Shattered Wards Read online

  “Sorry, Wren,” Kane said quietly his brow knitting in a frown.

  “You should focus on healing Wren instead of your rivalry with Dante,” Gideon growled.

  Kane met the hound’s eyes before he gave a small nod and returned to gently applying the cold paste. It didn’t hurt, it felt bizarre as the bone began knitting together and I could breathe better it again. The cold wasn’t pleasant, but then I’d never been fond of being cold.

  Dante pushed a plate overloaded with cocktail sausages and a huge chicken sandwich towards me.

  “My father has summoned me. He wishes to discuss my future,” he ground out.

  Kane and Gideon remained quiet.

  “Will you go?” I asked.

  Dante slumped down onto a stool on the other side of the breakfast bar. I wanted to hold him and smooth away the tension in the corners of his mouth and through his hands, which were clenched together in front of him.

  “I am considering the costs and benefits,” he said slowly.

  Kane stilled but said nothing.

  Gideon shifted into his hound form, something he did when he was stressed and needed to feel safe. He curled up by my feet and rested his head on his great paws.

  Once Kane had finished with the green paste, he switched over to a soft blue-grey one and slowly applied that to my ribs in smooth straight strokes.

  “What are the risks?” Kane asked slowly, his voice edged with anger.

  Dante stood and began pouring ice-water into a number of glasses, his broad muscular shoulders tight with tension. He placed the glasses within reach of Kane and I before he sat back down, back rigid and straight, eyes hard.

  “I have not dealt with my father more than absolutely necessary. I am not sure what the possible consequences are,” Dante said icily.

  Kane went to speak, but I placed my hand on his to tell him to think before he spoke. The air was thick with anger and fear, and I needed Kane to smooth things out not make them worse.

  “Is there a deadline for the decision?” Kane asked in a calmer tone.

  “No. The note was very simple,” Dante said.

  Kane placed the paste down and washed his hands at the sink before he pulled me into a slow tender kiss.

  “I’m going for a shower. Use the rose-pink paste on the rest of Wren’s injuries,” Kane said.

  He leaned in and whispered, “He needs you,” before he left with Gideon on his heels.

  Dante watched Kane and Gideon leave with a small tight frown on his face before he exhaled and relaxed some. I hated seeing everyone so damn tense. They needed to learn to let their issues with each other go.

  I reached for the pink paste while trying to keep my tea towel in place. I hadn’t done more than kiss any of the guys, despite Gideon sharing my bed. And that really wasn’t the time to change that. Dante reached across and took the jar before I could quite reach. He walked around the breakfast bar, unscrewed the cap of the jar and finally smiled.

  “Where should I start?” he asked as he looked me up and down.

  My torso was still black and blue, my legs were faring better.

  I stretched out my left foot and winced at the tightness there.

  “From the bottom,” I said with a smile.

  He pulled the stool nearest me closer and gently placed my foot on his knee before he started massaging my tight and tender muscles. I closed my eyes and held back a moan, it felt so damn good. I hadn’t realised how tight they were, and he was very talented with his hands. My mind was soon filling with other uses he could put those long fingers to, before the memory of how good it felt to ride my magic and the life energy hit me.

  My eyes flew open, and I swallowed hard, trying to shake it off. Dante pulled his hands away from my calf, a look of concern on his face.

  “Did I hurt you?”

  “No, no, you were amazing,” I said in what I hoped was a reassuring way.

  “Talk to me, Wren,” he said softly.

  His eyes were gentle, and I remembered how he’d assumed I’d shut him out because I thought he brought the demons to us. He must have been horribly lonely, with Kane being an ass to him, and it wasn’t like he had any friends.

  I took his large hand in mine and marvelled for a moment at how small mine looked in the palm of his.

  “I’m scared. I don’t want to ascend. Earlier, with the demons, I lost control of my magic. I hadn’t meant to pull the life energy from the demons, it just happened, and gods, it felt so good! For a moment I felt like a goddess. I would have destroyed anyone who dared cross me, and that terrified me. If it’s like this now, how bad will it be when I ascend? What if I am a monster like the Council thinks? What if they were right to execute blood witches?”

  Dante reached over and scooped me into his arms before he held me close to him in his lap. I curled into him and rested my head on his bare chest.

  “You will never be a monster, Wren Kincaid. You are the strongest, kindest person I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. You soothe my demon side like nothing else, and together, we will do the same for you. I promise.”

  I rested my hand over my heart and relaxed a little. He sounded so confident, so sure. Maybe he was right.

  FOUR

  It took Dante another hour to finish patching me up, his split lip and such healing quickly thanks to his demon blood. No one had spoken about the demons or Dante’s father summoning him. It was all bland, stiff conversations and a quiet dinner where everyone focused very hard on their lasagne.

  I went to bed early, wanting to be away from the tension. Gideon soon joined me and pulled me into his arms before he nuzzled his face against my neck.

  “We won’t let you fall,” he whispered before he stroked my hair and relaxed.

  I entwined my legs with his, allowed the safety he brought to wrap me tight, and fell into sleep. My dreams were a mix of happy dreams full of laughter and fun with the guys and terrifying dark landscapes where I ruled over a cracked and broken world as a dark goddess of blood and death.

  Gideon held me tight and nibbled down my throat as I woke, he stroked my back and massaged my hands as I rolled over and tried to shake the dark dreams off. His firm and kind touch shook off the sensation of terror and my being a monster. He helped ground me in the real world where soft pale sheets were tangled around my legs and his long, lean, naked form was pressed against mine.

  I stroked up the back of his neck and his beautiful eyes met mine, his mouth opened a little as desire flickered down the bond. His body tensed, and his hand ran up over my hip while he slowly leaned in closer. I dug my fingers into his short hair and wished it was that little longer so I could grab onto it. I leaned up and met his mouth with a ferocity that drew a moan from the hound’s throat. He moved his hand under my lower back and lifted me till our bodies were pressed tight. He nibbled my bottom lip and kissed me with a burning fire that ignited my need for him.

  A knock came from the door.

  “We need to leave to register Kane and Gideon in half an hour,” Dante said.

  Gideon pulled back and growled at the door before he kissed me tenderly and turned away, although not quickly enough to hide his clear arousal.

  “We’re awake,” I called back.

  I bit Gideon’s neck, an act I was growing accustomed to. Biting had been something I only did in the throes of passion, but that was how the hound showed affection, so I was trying. His back arched and he gasped. I kissed behind his ear and rolled out of bed before there could be a chance to continue as we had started.

  The hound went out into the hallway, I assumed to head to the closest bathroom, entirely naked. My room ajoined with Kane’s on the left, and Dante’s on the right. The black doors allowed quick and easy access should we want or need it. My sleeping with Gideon had meant they had been used yet, but a girl had needs.

  Gideon knew that the rest of us preferred to keep at least our underwear on, but he enjoyed being naked and the reaction Kane and Dante gave him to that only enc
ouraged him. I rubbed at my eyes and went looking for some clean clothes. Thanks to the payment from the Council for the job in Dubrovnik, I had a wardrobe full of alchemically enhanced jeans and such. Dante had tried to get me to buy some more formalwear, but I hated any situation that required formalwear and got a couple of pretty sun dresses instead.

  My hand fell on a geeky t-shirt with a Dragon Age reference on it, so that worked, and a pair of pale blue jeans were clean and close, so they worked for the bottom half. Add in my favourite dark brown knee-high boots, my pair of daggers, and I was ready to take on the world. Or at least the paperwork from the Council.

  Gideon came back into the room smelling of sea salt and sage. His hair was damp, but his expression was still pissy. His mouth was pressed into a tight line, and a furrow sat between his brows. I nipped his throat as I passed him, which brought a small smile to his face.

  “If the hound can wander around naked, does that mean you’d fine with me doing the same?” Kane asked with a cheeky grin as he put his arm around my waist and kissed my temple.

  “You’re a grown man, wear what you please,” I said with a grin as we started down the wide staircase heading down towards the kitchen.

  “I don’t want to make you uncomfortable,” he said gently.

  “I’ll keep my eyes up above your collarbone,” I said.

  “Where’s the fun in that?” he whispered in my ear sending a chill down my spine.

  “We leave in fifteen minutes, has Gideon gotten dressed yet? We can’t present him to the Council naked,” Dante said as he poured a large glass of grapefruit juice.

  I wrinkled my nose. “I don’t know how you drink that stuff, it tastes like poison.”

  Dante laughed and handed me a mocha complete with little marshmallows.

  “You spoil me,” I said with a grin.

  Kane muttered something and pulled a fresh croissant out of a bakery box.

  “How did you sleep?” Dante asked as Kane handed me the box of pain au chocolat.

  I took two. My body was still burning a lot of calories where it was finishing up healing from the day before.

  “Not too bad, some bad dreams,” I said before I bit into the warm pastry.

  “I looked after her,” Gideon said as he walked into the room, thankfully fully dressed. “Are there any of those vanilla crowns left?”

  Kane tossed Gideon a white paper bag from the far corner where he had been looking out the window at the mist lifting over the tops of the trees.

  The hound caught the bag and grinned when he found two fresh vanilla crowns within.

  “What were the dreams?” Dante asked.

  Gideon tensed at my side. Dante levelled a firm glare at him, challenging him to back down. The hound sighed and wandered over to Kane.

  “I, er…” I took a big mouthful of mocha and almost choked on a marshmallow. “I dreamt that I was a dark goddess ruling over a ruined world,” I said quietly.

  Dante walked around the breakfast bar and pulled me into his arms where he rested his chin on top of my head.

  “We’ll never let that happen, Wren.” He pulled back a little and hooked his finger under my chin. “You understand that, don’t you?”

  A small furrow of concern sat between his brows. I smiled.

  “Yea, I know,” I said.

  “You didn’t tell me what happened yesterday, Wren,” Kane said.

  A stab of guilt hit me. Kane was my best friend. I’d never hidden anything from him. It hadn’t been intentional, I just hadn’t wanted to talk about it.

  “Her magic got the better of her, and she pulled the life essence from those demons. As I’m sure you can imagine, that produced a high that scared her,” Dante said, still holding me close and positioning himself between Kane and me.

  The silence was deafening. I didn’t need to see Kane to know there was a pained expression on his face.

  Kane was driving us into Inverness. The sale of his witch supplies shop to the elf prince had allowed him to buy a very nice deep-blue BWM. I sat in the back with Gideon. Dante’s long legs wouldn’t fit into the footwells in the back of the sporty car. Kane turned the rock radio station up loud and broke every speed limit on the fast country roads.

  There hadn’t been time to take him to one side and talk to him. I should have made the time the night before. Gideon entwined his fingers with mine and gave me a comforting smile. The countryside flying by outside was a blur of green and brown, mature forests stretching out alongside the roads before changing to hilly fields with the scent of the sea coming in through the crack in the window. The air was damp and warm, speaking of a storm to come that afternoon.

  Thankfully, Kane slowed down to the speed limit when we came to Inverness. We didn’t need that conversation with the human police. We were supposed to be staying under the radar. No one spoke as we passed the grey stone buildings with their narrow white-framed windows and slate rooves. There was a tranquil beauty about Inverness that washed over me as we made our way farther into the small city. Bursts of vivid green contrasted against the shades of grey, giving the place a liveliness that made me smile.

  The roads were quiet, and parking spaces weren’t too difficult to come by. The tourists must have been out around the loch looking for Nessie. Still no one spoke a word as we got out of the car and looked around at the old buildings with their modern shops and quaint tourist-focused cafes. I could feel the ocean. It was so close I could taste it on the air. Gideon put his arm around my waist, more for himself than for me.

  His hand trembled against my hip, and I rested my hand on his before whispering, “We won’t let anything happen to you.”

  His history had been dark and full of betrayal. The Council was a potential enemy looming on the horizon. I would fight tooth and nail to keep the dear hound at my side. I didn’t choose him, but I wasn’t going to give him up. Dante and Kane walked ahead of us down the narrow pavement past quaint cafes with white laced table cloths covering small round tables and beautiful hand-made cakes on display at the front. The smell of fresh coffee came from a more modern coffee shop, and a fishing shop was packed full of fishing rods and colourful tackle. I never did have the patience for fishing. I couldn’t stay still for that long.

  We came to a plain building made of the same soft grey stone as those on either side of it. Two steps led up to a black door with a simple copper plaque next to it. Dante walked inside as though he owned the place, his shoulders back and head held high. Unlike the rest of us in our jeans and t-shirts, Dante wore a bespoke pitch-black suit with a silver tie and dove-grey waistcoat. He had not approved of our attire, given we were meeting the Council, but Kane had pointed out we were mercenaries not businessmen.

  Time had run out before they could get into another of their shouting matches. Gideon tensed and slowed his pace as we entered the building with plain off-white walls and a practical wheat-coloured carpet. A man about my age sat behind a narrow black desk. He looked up at us from under a mop of red curls.

  “Dante Caspari, Kane Galbraith, and Wren Kincaid here to see the Council,” Dante said.

  The man grinned.

  “Ah, yes, they’re running a bit over, I’ll get you some tea,” he said before he strode through the door next to his desk and vanished.

  I turned to see three well-padded leather seats pushed up against the back wall beneath a trio of portraits of people I didn’t recognise. One had the black cat ears of a puka, the middle one had the painfully sharp bone structure of either an elf or a sidhe, and the last one I assumed was a shifter from the golden eyes.

  “Looks like Wren will be sitting on my lap,” Dante said with a twinkle in his eyes.

  Kane didn’t argue.

  The guys settled themselves on the seats with Gideon in the middle. Kane squeezed the hound’s knee and gave him a reassuring smile. I sat on Dante’s lap and ran my fingertips over the tattoo on the inside of Gideon’s wrist that marked him as mine. His face brightened and he relaxed as I leaned
against Dante’s strong chest and tried to ignore the awful tension.

  The guy that had been sitting behind the desk returned with a tray of steaming mugs and a plate of shortbread fingers.

  Gideon frowned and whispered to me, “But I don’t drink tea.”

  “Everyone drinks tea in Scotland,” I whispered back.

  His frown deepened.

  We each took our mug of strong tea from the man with a smile, and he handed us each a finger of shortbread before returning to his desk. Gideon looked down at his tea with a deep frown. He sighed. Kane drank his tea in two long gulps before he gently took the mug from the hound’s hand and exchanged it with his shortbread.

  I bit into the shortbread and found it to be perfect. Crunchy, buttery, and it melted on my tongue. Nothing compared to it. Dante stroked my thigh in long slow strokes that soothed me and helped get my mind off the guilt that I felt over Kane. I’d finished my tea and was growing bored by the time the council person we were there to meet emerged from the narrow hallway opposite the main hallway to the front door.

  She was an older woman with iron-grey hair held up with a silver pin high on the back of her head. Her clothing was a practical pant suit, and judging from the way her eyes narrowed and her mouth pinched, she did not approve of our jeans and t-shirts.

  “Come along,” she said before she turned on her heel and returned down the hallway she’d come from.

  I hopped out of Dante’s lap and practically ran after her to see where she’d gone. She was barely an inch taller than me, but she moved like a woman twice her height.The guys were close behind me. We followed the woman down a hallway that seemed to stretch on forever, which, given the building had seemed quite small on the outside, meant there was some fae magic in play here. They loved pocket dimensions and other related things.

  The woman thrust open the blood-red door at the end of the hallway and marched into a large spacious room with windows that stretched from my knees almost all the way to the ceiling. They showed a stunning view over rolling heather-covered mountains. The sea sparkled in the distance and small bursts of bright yellow gorse could be seen near the edges of the view.