Her Warriors Page 4

  And wasn’t Geir just the gabby guy today? He almost didn’t believe how many words were coming out of his mouth. Usually taciturn and silent, he had worried about being able to converse with his guests. Turns out, he needn’t have worried after all. He was almost having a hard time shutting up. He decided he’d heard enough of his own voice for one meal.

  “So, what are your plans?” Geir asked Jacki and Beau.

  Beau gestured to Jacki, letting her speak first. “Well, the first thing I need to do is help Tom get better, but I decided to do that here because the High Priestess is coming here to train me. I’m going to join her order.” Jacki’s face flushed in the most charming way, almost as if she was embarrassed or excited—or both. “I never thought about being a priestess, but it feels right. Something happened during the battle…” her voice trailed off and Geir thought back to what she had done during the last battle in North Carolina.

  “When you cast that amazingly powerful spell?” Geir prompted. “That was a masterwork of magic, milady. You saved the day and stunned all of those who saw it happen, myself included.”

  “Yeah,” she agreed, sounding a little flustered, as if shy of what she had done. “That was when it happened. I was so scared, but yet…I felt more power flowing through me than I’ve ever felt before. I didn’t understand what was happening. I’m still not really sure how it all occurred, but one minute I was praying and the next, the flow of magic came into me in a rush, allowing me to turn the tide on the evil spell. It was a really amazing feeling.” She took a sip of her tea, her eyes still very distant in memory. “Bettina came to me a few days after and explained a few things. She also instructed me to come here. She said she’d arrive shortly to begin my training. She…uh…she wants to name me as her successor, though I still can’t really see it.”

  “High Priestess?” Beau seemed as shocked as Geir was.

  “If anyone has that kind of power, you do, Jacki. Don’t doubt yourself. Few beings in this realm could have done what you did on that battlefield.” Geir was used to giving small pep talks to his students who sometimes doubted their abilities. He was glad he knew what to say to take the uncertainty out of her eyes. She smiled at him and he felt like the sun had come out on a rainy day.

  “Does Bettina plan on stepping down or something?” Beau asked, bringing them back to the practical.

  “Not that I know of.” Jacki bit her lip as worry seemed to return to her expression. “I think it’s more that she’s worried about what’s coming. If she were to fall, she wants the succession to be secure, to avoid chaos in the leadership. I don’t understand it all, but I decided back in North Carolina, before ever agreeing to come here, that I would do whatever I could to make this happen. Not for myself, but because I feel the same sense of dread about the future. I’m not a seer, but my aunt is, and she’s offered quite a few warnings of late. And now, even the seas are forbidden to us because of the leviathan. It’s not a good time to be a selkie and someone’s got to take a stand against the evil that threatens us all.”

  Geir felt such pride in her in that moment. This was a woman of deep integrity. A mate he would be proud to call his own—if they were truly meant to be together—and one he would work to be worthy of for the rest of his life.

  Jacki enjoyed having lunch with the two tigers, but in the back of her mind, worry set in. Tom wasn’t getting any better. If anything, he seemed worse.

  Back in North Carolina, during the battle, Tom had chosen to try to protect the small lake and had been overrun by the evil magic sent against them. Despite his enormous personal magical power, he had fallen.

  When they had planned out their positions before the battle, Tom had relegated Jacki to the small stream that connected to the lake. He’d probably thought he could stop anything that might come their way before it got to her. She knew that Tom was trying to protect her, but only Jacki had known what her aunt, the seer, had told her.

  Aunt Sophia had given Jacki very detailed, secret instructions about where she should be and when. Her aunt couldn’t say what, exactly, would happen, but she insisted that Jacki—and Jacki alone—needed to be at that stream at the appointed hour. She had given Jacki very specific instructions not to tell anyone. Aunt Sophia knew as well as Jacki did that the men in their family had a noble, protective streak a mile wide. If Tom had known that Jacki was going to face the bulk of the danger, he would have been right there at her side. But their aunt had been adamant that Jacki had to face whatever would happen at the stream alone.

  Jacki thought she understood now. By being on her own, she had reached out for help, praying to the Mother of All. And She had answered in the most amazing way. If Tom had been there, Jacki would have naturally pooled her magic with his and they would have tried to fight the evil alone. They would have tried and failed, and probably died, never calling on the Goddess, never receiving that miracle of Her intervention.

  Jacki was coming to the realization that Tom had hidden the full extent of his injury from her—and from everyone—while they’d been in North Carolina. He had fallen under a magical attack, after all. Although he’d had superficial cuts and scrapes that had healed already, there was no evidence of what she suspected was a gaping, magical wound that could not have been treated by the doctors in North Carolina. No, the persistent wound that plagued Tom now was on a different plane. It was a wound to the soul. To the heart of his magical core.

  And it had festered in the time since the battle.

  She sat with him after lunch, trying to figure out what to do for him and worrying.

  “Tommy,” she fussed at him, her heart breaking as she sat by his bedside. “Why didn’t you tell anyone? Why did you hide this?”

  His deep brown eyes fluttered open. Seal eyes. His beast was very close to the surface.

  “Didn’t want you to worry, Twirp.”

  She gave him a teary chuckle at the use of her childhood nickname. Only Tommy had ever called her that.

  “Well, you suck at that. I’m really worried now. What can I do to help you get better?” Her words were soft and filled with choked-back tears.

  “Don’t think there’s much anyone can do. Just hold my hand little sis, and don’t cry for me.” His words trailed off and she took the hand he held out to her as his eyes closed.

  She could feel him slipping away and the tears came, no matter his instructions not to cry.

  A while later—it could have been moments or it could have been hours—Jacki felt warm hands descend on her shoulders. She looked up to find Beau behind her, his gaze on Tom’s still face.

  “What can I do to help?” Beau asked when he realized he had her attention.

  “I don’t know,” she replied, helpless. She stood, placing Tom’s hand gently at his side. He was unconscious again.

  She made to move past Beau but he stopped her, his hands gentle on her arm.

  “Hey now,” he said softly. “Come here.”

  He opened his arms and she stepped into his embrace, grateful for the small comfort as she leaned against his chest and cried silent tears of despair. Beau rocked her gently in his arms until she calmed, but she didn’t move away. There was something so strong and safe about Beau’s muscular arms around her. She felt protected in a way that wasn’t threatening to her independence. She felt cherished. Almost…loved?

  She looked up at him as the thought crossed her mind and was caught by his golden gaze. Time seemed to stand still as his head dipped, his mouth drawing slowly closer to hers.

  And then he kissed her. Time stilled as the most gentle and respectful of kisses touched her lips. His warm, piney scent engulfed her, sparking something inside her that had lain dormant for a very long time. And then he rumbled against her. She broke the kiss, startled. Had he just…purred?

  Jacki didn’t know a lot about tigers, but she knew that if a lion shifter did that kind of thing—purring in human form—the consequences were pretty profound. As in mating profound.

  Jacki cou
ldn’t handle this. She stepped away from Beau and headed for the door at a fast pace. She was thankful when he didn’t follow. She was just a little too distraught right now to deal with any other majorly life changing experiences.

  She fled through the house and found herself back in the large kitchen. Geir was still there, but she didn’t really want to see anyone right now. The door to the back garden beckoned, but she couldn’t be rude to her host.

  He must’ve seen something in her expression because he stood and immediately came to her. He stood close and something within her wanted to lean on his strength. Surely someone who was a Master had enough inner peace to go around. She needed some of that right now.

  “What’s wrong?” His strong hands were gentle on her shoulders as he touched her. He was warm and comforting rather than intimidating, which was odd considering he was such a badass sensei. “Is it your brother?”

  Mutely, she nodded, breaking down again. It was too much to bear. Tom had always been her rock, her solid ground. The one who bandaged her skinned knees and let her tag along on his adventures in the ocean and out of it. They’d been inseparable as children and had even maintained a reasonably close relationship during their rough teen years. Tom was older, but he never got too impatient with her hanging around, and she had idolized her brother most of their lives.

  “I knew when I saw him get out of the van that something was very wrong with him,” Geir admitted, rubbing her shoulders with a light touch. “Can anything be done?”

  “I don’t know. It’s a magical injury, not a physical one. I’m hoping that when Bettina gets here, she’ll be able to help him. Have you heard from her at all?” Somehow, Jacki’s hands were placed flat against Geir’s chest and she felt the reassuring beat of his heart. She didn’t remove her hands, even after she realized the intimacy of the pose she had unconsciously adopted.

  “No word yet, but Ria told me to expect her sometime today. Surely the High Priestess will be able to help him.”

  She knew Geir was trying to sound positive for her sake, but she heard the thread of doubt in his voice, no matter how hard he tried to hide it. She felt the same way and it all just became too much. She slid her hands up around his neck and rested her ear against the comforting beat of his heart, glad when his arms came around her somewhat hesitantly.

  “I know what it’s like,” he said softly, surprising her.

  “What what’s like?” she whispered, not moving her head from his chest.

  “To lose a brother by magical means,” he replied, shocking her a bit. “I left Iceland because my older brother was killed by a mage. I don’t think I ever want to go back to that cold, depressing country. Losing Thorson was almost more than I could stand.”

  She heard the deep, heart wrenching emotion in his voice, even though he spoke in tones hardly above a whisper. She got the feeling this was a secret he didn’t share lightly.

  “I would spare you that pain if it is within my power. If there is anything I can do to help you and your brother, I will do it. You don’t even need to ask.”

  She lifted her head from his chest then and looked up into his icy blue eyes. She had thought them cold at first, but in truth there was a white-hot fire behind his gaze that warmed her, even as it enchanted her.

  “I’m so sorry, Geir,” she whispered, raising one hand to cup his stubbled cheek. She saw the devastation in his gaze as he thought about his lost brother, and his determination that she would not lose hers. Why he should care so deeply for her family was hard to fathom, but there was a sort of connection between them. Perhaps it had been forged in the battle when Geir had been the only one left standing to help them all get down the mountain. But it had been there even before—when she’d decided to trap him inside her final spell—a dome of protection that he wasn’t able to break alone.

  She had wanted to protect him. She had kept him from his duty to the Nyx, but somehow he had never chastised her for doing so. All she had known at that moment—low on energy and desperate to keep those she cared about from further harm—was that she must protect him too, regardless of how mad he would be at her later.

  But he hadn’t been mad. He had taken her, Beau, and her brother, to safety after the battle was over. He had also looked after them while helping with the logistics of mop up. He’d had duties to the Nyx and his fighters, but he’d always found time to check on her each day they’d been in North Carolina. When he’d left for New York, she had missed him and coming here today had been a bit like coming home, for some odd reason.

  She found herself moving upward, reaching on tiptoe as his head moved downward. Their lips met in the middle, in a sweet kiss that turned suddenly hot. The gentle man turned into a wildcat in her arms and her body responded in kind.

  This so wasn’t the time for this, but by the same token…it totally was. She had wanted to kiss Geir for a long time, though she had never really acknowledged the thought until this very moment. He seemed as hot for her as she was for him, his mouth claiming and demanding, where she never would have guessed such passions ran beneath his calm exterior. He was fire in her arms rather than the ice he often portrayed, and she loved it. She loved that she could drive him to such an unpracticed, real response.

  And then he had to go and wreck the whole thing…by purring.

  Jacki broke away from his kiss and tore herself out of his arms. It was hard to do, but her mind was in turmoil once again. She had to find clarity. She had to think.

  Seeing her opportunity, she fled through the kitchen door and took off through the back garden. The woods were beyond, and they were calling her name. She entered the thick forest, glad to know that Geir hadn’t followed. At least not closely, if at all. She couldn’t hear him at any rate. Which was good, she determined. She needed to be alone. She had to find some kind of equilibrium so she could deal with everything that had happened in such a short amount of time.

  She felt a pull in the direction that led up the mountain and she followed it, not really caring where she was going. She just needed to wander a little bit, and this was as good a direction as any to go.

  She should have been surprised, but wasn’t really, about fifteen minutes later when she stepped into a clearing that held a small stone circle. And even more importantly, Bettina was in the center of it, looking for all the world as if she had been waiting for her.

  Jacki felt an enormous sense of relief fill her being as she walked into the circle and went to Bettina, reaching out to her with both arms. Bettina took her hands and Jacki immediately felt a jolt of calm, pure energy reach out to her, stilling her inner turmoil a little bit.

  “Thank goodness you’re here,” Jacki said with true feeling.

  “You seem so conflicted, child.” Bettina looked at her with concern. “I hope I haven’t brought such chaos to your life.”

  “No, it’s not you at all, milady. It’s…” Jacki felt so stupid thinking about the two tigers and their reactions to her when her brother was so very ill. Her personal stuff could wait. Tom was so much more important. “My brother is very sick. He was injured in the battle at the lake, but it wasn’t really a physical injury. He keeps losing strength and I’m afraid he’s in a state I’ve never seen before. It’s like a coma, but on the magical plane.”

  “Where is he?” Bettina was all business now, her fey eyes filled with unease.

  “Back at the house. At Master Geir’s house,” she clarified. “We’re all staying with him for the time being.”

  “Then there’s not a moment to lose. Let’s go see about your brother. Selkies are susceptible to many forms of magical attack, but if we catch it in time, we may be able to save him.”

  Her voice, as well as her words, were music to Jacki’s ears. They took off the way she had come, walking briskly through the woods, not speaking much as they made haste back to the big old farmhouse.

  Chapter Four

  Beau had stayed to look after Tom when Jacki took off. Truth to tell, Beau was just a lit
tle too stunned to do much of anything after she left him. She was his mate. He had confirmation now. But she didn’t seem all that happy about it.

  He couldn’t really blame her. Her brother was looking worse all the time and it was obvious she cared deeply about him. This wasn’t exactly the time to be thinking about mating, but apparently the Mother Goddess had other plans. Beau wouldn’t argue with the Mother of All’s plan, but he could wonder at Her timing.

  Beau could back off a bit, of course, if his inner tiger would let him, but in the end, he would claim her for his own. That thought gave him a bit of security and a sense of purpose. First though, he had to help her and her brother through this crisis. He didn’t want to start off their life together with a tragedy. Beau vowed to do all in his power to help Tom recover, though he had no idea really, where to start.

  Sitting with the guy was a small enough thing he could do, making sure Tom didn’t get any worse while Jacki took a moment to regroup. If Beau was any judge, their reaction to each other had surprised her more than anything. She had looked really overwhelmed when she ran off, which was a bit of a relief, in one way.

  If she had been overwhelmed, she had felt the same intense reaction he had. Right? That thought gave him comfort, even as his tiger demanded they go hunt her down.

  He shushed the beast and did what the human side of his mind counseled—proceed with caution. Women were unpredictable in Beau’s experience. He had to tread lightly, especially with a woman he fully intended to spend the rest of his life with. A little caution now might help them have a fantastic future. He could be patient. Somewhat. He’d do his best to tamp the cat’s instincts down as much as he could, and do this the more human way. For now.