A Guardians Passion (32 page)

The room closely resembled the extravagance within the Sohon facilities: widely spaced, a tub big enough for three individuals at least and with more spigots than a hydra had heads, a closed-in shower closet with glass walls, and double sinks with a vanity.

The toilet, however, was all that she needed.

She could barely get her ass upon the seat fast enough before relief shimmered through her with near-orgasmic force.

She sighed with the rush of an empting bladder. It wasn’t until after she finished that Freya realized she hadn’t heard the sound of her urine splashing into the water. “What the hell?” she muttered.

In a panic, she searched all around the expansive bathroom. Her eyes swept back and forth, over the sink, the sunken Jacuzzi—and then the shower closet.

Standing against the frame of the shower was a snowman.

He—it certainly had to be male—was leaning against the stall with his arms clasped in front of him. He was an albino in every sense of the word. His hair was so white it seemed to sparkle. His eyes lacked any color, save a pale pink glow. She could see no irises or pupils within his eye sockets, but she knew that he was looking directly at her. He wore a gray robe with a pink vest and another brown one over it. He had several bands of dark leather straps crossing his chest with inlaid pouches and attached trinkets. “Hello, lovely.”

“Dona?” It could only have been Rayne’s father. The wytchen.

“You see the family resemblance?”

No. Her beta had color, vibrant like fresh peaches and cream. Rayne’s features were full of warmth and health, whereas Dona’s features were gaunt and hawkish. Dona also seemed much taller and thinner than her Rayne, not that she could tell with all the layers that he wore. “Not really.”

He shrugged off the comment, but the hurt was still evident in the downturn of his lips. “Well, Rayne took after his mother.”

Freya eyed the roll of toilet paper and then looked back at the witch. She wasn’t the most modest of wolves, but some privacy wasn’t too much to ask for. “Shouldn’t you be meeting with your son?”

“In time.” He smiled. “However, I simply could not put off meeting you another day, minute, second, my…new daughter. Well, one of them.”

Freya could smell mischief, just as surely as she could see it in the gloss of pearl-like eyes. “You bred again? Rayne has a sister?”

Dona’s eyes narrowed to slits as if he wasn’t the type to abide questioning. Then, just as swiftly, his scowl changed back to something more amicable. “Ah. Family. It is a relative term.” Dona pushed himself off the stall and took a step forward.

Fortunately, he took no more.

Freya snatched at the roll of toilet paper dangling on a stainless-steel hook. Her heart had leaped as Dona had left the wall, her hackles raised in general about the witch, wytchen, whatever… She wiped herself and pulled up her sweatpants before flushing. The toilet made no sound even as the waters swirled. Freya found washing her hands to be an eerily silent task as well. She was beginning to suspect the reason for the sound dampening. “So what did you want with me? Rayne is waiting.”

“Yes. He’s a patient one,” Dona replied. “He adores you, almost as much as he loves that berserker. I don’t say this to place a weight of envy upon you—after all, he’s known Fenris longer—but you will swiftly overtake the brute, I am sure.”

Freya finished washing her hands and dried them on one of the many crimson-colored hand towels before turning around to face Dona’s rambling. Having her pants up made her calmer. “Okay, so…? You feeling left out or something?”

“I tried so very hard to get my son to come with me, to abandon the mundane and embrace his powers. I adore my son.”

Freya could have burst out laughing at Dona’s so-called love. While Rayne hadn’t said much about his sire, he
had
said that Dona wasn’t the touchy-feely type. “That ain’t what I heard. He didn’t meet you until he was a teen? Deadbeat dad, maybe?”

Dona looked up to the ceiling. Freya couldn’t tell if he saw something of interest there as she couldn’t distinguish proper irises.

“True. I had to be certain that he had some magical aptitude; otherwise, why carry the earth to the stars? How was I to know that his powers wouldn’t manifest until he needed them to control his brooding playmate? By then he was addicted to the brute. He didn’t care about reaching his full potential, about learning about his kind and stretching his limits…only his ass.” Dona’s voice was full of bitterness as he studied the ceiling.

She was beginning to see why Rayne held no particular love for his father. Rather than simply accepting Rayne for what he was, Dona’s only concern seemed to be what his son could do. “Whoa. Someone sounds mighty jealous. Sad you couldn’t have him?”

Dona’s head snapped up, and he had a frightening look about him, his eyes gleaming a darker pink than they had previously been. “Rayne or Fenris?”

As if the conversation and the situation weren’t bizarre enough, Freya couldn’t help but wonder how her alpha fit into the wytchen’s plots. “You tell me,” she demanded.

Waggling a finger at Freya, the wytchen showed perfect white teeth. Freya could have sworn the temperature in the bathroom dropped as he replied, “Both actually. I’m not into having my innards rearranged.” He smirked lewdly. “But with a Luna such as Fenris, I could easily subjugate half of the wytchen race. Magic has no effect on him, you know.”

“I know.”

“I bet.” He smiled at her, leaving Freya to wonder if this wasn’t the first time that he had spied on them. Before she could pose the question, he inclined his head toward her.

“You need my help?” he wondered.

The sudden change of direction caught Freya off guard. She was too consumed with the creeping realization that Rayne had been right to look ill when thinking of his father. Dona seemed to relish darker goals. Perhaps he could help them, but she had a foreboding sense that Dona would screw them in the end or at least demand some enormous price. She couldn’t shake the feeling one bit. “I do.”

“You need me to help you find the lost mothers and cubs,” he pondered as if seeking clarification. “You need help with asprega as well?”

“If you could find it in your heart,” she said halfheartedly.

Dona nodded. He walked over the sink and leaned back against it. He was almost shoulder to shoulder with Freya.

Freya didn’t like being so close to the wytchen, who towered over her by nearly a foot. She couldn’t suppress the tremors running through her either, a reaction that was too new, too raw for her to handle. She forced herself to stillness beside her best chance at revenge.

Dona’s gaze dropped to her rounded belly. “What will you name her?”

Freya covered her stomach with her hands, subconsciously trying to protect Bun. Suspecting he knew much more than she, Freya’s mouth went dry. “Excuse me?”

Dona frowned as if he had tasted something sour. “Don’t be coy, Freya. My granddaughter. Her name?”

Freya sighed, staring up at the ceiling. She had suspected that Bun was a male. Even if it was a girl, she would be raised as tough as any boy, Freya had decided. Gender was the least of her worries, and yet every time she prodded Rayne, he denied knowing. Surely he hadn’t lied to her.

“Rayne doesn’t know. She,” he stated, waving a hand just inches away from her belly, “is a wondrous child. She doesn’t communicate with him, but she could. She is an alpha.”

Somehow Freya didn’t doubt. She believed every word.

“Her name?” Dona asked again.

Freya massaged her stomach as Bun stirred, like she knew she was being spoken about. Freya was certain. A fucking alpha… Freya wasn’t surprised in the least. “Odessa,” she admitted. “I thought of Odessa. Kinda like Odin but feminine.”

Dona chuckled loudly. “Amusing but apt. She will be a force to be reckoned with. Like both of her fathers. And her mother as well, I hear.”

Freya shrugged, reveling in good news for a change. She couldn’t wait to meet her daughter, to hold Bun in her arms and clutch her close. “Hear that, my little Odie Bun? You’re gonna be a force like your dad.”

“Dads,” Dona snorted in correction.

Before Freya had the opportunity to question him, her view of the wytchen was impaired. Soundlessly, a giant wraith moved before her eyes. The sudden brutality surprised even Dona.

Snarling, his face red with fury, Fenris held Dona easily a foot off the floor, one massive clawed hand wrapped around a pale throat. “Your rudeness knows no bounds, Dona.”

Dona found coloring beneath the vise of Fenris’s hold, his features flushing pink. “Easy, Chimera,” he gasped. “I meant no harm to your female.”

“Liar!” Fenris roared. He slammed Dona down upon the ground without releasing the witch’s throat.

Freya heard all sorts of noises then. The spell that Dona had woven was obviously broken with the violence of being strangled by Fenris; the water was still running in the sink; Dona was gasping for breath. Suddenly there was Rayne at the door frame, groaning, “You idiot! You subversive, fucking idiot.”

“R-Rayne, my boy,” Dona managed raggedly, clutching at Fenris’s thickly corded forearms. “How have you been?”

“You know exactly how I’ve been. And if you didn’t, you should have asked. Invading my alpha’s privacy was uncalled for. Absolutely suspect.” Nose wrinkled in disgust, he continued. “And a veil of silence? I should allow Fenris to ruin you.”

“Still topping from the bottom, eh, son?” Dona’s voice came out as more of whine as his eyes fluttered madly. His face was now flushed crimson.

Freya shook her head. Despite the obvious display of chivalry, they were all postponing the inevitable and possibly damaging their shot at getting the wytchen to help them. “Fenris, let him up,” she said as Rayne didn’t seem too willing to offer. “I’m fine, and we need him.”

Fenris turned and looked up at her, seeking the truth.

Although initially unnerved at having been caught on the john, Freya didn’t sense malice in Dona, at least not on the scale of an asprega. What she detected from him wasn’t all roses either. His interest in her child was far too suspect for her to let slide, but she could only fight one battle at a time. And if Dona thought Fenris was a handful, he had no idea what she would do to him if Bun was threatened.

Fenris released his hold, baring his teeth as he came to a stand. Freya held out her arm, and Fenris moved to her side. He slipped a protective arm around her waist and held her close.

There was no shame in her game. She wanted the big brute beside her.

Dona rolled over to his side and sat up, taking in slow, unfettered breaths. It took him a moment to get to his feet, and he staggered slightly then, feet caught up in his robe. No one moved to help.

The wytchen sighed, running his fingers through his white hair, dappled with sweat. The color in his features soon bled away, and so did the perspiration. In a matter of seconds, he was back to being to being the alabaster wonder. He set his sights on his son and chuckled as if he hadn’t just been mopping the floor with his back. “Wonderful family you have here, Rayne,” he said. “Remarkable actually. I am so pleased to finally meet Freya and to see the chimera again.” He beamed, rolling his gaze toward Fenris.

“And we are oh so happy to see you too, father-in-law.” Done with the bullshit, Freya was eager to get down to business. “I’m glad that you’ll be helping us.” She would accept no less.

* * * *

Rayne leaned on the boardroom table, listening to his father inform Vaegar and the others of just how a wytchen could get back each and every one of the missing wolves and cubs. Dona had already explained the plan to Freya and Fenris while Rayne himself had kept quiet. Mind reeling with conspiracy theories, he was concerned about Dona’s motivation, especially with him sneaking up on Freya in the way that he had. Rayne was certain that Dona’s intention hadn’t been based upon the sole desire for introduction.

He saw the way his father kept looking at Freya seated beside him, the way he smiled at her. She didn’t smile back. They had discussed something in the bathroom, and Rayne would have given anything to know what it was.

He wasn’t a mind reader. Occasionally he could receive a thought, but he had no control over it and hadn’t really cared. His father had always dangled greater power, higher knowledge, and immense strength before him, and Rayne had always denied it. He had Fenris to concentrate on, to learn from.

And that had been enough. But with Freya and a cub on the way, healing couldn’t be his only concentration. Not anymore. That his father could help get the mothers and cubs back, that Dona could find Birathan, Rayne also didn’t doubt. It was the price.

Dona would know his secret, had probably exposed it the second after laying eyes upon Freya.

The fiend hadn’t said a word, but then just as sure as his heartbeat, Rayne knew that a conversation would come. It was why he had initially dreaded summoning his father.

With Freya running her fingers through his hair with one hand and stroking Fenris’s arm with the other, the damage to her usual assurance was evident in her need for contact. That she had wanted to accompany them in the hunt for the asprega was sign enough. Rayne had only wanted their life back and his lovers to be happy.

“Asprega leave trails through space, taints,” Dona said, gazing down at the seated Sohon alpha. Vaegar looked weary, dark circles beneath his eyes. Yet the bright orbs shone at the idea of a quick end and speedy path to the revenge that burned within him. He listened intently to every word. He wasn’t the only one.

Dona held everyone’s attention as he continued. “They leave tells. You may not see them, but they are evident to those with the sight or a little help. When they vanish from one spot, they have to tear a gap in this dimension and then open one when they reappear. Like doors. You just need to check them.”

“That simple, eh?” Geraldine asked. Seated between Gaea and Cole, she showed a barely veiled distrust of magic. Gaea, who had known his mother well, was scowling too.

“It is actually.” Cocking his head toward Geraldine’s skepticism, Dona smirked. “What? You think dealing with me is more precarious than getting your kind back?”