Frost & Bothered (25 page)

“Alanna is a cuddler. You have to realize a lot of us were pretty young when Terra was born. We shared a room the first few years, and slept in groups of three or four.”

“My little brothers sneak into each other’s rooms a lot so they can sleep together.”

“They’re cute kids.”

“Yeah.” I missed them a lot right then.

“Moira didn’t join our clan until later,” he said. “We were together for a while, but decided it wasn’t working out.”

Ah hah. “I like her.”

“She’s a good person. She likes you, too. If she didn’t, you wouldn’t be clan.” He winced. “That sounded wrong.”

“Nah. I get it. She’s like the spiritual leader, right?”

“Yes. By the way, she wants to talk to you sometime, about what you saw during the ceremony.”

“I saw them again, in the dream. One, I don’t know, jumped into me. That’s how I turned tiger.”

Logan hmmed. “Maybe she can figure out why you saw them. It won’t be weird for you, will it? Knowing that she and I were lovers and being around her?”

“Maybe a little, but I’m glad you told me so it didn’t come out later as a big surprise.” I wondered if he’d loved her, or still did. What if they’d been doing friends with benefits for years? “Um, how long ago was it?”

“We called it off about three years ago, and it lasted about that long, too.”

Yikes. They’d broken up about the same time I’d decided to stop being a virgin. “Now it’s weird.”

“Why?”

“My longest relationship was six whole months.”

“If it makes it better, my shortest was two months,” he said.

“Mm, yeah, that does make me feel better.”

“We should probably get some sleep.”

“Yeah, probably. Does it bug you that I’m six years younger?”

Logan countered with, “Does it bother you I’m six years older?”

“You know my mom’s more than ten years older than my dad, right?”

“Actually, no, I didn’t. Now that I do, I’m wondering whether you prefer younger men.”

I laughed. “I’m twenty-three, dude. I can’t like much younger men or people would call me nasty names. Besides, I do like somewhat older guys.”

“Am I in the ‘somewhat older’ category?”

“We’ve kissed, I’m snuggling with you, and none of it’s been icky, so, yes.”

He laughed. “Then I won’t worry about the age difference if you don’t.”

“Okay. Good night.” My aim was better. I kissed his cheek that time.

“Night.” We snuggled closer and I closed my eyes.

“L
ady Discord.”

I groaned and tried to pull the covers over my head, but Logan’s arm pinned them to my waist.

“Lady Discord?”

Why was Logan’s arm on my covers? I cracked one eye open to find a lovely view of Leglin’s nostrils. Didn’t move away, because I couldn’t. Logan’s arm was on my covers because he was behind me. Right behind me, as in, we were spooning. I was Little Spoon. He was a purring Big Spoon.

“Lady...”

“I’m awake,” I said, wishing the elf hadn’t decided I should be.

“Very good. Breakfast is being served.”

“Okay, thanks.” I touched Leglin’s cold nose. “Good morning.”

Thump, thump, thump.

“I missed you bunches. Are the other dogs okay?”

“
Yes, mistress. Soames has tended to us since you disappeared
.”

I made a note to do something really nice for Dane. “What do you know about what’s happened?”

Logan woke, his purr trailing off. “Morning.”

“Did you sleep well?”

“Yes. You?”

“Like a log.”

“We make a good snuggling team.”

I smiled, scratching my hound’s chin. “It was pretty epic snuggling.”

“I thought so too. Did someone mention breakfast?” Logan rolled over onto his back. I could feel him stretching.

“It’s on the table.” I patted Leglin’s head. “You can tell me everything you know while I get dressed.”

“D
ane’s informed everyone we disappeared,” I said while joining the men at the table. “And Damian was one of the people he contacted first.”

Logan looked up from his plate. “The time-lapse spell?”

“The time-lapse spell. They know about the portal. Thorandryll’s closed the club, and has people going over it. He even has a,” I had to fight a smile. “An extraction team on standby, waiting to rescue us once the portal opens again.”

“But they’ll be on the other side of the mountains, in that other realm,” Connor said.

“We’ll talk about that in a minute. Kate and Damian are part of the extraction team. Dane too.” My partner had told Leglin everything, in case I called the hound. I even knew that Alanna would take care of my other dogs when the extraction team made it through the portal.

“Who are Kate and Damian?” Kethyrdryll asked.

“Witches, two from the most powerful coven Santo Trueno has to offer. The cavalry’s on the way, guys.” I grinned, but put on my serious face after a few seconds. “Now for the other realm thing. I’m wondering about something. You said the Sundering sucked all the magical energy and shaped it into a ball. One that bounced out of sync with the human world.”

“Correct.” The elf put his fork down.

“And the Melding was supposed to put the supe realm back in sync. Which it did, except for this part, the Unseelie realm.”

Kethyrdryll glanced at Logan, who said, “That’s what the humans call all of us: supes. It’s short for supernaturals.”

“Ah. Then, yes.”

“Okay, so what we have, or I think we have, is three different realms basically operating at different frequencies. Human realm, the outer one surrounding the Unseelie realm, and the Unseelie Realm. Where did that outer realm come from?”

“I thought we decided it was part of the Unseelie lockdown plan?” Connor scratched the side of his head. “Didn’t we?”

“I think we did, yeah. Anyway, here’s what I think: that outer realm is actually an extension of this one, a failsafe to keep something or someone from getting out of here. It shouldn’t be operating at too different a frequency as the inner realm, because someone sent that ice golem to pick up people.”

All three were staring at me. I hoped they thought I was making sense. “That outer realm has managed to hit the same frequency that Dreamland operates at, because that’s where it’s been opening.”

“So if you’d tried to teleport us home when the portal was open?” Logan asked.

“We probably would’ve gone home, because Dreamland operates at close the same frequency as the human realm, and so do I. But the portal wasn’t open. We bounced off the outer realm, and I guess that might have changed our frequency, at least for a few seconds, because we landed here. In the inner realm.” I waved my hands. “That’s not the best part though. Or maybe the worst part. I think the outer realm is matching Dreamland’s frequency more often, because Nature doesn’t like being divided.”

“Coming into sync.” Connor grinned. “But that means we’ll be able to go home for sure.”

“Yeah, but what’s going to go home with us?” No one had an answer for that. “What I also think is that since I’ve been here for a few days, maybe I’m attuned to the frequency now. I mean, the Unseelie realm one.”

Logan tapped his fingers on the table’s edge. “How can you find out?”

“By doing this.” I teleported to the pavilion’s door. The men jumped to their feet. “Over here, guys.”

They settled back down, but Logan frowned at me. “Warn me next time. What if that hadn’t worked?”

I walked back to the table and retook my seat. “I’d be in the outer realm, unless the portal was open. I’d teleport again, and get bounced back here.”

His frown deepened. “Exactly where, here?”

I waved his question away, because I didn’t know and was really glad my spur of the moment test had worked. “I can teleport again. I’m pretty sure I can teleport over the mountains, if I’m right about the realm frequencies coming into closer sync. Which means I can bring the extraction team back here, to help us get to the castle and find out what the hell’s going on with the Unseelie.”

“You mean, we can bring them back,” Logan said, his frown turning into a scowl as I shook my head. “Why not we, instead of just you?”

“Because there’s at least eight elves, Damian, Kate, their familiars, and Dane. That’s a lot of people to transport, dude. I’d rather not sprain my brain doing it by adding you three, both hounds, and Selwin.”

“Oh.” His scowl faded. “What if they’re not there?”

“I’ll wait.”

Connor snorted. “What about the gremlins? Or that golem?”

I smiled. “I’ll stay close to the trees. None of them went close to the tree lines.”

The men wanted to discuss it further, and we did, but in the end, everyone agreed that I should at least try. They didn’t want me to go alone. Kethyrdryll had to stay with the pavilion—some magical bonding thing. Logan wasn’t fully healed, and since we were supposed to get Connor home safe, that only left Leglin.

L
ogan was waiting outside my room after I grabbed my coat. “Hey.”

“Hey.”

“You’re going to be careful.”

“Absolutely,” I promised.

“Good. Would it be all right if I kissed you?”

“Yes, please.” I hoped it was a super, duper good one. Just in case my plan went up in flames and I dumped myself in the river with the drakes.

“Great.” He slung his arm around my waist, pulled me close, and buried his other hand in my hair. I nearly missed the chance to put my arms around him, and let out a squeak of surprise. Then his lips were on mine.

The best kisses are those that make you forget everything but the person you’re kissing. I hadn’t experienced many such kisses, and that one blew those few others off the playing field entirely.

It was a serious freaking kiss, one that sent my pulse soaring. When Logan ended it with a final, firm press of his lips, my eyes fluttered open. “Wow.”

A slow smile spread across his face.

“I may have forgotten my name.”

“You’re going overboard.”

“Not really.”

He hugged me, his fingers slipping from my hair. “Don’t be gone long.”

“I’ll try not to.” We walked outside hand in hand, where Connor and Kethyrdryll were grooming Selwin. Well, the elf was. Connor was watching.

Kethyrdryll stopped to hand me a small, leather pouch. “Emergency tent. It will provide shelter, warmth, and food. There’s also a barrier ring. Simply place both on the ground. Once the others arrive, one of them will break camp for you.”

“Thank you.” I tied the pouch to my belt.

“Fair travels, Lady Discord.”

On impulse, I pecked him on the cheek before turning to give Connor a hug. “You guys stay out of trouble.”

“I have so had my fill of trouble. You don’t even know,” the younger shifter said.

About to laugh, I didn’t as a vision flashed across my mind.
Terra’s pale head, his bright one bent close, their arms around each other
. “No, you haven’t.”

“What?”

I shook my head. “Nothing. Gotta get moving.”

Logan hugged me again, and whispered, “You saw something, didn’t you? What was it?”

“Something that points to us getting home.”

“Okay.” He released me, and I called Leglin to my side.

“We’re off.” I took hold of the hound’s collar, and teleported.