finally made at least one leap to Third Earth ability.
“Well, look at that,” Endelle murmured. “Holy fucking shit.”
“Yeah. It’s the grayle power.”
Luken took a deep breath. He wanted to feel hopeful, but this group was a long way from functioning as a unit. Duncan and Rachel had their ongoing issues, the rest of his team had gotten stuck at Second Earth What-Bee levels, and of course Merl was a goddam island.
When Duncan finished laying out the vision, Luken said, “But who is this veiled woman?”
Duncan said he had no idea. The vision hadn’t offered up a name or told him any details about her.
He shifted slightly and addressed Merl, “Do you know who she might be?”
Merl shrugged, then snorted. “How the hell should I know?”
Something snapped inside Luken. He’d had it with Merl’s insolence. Half-folding, half-running, Luken crossed the distance to Merl then landed his fist against his jaw. Caught off guard, the brother slid across and down the redwood paneled wall, landing on his ass. He glared up at Luken.
Joshua didn’t withhold his approval. “That should teach the bastard.”
Luken stood over Merl. “I’ve had enough of your shit. Pull it together. And yes, you might have a helluva lot more power than me, but I’m your goddam superior officer and I’m telling you to either quit the team right now or get over yourself.”
Merl glowered at Luken, his light blue eyes dark in the dimness of the chamber. With his Third Earth abilities, he could have taken Luken down to cinders. Instead, he showed respect by remaining where he was, on the floor, his jaw swelling. He settled his hand over the bruise and from the vibrations in the air, Luken knew Merl had started the self-healing process.
Endelle had moved with Luken and now flanked him on his left. Though he felt her anger revving up, to Luken’s surprise, she didn’t let loose; she was leaving this up to him.
Luken continued, “Once and for all, Merl, I need you to lose the attitude. You’ve been like a bear with a pack of wolves at your heels. What the hell is going on with you?”
Merl slid his gaze to Endelle, then made a once around the group. Luken glanced as well and saw that the entire team had formed a half-circle. Was there one of them who didn’t have a beef with Merl?
&n
bsp; He leaned his head against the redwood wall. He’d never looked more despondent.
Much to Luken’s shock, tears filled Merl’s eyes. He glanced up at Luken. “Do you have a sister?”
The question took Luken so much by surprise, that for a moment he couldn’t respond. Yes, he had a sister, but he had no idea if she was still alive. Centuries ago, in order to save her from their sadistic father, he’d spirited her away from the Norse lands so she’d have a chance at surviving. He hadn’t seen or heard from her since. “I do, or I did. It’s been a long time since I saw her.”
“Do you still think about her?”
Luken debated for a moment whether to speak the truth to the entire group since no one knew, not even Endelle. But it seemed to him that Merl might open up a little if he went first. “Last thing at night, first thing in the morning.” He felt the team’s focus turn toward him, but he kept his attention fixed on Merl.
The brother nodded. “Then we have something in common.” He waited for a moment, before saying, “There are two things you have to know. First, my grid signature will show up the moment I step foot on Third Earth and I’ll be hunted down by either Chustaffus’s or Yolanthe’s forces. And second,” he swiped a tear from his face, his lips turned down. “Yolanthe has kept my sister imprisoned for the past fifty years, the price of my exile. She’ll kill Katlynn if I return to Third.”
“Sweet merciful Creator,” Alex murmured.
Owen stepped forward, his jaw grinding. “Do you think the veiled woman is your sister? Is that what you’re saying?”
Merl nodded, his eyes red-rimmed. “I think she has to be Katlynn.” His voice sounded flat, hopeless.
Almost as one, the group drew closer to Merl, who remained sitting on the floor. To no one’s surprise, he held out his hand and with one of his Third tricks, lit the cigarette he still held between his fingers, without any visible means of doing it. He took a long, slow drag. “So you see, we’re fucked on more than one level.”
Jean-Pierre stood on the other side of Endelle. “All this time,” he said, his French accent softening his words, “You’ve lived in fear of your sister being harmed by the same maniac that held Duncan in a trance?”
Merl nodded.
“Mon dieu.”
Endelle made an angry scoffing sound at the back of her throat. “Why the fuck didn’t you tell us sooner? You know us, Merl. We’re good people.”
“I’m in violation of my agreement with Yolanthe right now because I’ve told you about Katlynn.” He rose to his feet and took another drag, his eyes skittering about as though seeking the solution to an unsolvable problem.
Luken now understood everything about Merl, in part because he knew what it was to love a sibling and to live in fear for her safety. His own sister would always have part of his heart. “Where is Yolanthe’s prison?”
Merl shook his head. “I’m not sure, but my guess has always been Mexico City Three. Her palace compound is one of the best fortified on Third Earth. It appears to be all gardens, lagoons and waterways, but it’s a citadel, covered in an impenetrable mist the woman created herself. And she has a standing army of Militia Warriors completely devoted to her, as well as a lot death vamps, all on the property.”
“How many warriors in her army?” Luken asked.
Merl shook his head. “At least five hundred on her estate alone. But why the fucking questions? You think you’re going to bust the veiled woman out of this prison, whether she’s my sister or not?”
Luken glanced at Duncan who offered a single dip of his chin.
Luken couldn’t explain the level of certainty that overcame him despite Merl’s doubt, but he went with it. “That’s exactly what we’re going to do and you’re wrong, you will go to Third Earth with us. You’re one of us now. Duncan’s vision has given us the security code to the portal leading straight into the prison. We can do this, as limited as we are. We can do it. And we’ll use your portal for entrance onto the grid. The rest, we’ll figure out as we go, including your vulnerability on Third. But we’re meant to do this.”
Merl nodded. He might not appear completely convinced, but he’d lost some of his despair.
Luken turned to Duncan. “And this woman, possibly Katlynn, said she had only a few days to live. Right?”
“The warriors as well.”
Luken frowned. “Wait, what warriors? You mean the men in the cells.”
“Yes. I’m certain all seven men were Third Earth Warriors of the Blood.”
Merl turned toward Duncan, his face paling dramatically. “You have to be mistaken. I mean, how could you know these men are What-Bees?”
“Because of the nature of the vision. They seemed to be a team as well since each of the men had the same tattoo running down his spine.”
Merl weaved on his feet, and uttered a string of curses. He then stunned them all by folding off his maroon battle harness and turning around. His back was fully exposed. “A tattoo like this one?”
Luken nodded to Duncan. “Is this what you saw in the vision?” The black tattoo was composed of a long line of stacked blade points, traveling from a broader design at the top where the harness formed a T at the neck. At the base was a similar configuration to the initial one, but wider.
“Exactly,” Duncan said. “There’s no doubt in my mind. This is the tattoo I saw in the vision.”
Merl turned around slowly to face Duncan, but his gaze now had a wild, almost panicked look. “Not my men. She fucking promised me. Yolanthe said she’d leave them in peace if I left Third.” A keening sound came from his throat. It was a high screech that slowly descended in timbre and turned into a resonant roar.
The team backed swiftly away from him as he began to pace. He folded and levitated, shouting his rage. Somewhere in the middle of moving around, his wings launched, the lavender and black bands taking him into the air. He flew erratically near the branches of the sycamore. All the while his agonized voice raged.
Luken felt a breeze next to him, the first clue Endelle had mounted her wings as well. She could change their color whenever she liked, one more instance of her enormous power, and right now they were a deep red. She rose into the air and began to track beside Merl. At this distance, beneath Merl’s pained roars, Luken heard Endelle’s voice as she began talking him down.
Luken joined Jean-Pierre and the rest of the team as they moved to stand close to the redwood paneled walls, getting out of the way. No one said a word, but a terrible vibration of pain had filled the entire room.
Somewhere in midair, Merl finally drew in his wings and levitated close to Endelle. To everyone’s surprise, she surrounded the powerful warrior with her arms, supporting them both with the waft of her own wings. The man’s ensuing sobs tore Luken to shreds.
Luken turned to Jean-Pierre. “Got any beer in your fridge?”
“Oui, of course.”
Luken gestured for the team to file out. No one protested.
~
Rachel wasn’t as surprised as she might have been that Merl lost it. Through the vision Duncan had shared with her, she’d seen the warriors chained up, no doubt tortured as well. If the veiled woman was his sister and if his fellow warriors had been imprisoned despite his efforts to save them, it was no wonder he’d taken it hard.
Because of Rachel’s brother, Gideon, and his warrior-like qualities, she’d been around fighting men her entire life. She understood them, the camaraderie, the depth of devotion each had to the land they defended, the unspoken commitment to never leave a man behind, the love they held for each other.
Apparently, Merl had left seven of his brothers-in-arms behind as well as his sister. It was also clear Yolanthe had lied to Merl. She’d taken Merl’s team when she’d promised to leave them alone.
Her own throat tightened at the sight of Endelle holding Merl in her arms. Her massive scarlet wings wafted slowly, keeping her in place and away from the upper canopy branches. Rachel took Duncan’s hand in a tight grip.
; These men gave everything they had in service to others. They battled hard, trained their bodies mercilessly, and were prepared to lay down their lives. Merl had lived in the cold for five decades, not knowing the fate of either his sister or his brother-warriors.
His prior behavior became clear to her, why he’d acted as though he didn’t care about anything but his own pleasure and why he’d held back being part of Luken’s team. He’d been a man sustaining a façade to protect those he loved. He’d been nothing but warrior, after all.
Yet, seeing Merl so completely destroyed brought the war home to Rachel in a way it hadn’t during the past month of training. She’d made a transition, a big one, to Warrior of the Blood. She battled beside the men, making use of her shield ability, the occasional use of a wrecker shotgun, and her finesse with daggers.
But she’d forgotten the other side, the one of personal destruction.
Luken began waving them toward the door, no doubt intending to give Merl some space. She put her feet in motion, her hand still tucked within Duncan’s. She had no idea what he was thinking, but her own reaction had put her back in the past without warning.
There were many reasons she’d fought against joining up with the Ops Team. The main one had involved Grieg, her abusive husband, now deceased. Not that she was excusing Grieg’s behavior, but the warrior life took a toll on the men and women who served.
Did she really want that life for herself? She’d made a commitment to serve on the team because she knew this was where she belonged, at least for the present. She’d be offering her shielding protection to Duncan and the rest of the team repeatedly over the coming weeks, perhaps even months. And she’d be saving lives.
But how could this ever be a lifetime endeavor for her?
You okay? Duncan sent.
I don’t know.
Don’t do this, Rachel. Don’t pull away from me.