Daeton's Journey (Wiccan-Were-Bear Book 10) (10 page)

Chapter 10

Daeton found a river full of fish and hunted until her whole body was soaked and her bear was satisfied.  Her mates had found a clutch of rabbits and Perseus had taken down a caribou with a carefully aimed arrow.  She could hunt the bigger game, and she did often in the settlement, but she loved to fish.  Maybe it was because that’s what real bears did.  She liked the cold water splashing over her paws and patiently waiting for the fish to get right where she wanted them.  She liked to bat them onto the shore and let her mates grab them, but only when she’d had a few to eat herself.

Daeton lumbered out of the river and shook herself out thoroughly.  “Feel better, honey kitten?” Ekho asked playfully.  He shouldered the rabbits, which were tied together by their feet and some twine, and the fish which had been threaded onto a long tether.  Perseus fashioned a carrier for the caribou by laying it on a tarp and shifting into his half-horse form so he could pull the tarp behind him.

Daeton chuffed at Ekho and he rubbed her head, scratching with his claws, which made her want to roll onto her back and let him scratch her tummy.  He chuckled lightly and said, “Let’s go back to the settlement and get some rest.  We’re heading home tomorrow.  I, for one, am looking forward to being back in our bed.”

He wiggled his brows suggestively and she chuffed a laugh.  They led the way with Perseus hauling the caribou behind them.  Daeton was looking forward to retrieving Adi from Sophie’s house and settling him in his nest, and then crawling between her husbands for a good night’s sleep.  After morning meal, they’d head back through the portal to the Medes Realm.  She would be glad to be home, too.

Her heart clenched and she stopped moving for a moment.  Faintly, she heard crying.  Unlike the trap that had been set for her in Cholas by the brother of the white-haired wizard, she knew that this was real.  Her heart felt like it was being squeezed by a fist, and she knew she needed to find the source of the cry.

“What is it, honey kitten?” Ekho asked.

Daeton closed her eyes and lifted her snout, inhaling and sorting through the scents in the night air.  She could smell small animals, foliage, and earth, and for a long moment she couldn’t sense anything or even hear the crying.  She wondered if she’d imagined the sound.

Her bear urged her to go to the left, and as Daeton turned and moved in the direction, she heard the crying again.  It was a small cry, plaintive and begging, and everything within Daeton roared at her to hurry.

“Daeton,” Perseus growled, “don’t go rushing into danger again.”

She snarled and Ekho said, “I don’t think it’s a trap.  That cry sounds real to me.”

“So did the damn bird,” Perseus pointed out.

Daeton shook her head and made a worried sound.

“I’ll lead the way,” Ekho said.

Perseus followed from a distance because the caribou slowed him down.  He couldn’t leave it or it might be stolen by another predator looking for an easy meal.

As they moved through the woods and the crying grew louder, Daeton knew that whoever they were tracking was someone she was supposed to find.  They crested a small hill and Daeton saw four wolves circling a fallen log.  She could hear the crying more clearly and knew that a child was inside the log.

She roared and hurried down the hill, furious that the wolves – natural and not shifters – were trying to harm a child.  She swatted one of the wolves away as they snarled and turned to attack her.  She and Ekho dispatched them quickly, breaking their necks as they tried to fight.  Panting for breath, Daeton shifted into her human form so she wouldn’t scare the child.

“Damn it, I should have brought clothes,” she said, looking down at her nakedness.  She hadn’t expected to shift out in the woods.

Ekho pulled off his tunic and she slipped it over her head.  It fell to her mid-thigh and was still warm from his body.  She smiled at him.  “Thank you.”

“Anytime, honey kitten.”

“What is it they were trying to get?” Perseus asked from the top of the hill.

“A child, I think,” Daeton said.  She went to her knees at the end of the hollow log.  It was dark inside so she couldn’t see well, but she could feel the presence of a child.

“Hi.  My name is Daeton and my mates are out here with me.  We killed the wolves that were trying to get you, so it’s safe for you to come out now.  I promise we won’t let anything hurt you.”

The crying had stopped but the bitter scent of the child’s fear lingered in the air.

“I’m a bear shifter.  I’m from the Medes Realm and I have a son named Adi.  Maybe you and he could play together.  He loves to play ball.  If you come out, we can go to the Centaur settlement and you can meet him in the morning.”

There was nothing but silence.  Daeton could hear the child’s heart beating swiftly.

“Where are your parents?  Can we call someone for you?”  She didn’t have a cell on her because they weren’t used in the Medes Realm, but she knew the Centaurs in the Mortal Realm used them on occasion.

There was a scuffling sound and a head of white-blonde hair came into view.  A girl climbed out of the log and huddled, her too-thin arms wrapped around her knees.  She was filthy.  She lifted her head and looked at Daeton.

“What is it?” Ekho asked, noting the intensity of the look passing between them.

“I don’t know.  I just feel a connection to her.”  She pressed her hand to the girl’s heart, feeling the rapid beat under her palm.  “Damn.”

Ekho knelt next to Daeton and gently asked, “What’s your name, little one?”

The girl licked her lips and blinked rapidly.  “Kaya.”

“Hi, Kaya.  I’m Ekho.  Would you come back with us to the settlement and we’ll get you something to eat?”

Kaya looked between them and then nodded slowly.  Daeton stood with Ekho and held out her hand to the young girl.  “It’ll be okay, Kaya.  You’re safe now.”

She wasn’t sure how she knew, but she did.  She was meant to find Kaya tonight, to save her from being torn apart by wolves.  Kaya’s hand slid into hers.  The girl was painfully thin, wearing only a torn and dirty tunic.  As they reached the top of the hill, Daeton climbed onto Perseus’s back and Ekho lifted Kaya to sit in front of her.  They were a few miles from the settlement and Kaya looked like she was about to drop from exhaustion.

It took only a brief moment for Kaya to fall asleep as she leaned against Daeton.

“Do you think she’s human?” Perseus asked.

“I don’t think so.  She doesn’t smell like a shifter or a human.  I think she’s a supernatural creature of some kind.”

“How old do you think?”

“Nine or ten, maybe.  Why would her parents leave her alone in the woods?”

“Maybe they didn’t do it on purpose.  Maybe they were killed and she ran?” Ekho offered as he walked next to them.

“She’s safe now and that’s all that matters,” Perseus said.

When they reached the settlement, Ekho hurried to Sophie and Arsen’s house to alert them of the girl.  He carried a sleeping Adi into their own home and got him settled while Daeton waited for someone to help her off Perseus’s back.

Sophie gasped as she stared up at them.  “I’ll take her.”

Daeton let the girl down into Sophie’s arms as gently as she could and then slid down on her own.  Ekho returned from settling Adi in his nest and helped Perseus with the caribou.  They’d also brought back the bodies of the slaughtered wolves.  The pelts would make good clothing for cold weather.

Daeton softly told Sophie and Arsen about Kaya.  Sophie looked down at the sleeping girl with tears glistening in her eyes.  Daeton knew in that moment that Kaya belonged with Sophie.  The queen had never had children of her own.

“I’d like to be there when she wakes up,” Daeton said.

“I’ll sleep on your couch,” Sophie said.  “I…want to be there, too.”

Daeton put her hand on Sophie’s shoulder.  “Good.  I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Tears tracked down Sophie’s cheeks as she turned and carried Kaya into the home where Daeton and her family were staying.  Daeton left her husbands to tend the kills with the help of their family and some of the local Centaurs.  They would take the caribou hide home, along with the rabbit fur and meat, but would leave the wolves for the Centaurs, who could sell the pelts or fashion them into cold weather gear.

Sophie was settling Kaya on the couch, wrapping her up in blankets and making her comfortable.  Daeton knelt next to the couch and lifted Kaya’s wrist, encircled by a silver bracelet.  Written on it was a name – Kaya Iridian.

Daeton put Kaya’s hand back under the blanket and looked at Sophie.  “Can I tell you something?”

“Of course.”

“I think she’s meant to stay with you.”

Sophie’s brows rose.  “You do?  I thought you’d want to take her back to the Medes Realm with you.”

“It crossed my mind at first,” she admitted, “and I do believe that I was meant to find her, because she and I are connected in some way, but I think she belongs here in this realm, with you.”

“What if she has parents or family?”

“We’ll find out when she wakes up.  I don’t believe she has anyone.  I think she was either abandoned or something happened to her family.  Whatever the reason, she was in the Centaur territory because this is where she belongs.”

Sophie smiled and brushed at the tears on her cheeks.  “I forget that you’re only eighteen sometimes.”

“Eighteen plus one,” Daeton said, smiling.

“You’re wiser than your years.”

“I’ve lived a lot in the last year.  Not just finding my mates and having Adi, but all the danger, too.  I feel like I’ve lived ten lifetimes in the last year.”

“If she can stay with me, I hope you know I’ll take care of her.”

“I know you will.”

Daeton left Sophie and Kaya, checked on her still-sleeping son, and then headed outside to help with the kills.  When the skins were clean, the meat tended to, and the carcasses hauled away, she and her husbands showered, and then she sat on an overstuffed chair in the front room and promptly fell asleep.

In the morning, she woke up to Adi tugging on her hand.  Sophie and Kaya were sitting up, Kaya snuggled into Sophie’s arms.  “Good morning,” Daeton said.

“Kaya was just telling me about her family,” Sophie said.  Daeton couldn’t miss the adoring way that Kaya stared up at Sophie.  There was a bond forming between the two already and it warmed her heart.

Ekho came in with a full breakfast platter and set it on the table between the couch and chair.  He sat on the arm of the chair, kissing Daeton lightly.  “I missed you last night,” Ekho said.  “I had the big bed all to myself.”

“I slept with Adi,” Perseus said as he came in from outside.  “He woke up right after you fell asleep and so I stayed with him.  That nest is
not
comfortable for adults.”

Sophie chuckled.  As they all ate, Sophie told Kaya’s story.  She apparently didn’t remember much from before Daeton found her, but she’d seen her parents die and she was certain it was to keep her safe.  She remembered fangs and blood, but she didn’t know who had killed them.  She’d been running for a long time, and had no idea where she was or how she’d ended up in the woods almost eaten by wolves.

“I’m so glad we stayed,” Daeton said.

Kaya took a shower while Sophie went to get clothes for her from one of the other wives.  When she was clean and dressed, she and Adi went outside to play, just like Daeton had promised.

Perseus and Ekho sat on the back steps on either side of her and watched the two play.

“You’re okay with leaving her here?” Perseus asked.

“She’ll be in good hands,” Daeton said.  And she really felt that way.  “Besides, we’ll be back in a year to see her, even though it will have been ten years for her.  But we can keep in touch through letters, and maybe she can even come through sometime and visit the Medes Realm.”

“That sounds like a great idea,” Ekho said.  “We can stay another night so you can spend time with her. Adi seems taken with her, too.”

“I’d like that,” she said.  As she watched her son and the girl she’d saved play ball, she wondered what the future would bring for both of them.  Kaya was a part of Daeton’s life now.  Fate had played a part in bringing the girl into their lives, and Daeton wanted to be there for her in any way she could.