Her Warriors Read online

  The door to Tom’s bedroom opened with a small crash and Beau was instantly on his feet, ready and willing to defend the unconscious man in the bed. But it was Jacki, and she wasn’t alone. A petite woman followed on her heels, and Geir was bringing up the rear, his brow furrowed in concern.

  “How is he? Did he wake up at all?” Jacki asked Beau, her gaze on her brother as she took up a post at his bedside.

  The other woman went to the other side of the bed and began checking Tom over with a professional air. Was she a doctor? She didn’t look like any kind of doctor Beau had ever seen.

  “No. Sorry. He’s been out since you left,” Beau reported.

  “You stayed with him?” Jacki looked up at him as if he had committed some great act of kindness, but he didn’t think it was that big a deal. He just nodded when her eyes welled with unshed tears and her mouth formed words of the thanks that she wasn’t able to speak.

  But he understood. In Beau’s mind, Tom was important to Jacki, and Jacki was important to Beau, so it was only natural that he would help Tom. Even if Jacki didn’t make Beau purr in human form, he would have hung around for Tom’s sake. The selkie male was brave and had proven himself an able warrior. He was well worth helping for his own sake.

  “This is bad,” the small woman announced, then stood back, looking at the three others gathered around the bedside. “But I think we can save him. If we all work together. You two are tigers, right?”

  Beau nodded, a little surprised by the woman’s perception. Geir had come up beside Beau, and they both stood at the foot of the bed.

  “She is the High Priestess, Bettina,” Geir said softly, filling Beau in as the woman turned back to Tom, clucking and feeling his forehead and wrists.

  Beau paused to nod his thanks at Geir. The High Priestess was rumored to be a powerful creature indeed. Beau had never seen her before, but he looked at the small woman with new respect. She was the chosen of the Goddess. If she couldn’t save Tom, nobody could.

  “Four elements, I think. I will stand for air, Jacki for water, of course.” The High Priestess seemed to be thinking out loud. “Master Geir will be earth, and you, young man…” she looked right at Beau with those piercing blue eyes of hers, “…from all accounts, you have a volatile temper. In this case, that’s a good thing. You will stand for fire.” She looked around the room and then set her gaze on Geir. “Can this bed be moved out from the wall? It would be best if we could surround him.”

  Geir bent to grab the frame and Beau moved to help on the other side. As gently as possible, they slid the bed, Tom and all, out from the wall, positioning it in the center of the room as the High Priestess watched. She nodded in satisfaction when they had maneuvered the bed into the right place.

  “Thank you,” Bettina said briskly. “We’ll do this first spell fast, to stabilize him and stop the decay. It will probably knock you all out for a few hours. You can rest tonight and then tomorrow we’ll do something a lot more formal to start reversing this.”

  “What is it?” Jacki asked, fear clear in her tone.

  “It’s a kind of magical poisoning. I will teach you the signs to look for during your training, but your brother cannot wait right now, so let’s do this quickly, to stop the drain on what remains of his power, then you and I can talk about what is to be done tomorrow. It would probably be best if you led the greater work, since you are his kin, but we can talk more later. For now, we’re going to do a simple, but powerful, protective spell. We’ll call on the four elements, combining our energies and binding Tom to us, here in this realm. It should block whatever is draining him and buy us time to figure out exactly how to stop it and reverse the process, if possible.”

  “If possible?” Jacki’s voice rose in alarm.

  Bettina smiled gently. “It might be possible to return what he lost, in which case he will recover quickly. It might not, in which case, his recovery will take longer as his personal power is restored bit by bit in the natural course of healing.”

  “Or he might not recover at all,” Jacki said in a bleak tone and Bettina went to her, putting one arm around her shoulders.

  “No, my dear. Don’t think that way. We will fix this. We will save your brother. How could we fail with you and me, and two strapping young tigers to bind Tom here?”

  Geir, the old fashioned bastard, dropped to one knee, his head bowed. “I pledge all my strength to you, High Priestess, and to you, Jacki.” Geir looked up then, catching Jacki’s gaze, and it looked like she brightened. He had given her hope. At least the dude had managed to do that much, and Beau had to grudgingly give respect where it was due.

  Jacki reached out, taking Geir’s hands in hers as he stood. “Thank you.”

  “Uh…” Beau felt the need to speak, but wasn’t anywhere near as formal as Geir’s gesture and words had been. “I’m in too. We’ll fix Tom up. No problem.”

  Jacki reached out to touch Beau’s arm, a small smile aimed in his direction as she met his gaze, thanking him too.

  “Now that’s settled…” The High Priestess sounded a little impatient, and the sense that there wasn’t much time to lose took hold. “Master Geir, you take the north for earth—up above Tom’s head. Angry man, you get the south, at his feet. Jacki, your water spirit goes to the west and I’m in the east for air. Now everybody join hands and say your prayers. I’ll be drawing on your personal energies and those of the elements you represent during the ritual. Don’t let go and don’t fear. I know how much power you can spare and how much Tom needs. I’ll strike a balance that we can all live with.” She smiled, but Beau admitted to himself that he was a little frightened by the High Priestess.

  She was a creature of myth and legend. She was mystical and incredibly magical. As a general rule, Beau wasn’t all that comfortable around magic. It had caused some of the most painful moments in his life and he didn’t really trust it—or those who depended on it.

  His mother had been a priestess. She had lived her life with magic every day, and depended on it to her detriment. It was what had gotten her killed. And his father had died trying to protect his mate, leaving Beau all alone.

  He just had to remind himself that this woman, this High Priestess, served the Goddess directly and there could be nothing evil in her or her actions. That was his only comfort as Bettina began chanting in a bell-like tone, her voice musical and full of magic.

  Beau felt the magic gather as the little hairs on his arms rose. He felt a charge building in the air, like an electric current, but different somehow. The room got brighter and though there was no wind inside the house, a circulation of sorts began, sending a light show over the pale walls. It was like the aurora borealis met a disco ball as colors and light flashed and danced against the surface of the walls, and a golden glow began to form inside their circle of joined hands.

  Beau felt the tingle where his hand met Jacki’s, but on the other side, he felt the tug of the High Priestess’s power as she drew on his energy. It was an odd sensation. It was like the link with Jacki fueled him and then it drained into the other woman, and from her, into the center of the circle—into Tom.

  “Earth, air, fire and water, we stand against the darkness,” Bettina’s voice rose as she switched to English. “We stand against the forces of evil and the power that seeks to harm this man. He is our beloved brother and we are his protectors.” The light and fury of Bettina’s enhanced power rose to a crescendo and then descended over Tom, cocooning him in a golden glow that seemed to seep into his pores…and for just a moment…it lit him from within.

  Colors continued to swirl around Tom like an aura for a few minutes as Bettina switched back to some foreign tongue Beau could not decipher. She was chanting softly as the power crested and then subsided, leaving his knees feeling like wet noodles.

  The High Priestess let go of his hand and stepped back, her head dropping toward her chest for a moment as her eyes closed. Beau wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do now, but sitting down sounded l
ike a really good option. Falling down was a possibility. And passing out was also within the realm of probability. He felt truly awful. Drained. Wrung out like a wet dish rag.

  Beau grasped the rail at the foot of Tom’s bed with his free hand, using it to support him on one side as Jacki continued to hold his other hand. He noticed that she also still held one of Geir’s hands, but surprisingly, his tiger didn’t want to roar about it. Normally, the time between discovery of one’s mate and the actual claiming, was rough. The slightest thing had been known to start terrible battles, and even a war or two, in ancient times.

  At the very least, Beau had prepared himself for the idea that he might be a little overly possessive of Jacki until he could solidify the bond. Maybe being drained of most of his energy by the High Priestess had mellowed his reaction. If so, Beau was grateful for the reprieve. His father had warned him many times that Beau’s unusually volatile temper could get him into serious trouble—especially when and if he finally found a mate.

  Well, he’d found her now, but his temper wasn’t riding him the way it usually did. It was odd, really. Beau often had to work hard at keeping his temper in check. His family had gotten used to his quirks over the years, and they knew when not to poke the tiger. Most of his military colleagues had learned the same, though some had learned it the hard way. But now, when his temper should probably be the most out of control…it just…wasn’t. In fact, he felt calmer now than he had in a long time. It was like just knowing that Jacki existed, and was here with him, was enough. Well…almost enough.

  The tiger and the man both wanted to pounce on her and make love to her long into the night. They wanted to hole up in a room with her for days and try every position in the Kama Sutra—and some that hadn’t been invented yet. But the tiger wasn’t interested in biting Geir’s hand off for daring to touch his mate…which really was decidedly odd.

  “Are you two okay?” Jacki squeezed his hand as the High Priestess spoke, lifting her head.

  “I’m okay,” Beau answered, though his voice felt and sounded weak. Geir merely nodded. “How is Tom? Did we do it?”

  Bettina bent over Tom to examine him. When she lifted one of his eyelids with her finger, Beau caught a glimpse of that same golden glow that had been around his body, now shining out through his eyes. Beau almost took a step back in surprise, but his legs still didn’t want to cooperate with him.

  Bettina rose and smiled. The older lady really did have a beautiful smile. Beau felt his heart lift, along with his mood.

  “We’ve protected him well,” she announced. “The drain on his personal power is stopped for now. He will get no worse before we have a chance to break the connection once and for all. You’ve all done very well. Thank you for your help and energy. I think the men should probably rest now, don’t you, Jacki? Maybe you could help them find a place to sit. And you should probably stay with them for a little while, just to keep an eye on them. I’ll sit with Tom and plan our next move. I’ll meet you in the kitchen in an hour, all right?”

  Bettina’s smile invited no objection, but Beau figured Jacki probably needed a little break too. She looked a lot better than he felt, but he wanted to be certain she was feeling no ill effects from what they had just done before he let her go off with Bettina to plan more magic. If this was only a small spell, he almost hated to see what they would be doing tomorrow.

  Geir walked out from behind the head of the bed and stumbled a bit. Jacki let go of his hand, which she had still been holding, and moved under his shoulder, putting her arm around him, supporting him. The two of them stepped closer to Beau, and he finally let go of the foot rail of Tom’s bed, realizing too late that it had been holding him up.

  Much to his chagrin, Jacki put her other arm around his waist and the three of them stumbled toward the door. Jacki was supporting the two males—one on either side of her womanly form. How embarrassing.

  Geir tried to be prosaic about his own weakness, but the truth was he felt humiliated that Jacki had to hold him up. Beau too. They made slow progress down the hall and only got as far as the living room couch before all three of them collapsed onto the soft, overstuffed cushions. Luckily the thing was built on the large side and fit all of them comfortably. Geir didn’t think he would be able to move under his own power anytime soon.

  “I’m sorry, Jacki. Whatever you ladies did in there, it seems to have unmanned me,” he admitted. “I feel like a kitten who’s just been through a wild ride in a washing machine.”

  Beau laughed at that description. “Good one. I think I was on the same ride with you, Master G.”

  Geir wondered at the shortening of his name. Nobody had ever done that before and it felt…kind of nice. It was nice to know the other tiger felt comfortable enough to give Geir a nickname. Most others shifters were either afraid of him or in awe of his abilities. Few were comfortable in his presence and Geir had always found it difficult to make friends. The idea that Beau of the nasty temper was relaxed enough with him to shorten his name was surprising. And a little suspicious…

  It had to mean something. But what?

  Many strange and wondrous things had happened of late, and Geir had been trying to analyze events and make connections. Perhaps this was another of those strange and wondrous events that would come to mean something much more profound in the coming days? Geir didn’t know, but it certainly was a small thing that meant a lot to him right now.

  “He looked better, didn’t he?” Jacki said, sitting between the men. Geir looked at her, seeing the fearful hope on her face. He reached down and took one of her hands in both of his, rubbing her soft skin with a light, hopefully comforting, touch.

  “He did look better,” Geir told her. “The glow of power you infused into his being agreed with him. Even I could see that.”

  “But will it be enough?” She bit her lip as she turned to look into his eyes and he couldn’t help himself.

  Geir bent and kissed her, tugging that poor, abused lip between his own, laving it with his tongue and then…taking the kiss deeper. His chest began to rumble and she pulled away.

  The first thing he saw was Beau’s murderous expression.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Beau’s famous temper showed in the flare of his eyes, even if he was too weak to do much more than yell at Geir.

  “It’s not what you think. Didn’t you hear the purr? She’s my mate,” Geir said lightly, feeling both wonder and pride in the words. To have a mate was a miracle. To have such a mate as Jacki, was an even more wondrous thing. She was amazing.

  “She can’t be your mate, G,” Beau’s tone was low and deadly, with a hint of the tiger in it, but he didn’t scare Geir.

  “Why not?” he challenged right back.

  “Because she’s my mate, dickhead.”

  “What?” Geir was nonplussed. How could this be? “I don’t get it.”

  Jacki stood abruptly, her turmoil clear in every line of her body. Her hands clenched at her sides, she turned to face them.

  “I don’t understand it either. I made you both purr and…” she trailed off, srunching her eyes closed as if she couldn’t stand to look at them anymore. Geir fell silent.

  “You did what now?” Beau demanded, apparently as confused as he was angry.

  “I didn’t do it on purpose!” She opened her eyes and pinned Beau with a look Geir was glad he wasn’t on the other end of. She was pissed. And confused. “Here I thought lions were dense. Dammit, I didn’t ask for any of this!” She spun on her heel and stormed out. Geir would have gone after her, but he couldn’t move.

  “Well, what the fuck?” Beau asked in a tired voice.

  Geir looked over at his rival on the other end of the couch. He looked as bad as Geir felt. The drain of his energy was really hitting him now and unconsciousness seemed to be approaching rapidly.

  “I’m sorry, Beau, but I won’t give her up,” Geir made his stance clear even as his eyes started to close.

  “Neither
will I, G-man, so we’re going to have to beat the shit out of each other to find out who wins,” Beau replied. “Tomorrow.”

  “Yeah. Tomorrow,” Geir agreed, fading into the grayness that waited for him.

  The next morning, Geir woke before his rival and left the living room. He stopped in his own room for a shower and a change of clothes, then headed out to find Jacki. The challenge would have to be settled before they could move on. Until the mate challenge was over, nothing else could proceed for either of the two men involved.

  Ideally, Jacki could stop the challenge fight by simply stating her preference, but she was nowhere to be found. Neither was the High Priestess. Geir had looked in on Tom and found his condition unchanged. After that, Geir had made a quick search of the house and premises and couldn’t locate either of the women.

  He decided to go to the dojo and warm up before facing his rival. Geir wasn’t foolish enough to underestimate his opponent. Beau was an experienced, professional soldier, who had years of combat experience. He would not be easily defeated. At least Geir hoped he would put up a damn good fight. Geir wanted a chance to pummel something—preferably Beau’s face—to help work out some of his frustration with the entire situation.

  Why couldn’t something in his life go easily, just for once? Why must every last thing be a struggle? Something as profound and important as mating shouldn’t be left up to chance—or the bloody battle that was about to ensue between two pretty evenly matched tiger shifters. The claws would be out and no holds barred.

  Geir stretched his muscles, warming up in the dojo. He would be ready when Beau appeared. Wearing only the loose, but stretchy shorts he habitually trained in, Geir was as prepared as he was going to be when the door to the dojo opened and shut. Beau emerged out of the darkness by the doorway, dressed similarly. The brief outfit would allow them to change into the painful half-human, half-tiger battle form, or simply remain human. They could even go completely tiger and the shorts would probably go with them.