CHAPTER Fifteen
If I’d been expecting some kind of dramatic drum-roll at my emphatic statement regarding what I was going to do to the Batibat’s apparent boss, then I didn’t get one. The not-so-merry band in front just watched me as if expecting the architect of the ward to immediately materialise so that I could make good on my promise. There was the rumble of a small plane overhead but, other than that, the entire area remained as silent and still as it had before the magical barrier had been destroyed.
Corrigan’s eyes were narrowed at me, flecks of hot angry gold visibly displayed across their green depths. He broke the atmosphere by walking forward to take the dryad’s body from my arms, but I side-stepped away from him. My movements clearly didn’t do much to improve his mood.
“I need to take her to her kin,” I said, by way of explanation. “I doubt they’ll show up if you do it.”
He snarled at me. “What exactly is going on here?”
I looked at him calmly. “Walk up with me and I’ll explain. I assume you couldn’t hear anything that went on inside the ward?”
He shook his head, not taking his snapping green eyes off me for even a second.
“Great!” exclaimed Solus, brightly. He stepped over and planted a wet noisy kiss on my cheek. Unfortunately, with Mereia’s weight somewhat hindering me, I wasn’t able to move away in time. A muscle throbbed in Corrigan’s cheek.
The two mages frowned in unison. Max spoke up. “You can’t just wander off with those two. If you’re telling the shifters and the faeries what happened, then you have to tell us what happened also.”
I sighed in exasperation. Lord, give me help.
Aubrey’s plaintive voice called out from behind a nearby tree. “Don’t forget about me! Where did that woman go? She’s after me, you know. She almost killed me! You can’t leave me here because she’ll come back and hurt me.”
Corrigan’s brow creased in puzzlement “Who is that?”
“I’ll explain later,” I said dismissively, then looked from one member of the group to the other. “The Batibat didn’t kill the dryad. It was some guy who is theoretically masterful and strong, and too self-important to even deign to give himself a name. He wants to cut down all the trees because they give him some kind of natural power boost. We need to stop him.”
“Why does he want the power?” asked Lucy.
I thought about the Batibat’s answer to that question and decided somewhat sensibly that repeating it wouldn’t go down well with this rather testosterone heavy group. “F*ck knows. Because he’s a vicious bastard who wants to screw the world as far as I can tell.” I turned my attention to Solus. “You need to find out what’s going on with Beltran. He needs to get those environmentalists here double quick to help stop the tree felling.”
The Fae quirked an eyebrow at me. “But, darling, I’m not sure I want to leave your side. I find it so very hard when we are separated, and I know you do too.” He winked at Corrigan.
I avoided looking at the Lord Alpha. If I didn’t know what his reaction was, then I wouldn’t have to worry about having to do anything about it. “Solus,” I said, warningly.
He grinned disarmingly and bowed. “But, as always, your wish is my command.” The air shimmered and he vanished. I heaved an inward sigh of relief.
“You two,” I said to Max and Larkin, “need to do something about that.” I jerked my head to the blackened area, and the still smouldering tree. “It needs to be completely concealed before anyone else less…otherworldly…shows up.”
They didn’t look happy, but nodded in agreement anyway.
“Stay with them,” growled Corrigan at Lucy, who bobbed her head instantly. At least when he gave an order, his people f*cking jumped to it, I thought irritably.
“Hey,” spat out Max, solidifying my thoughts, “we don’t need babysitting by a bloody shifter!”
I stared at him coldly, trying to borrow some of Corrigan’s immovably authoritative air. Somehow it worked, because he subsided into grumbles of acquiescence.
“Well, you can’t order me around,” shouted Aubrey, still from behind the tree.
Actually, out of everyone at this little assembly, he was about the only one I knew for sure that I could tell what to do and be sure that he’d do it. “Stay there,” I snapped, then began walking up the hill, back towards the clearing I’d visited barely twelve hours before.
“Mack!” he shouted after me. “Don’t leave me!”
I ignored him, shifting the dryad’s body into a slightly more comfortable position as Corrigan fell into step beside me. I could almost feel the simmering waves of rage emanating in my direction. Once we were out of earshot, I spoke up, quietly.
“So, I get that you’re a bit pissed off,” I began.
“A bit pissed off?”
“Okay,” I conceded, “a lot pissed off. I’m sorry I ran off from the Brethren’s headquarters like that.”
“You climbed out the window and scaled down the wall, Mackenzie. You could have broken your neck! You were not a prisoner. Do you really think I wouldn’t have let you leave?”
I exhaled deeply and gestured behind myself. “Have you seen what my life is like lately? I can’t move without being followed around by a representative from virtually every major Otherworld group! The whole lot of you seem to think that I belong to you. If I’d tried to leave by conventional means, it would have taken me hours to persuade everyone to let me go.”
“Because you were just bloody well attacked! What would have happened if that vampire decided to try again? There is not a single scrap of self-preservation anywhere inside you. How do you know that bloodsucker isn’t somewhere near here now just waiting for the opportunity to pounce? And don’t you dare tell me that you can look after yourself, because if that was true then you wouldn’t have needed me to come and find you on the Heath! Do you have any idea how long it took to locate you?”
“I’m sorry, Corrigan, okay?” I shouted back at him. “But some things are more important than my safety! The dryads asked me for help and I had to give it to them. You can see from what just happened down there how bad things are. This guy might be targeting the tree nymphs now, but it doesn’t mean he’s not going to move on to someone else later. And, besides, I told you the vampire wasn’t going to be a problem any more.”
“You don’t know that!”
“Yes, I f*cking well do! That bloke, the one hiding behind the tree? That’s Aubrey. He’s the one who attacked me. And, believe me, he is not in any position to start draining me of my blood again.”
Corrigan started. “That’s not Aubrey. I know what he smells like.”
“You know what he smells like when he’s a vamp, you mean.”
“Huh?”
“When he drank from me my blood did something to him. Healed him.”
“Healed him? You mean he’s cured of being a vampire?”
“That’s exactly what I mean.”
Corrigan turned on his heel, and began striding back down again.
“Hey!” I shouted after him. “Where are you going?”
“I’m going to rip his f*cking head off,” he muttered.
“Stop!” I tried to run after him but carrying Mereia’s body made it difficult for me to move with any speed. I laid her gently down on the ground, and then jogged to catch up, moving in front of Corrigan to block his path. “You can’t kill him!”
He looked me directly in the eyes. It was virtually impossible for me to look away. “Why the hell not, Mack? He almost killed you.”
“But he didn’t! I’m here and I’m fine. And he’s human, you can’t just go hurting him now. It wouldn’t be fair!”
“Fair?” He grabbed me by the shoulders and leaned in towards me. In inhaled deeply, drinking in his spicy aftershave and my stomach tripped with little butterflies. “Was what he did to you fair?”
“You need to calm down,” I said, doing my very best to ignore the tumult that was going on inside me.
His eyes narrowed. “Is there something going on between you and him? Is that why you’re protecting him?”
For f*ck’s sake. “No! I just feel sorry for him that’s all. He’s not doing any harm, he’s just a bit annoyingly pathetic. There’s no reason to hurt him. Believe me, Corrigan, what my blood did to him is punishment enough.”
His eyes bored into me and his grip tightened. “And the faerie?”
“You can’t kill him either.”
Corrigan’s voice deepened to a rumble. “You know that’s not what I mean.”
I sighed. “No, there’s nothing going on between me and Solus. He’s just trying to irritate you.”
“He’s doing a good job.”
“Only because you let him. You need to relax, my Lord.”
“Somehow the last thing I can do where you’re concerned is relax.” He stared at me searchingly. “I don’t like it when you call me that.”
“Okay,” I said, concedingly. “I won’t call you that. Only if you stop calling me kitten though.”
He blinked in lazy agreement and his hands loosened.
“Why did you come here anyway?” I asked. “I thought you were busy somewhere else.”
He shrugged, the muscles in his broad shoulders rippling as he did so. “It’s being taken care of.”
“Can I help?”
“It’s just a group of rogue shifters that have been flexing their power a bit too much lately. I think we’re bringing them into the fold, however.”
“The mighty Brethren strikes again,” I commented drily.
Something flashed in Corrigan’s eyes, but he didn’t rise to the bait. Instead he moved one of his hands from my shoulder to my hair, smoothing it down gently and tucking it behind my ear. My stomach flip-flopped. “I hope you’ll wear it down like that for our date tonight.”
Date? Oh, shit. How had it gotten to be Saturday already? “That’s tonight?”
He nodded, a predatorial gleam in his eyes.
“Corrigan, I have to deal with this stuff first. I can’t just go off gallivanting with you for dinner.”
“You promised.” He bent his head down, until his face was scant inches from mine and I could feel his hot breath on my skin. Warm tendrils of bloodfire uncoiled themselves and began zipping through my veins with anticipation. I swallowed.
“I know. But this guy, the one the Batibat told me about, sounds like he’s dangerous. I can’t just leave.”
A touch of icy cold lit the edges of his eyes and he drew back. I tried to ignore the pings of disappointment. Remember, I told myself sternly, getting involved with the Lord Alpha is only going to end in tears. Get a grip. Unfortunately, that didn’t stop me feeling irritatingly bereft at his sudden withdrawal.
“Fine,” he shrugged, and his face shut down.
Goddamnit. He turned and continued off down the hill with a lithe elegant stride. Alarmed, I called out after him. “Where are you going? You promised you wouldn’t hurt Aubrey.”
“I didn’t technically promise. Besides, you promised me a date tonight and I believe you’ve reneged. “ His voice was even but he didn’t bother to either stop or turn around.
“Corrigan!” I shouted.
Relax, kitten. My word is good, even if yours isn’t. I won’t harm a hair on his head.
Streaks of hot annoyance ran through me. It wasn’t as if I’d f*cking planned for all this to happen just so that I could have an excuse to avoid having dinner with him.
Fine, my Lord, I shot at him.
Silence rebounded back at me. Well, sod you then, I thought uncharitably. I stomped back up to where I’d left Mereia and stood for a moment staring down at her corpse, all the anger abruptly flooding out of me. What right did I have to be enraged at something petty like a stupid argument with Corrigan when she was lying there dead? I might not have known her personally, but that didn’t mean her death didn’t deserve more attention. I had to stop worrying about the petty shit and start focusing on the matter in hand. Squaring my shoulders, I bent down and carefully picked her back up, unbidden and unexpected tears springing to my eyes.
“I’m sorry,” I murmured, not entirely sure at that point whether I was apologising to her, to the now absent Corrigan, or to myself. I sighed heavily, and then plodded upwards, carrying my unhappy burden as gently as I could.
When I reached the clearing, I squatted down, laying her body softly on the ground. I adjusted her limbs slightly and looked at her sadly. A sudden breeze gusted through the trees, ruffling her hair. Free of the terrible crucified pose, and with her eyes closed and arms by her side, she suddenly looked at peace. The lines of pain that I’d avoided focusing on before had smoothed out, and she almost appeared to be merely sleeping. Almost. I wiped the tears away from my cheeks and glanced upwards.
“Here is Mereia,” I called out softly, unsure whether I’d get any reply. “I think that now she’s been taken down and the ward concealing her body has been destroyed, things might start returning more to normal. But you have to be careful. There’s a Batibat around here. I don’t think she’s any danger to you – she seems more fixated on men - but she might cause some problems. And the person behind what happened to your friend might show up. If he does, you need to stay hidden. I’m not going to leave until he’s dealt with, I promise you that.”
I ignored the irritating nudge I felt deep inside that my promises weren’t worth quite what they might once have been, and took a step backwards, bowing my head and closing my eyes. When I opened them again, a mere moment later, Mereia’s body had gone. I nodded to myself.
A quiet voice drifted down from somewhere amongst the higher edges of the trees. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” I whispered back. Then I left.