Red (5 page)

“Trisha is my responsibility,” Steve said at once in a low, urgent voice. “Her brother is a good friend of mine and he asked me to keep an eye on her while she was in town.”

“What about the fey?” Bebe asked as they watched Lynda leave Trisha at the door to one of the closer rooms. Trisha disappeared inside and then the stunning pixie squared her shoulders and headed directly for them.

“Looks like we’re about to find out,” Steve muttered.

Lynda stopped before the
were
trio and bowed her head, though she didn’t break eye contact.

“Thank you for coming to our rescue tonight. I know what you are, though I’m not entirely sure
who
you are. Trisha says you’re her brother’s Army buddy?” The surprising woman looked directly at Steve.

“I am. Her brother called and asked me to keep an eye on her and your group while you were in town.”

The pixie looked weary. “After what happened tonight, I’m really glad he did. And I thank you for interceding and bringing us to safety. I’m Lyndelia van Esperingan, but the humans know me as Lynda. They don’t know what I am.”

“Forgive me, but other than fey, what exactly are you?”

The pixie laughed quietly and the sound was almost enchanting. “Sorry. I’m only half-fey. My mother was a human mage. My father is a warrior prince currently living in another realm. I’m making a go of it here, but lately it’s been one thing after another with lesser mages trying to trap me and steal my magic. Usually, I’m a lot better at defense than I have shown myself to be here in your territory. I’m very sorry. I wouldn’t have come on the trip and endangered my human friends had I realized any of this would happen.”

“So you believe they were after you?” Pete asked as Steve held off, watching and weighing the pixie’s words.

“Whoever
they
are.” She shrugged. “I’ve been hunted off and on for a few decades. There’s been a slight uptick in the number of incidents just lately, but I didn’t think anything could get past my defenses. I’ve learned my lesson after tonight.” She made a face. “I would appreciate it if you didn’t reveal my differences to my friends. I like being human and living among them as much as I can. I wouldn’t want that to change because of tonight’s misadventure.”

On one level, Steve couldn’t believe how selfish this woman sounded. On another, he sort of understood her desire to be just a normal human with no worries other than the normal human worries. But this little fairy was in for a rude awakening and Steve was just the man to deliver it.

“I won’t reveal your secret, but you’d better wake up and realize the
Venifucus
are out there and they’re gunning for every being who serves the Light. Even one as self-centered as you.”

The pixie recoiled from Steve’s accusation and he was glad she appeared to be thinking about his harsh words. Steve was building up a good head of steam when Pete put one hand on his arm, the gesture saying without words that Steve should be more cautious. He didn’t like it, but this was Pete’s territory. Steve needed to defer to the Alpha werewolf in his Pack house.

“We will not out you to the humans, but neither can we allow you to put either them or us in even more danger than we are already in. This Clan has already paid a terrible price to the evil of the
Venifucus
recently, and we have still not recovered from it.”

“I don’t understand.” To her credit, the pixie-woman actually looked both confused and concerned. “The
Venifucus
. They don’t exist. My father said they were vanquished centuries ago.”

“How old are you, child,” Bebe asked in a soft, motherly tone.

“I just turned seventy,” Lynda answered in a small voice, clearly responding to Bebe’s warmth.

“Och, you’re just a baby by your people’s standards. Ours too, come to think of it. You don’t know much about the ancient troubles with the
Venifucus,
do you? And if you’ve been living completely among humans, you probably haven’t heard the news that they are most definitely back. Come now, let’s get you cleaned up and then we can have a long talk. I’ll catch you up on everything that’s been happening in the magical world while you’ve been playing at being human.” Bebe put her arm around the much shorter woman’s shoulders and led her down the hall, shooting a look back at the men that said
let me take care of this
, in no uncertain terms.

“Thank the Mother of All for Bebe,” Pete muttered, and Steve had to agree.

“Do you have any blood-drawing equipment? Syringes, tubes, sterile pads. That kind of thing.” Steve turned to Pete, already on to the next thing on his mental list.

“Sure, why?” Pete looked interested, and Steve was glad to explain. The Alpha would need to know what was going on in his Pack territory, especially right in the Pack house.

“Trisha is a doctor. She wants to try to identify the substance they were all dosed with. I said I’d take her by the lab and she seems eager to try to do something to help her friends.”

“Won’t they just sleep it off?” Pete frowned.

“Probably,” Steve agreed. “But I can see her point in wanting to know exactly what it was they were given, in case there are any longer-lasting effects.”

Pete nodded. “Hall closet should have what you need. I’m going downstairs to talk to everyone and meet Grif, Slade and Kate. I’ll send them up when they get here.”

“Thanks.” Steve shook the older man’s hand with genuine affection. Pete was like an uncle to him and always had been.

The men went their separate ways and Steve headed to the closet to gather supplies. His hands were full when he scented…something. Something stirring. Something amazing. Something…

He turned around, clutching the supplies to his chest as he stared down the hallway that led to where the human women were being housed for the time being. The alluring scent wafted nearer and he stood, transfixed as a terrycloth-covered female shape stepped into view. She was rubbing at her long, dark, wet hair and her face was obscured, but Steve knew exactly who she was.

She was his mate.

Now that the overpowering chemical smell had been scrubbed away from her body, Trisha’s natural scent bombarded Steve’s senses with an undeniable truth. She was his. The cat inside him stood up and yowled while the man stood, unable to move, frozen by the startling realization that lightning had finally struck.

Trisha Morrow was almost certainly his destined mate.

And her brother was going to kill him.

Chapter Three

“Oh, good. You found some supplies for me. Thanks.” Trisha walked right up to him clothed only in a fluffy, white terrycloth robe and a towel draped around her neck to absorb the water still dripping intermittently from her hair. She wasn’t shy about taking things out of his hands, her delicate fingers brushing against the fabric that covered his chest, heightening the instant arousal that had attacked him the moment he’d caught her true scent.

She seemed preoccupied by the crinkly wrapped syringes, alcohol wipes and various other first aid supplies he’d collected from the closet. She emptied his hands and turned to go, and he was powerless to do anything but follow in her wake. He was struck nearly dumb by the idea that he’d finally met his mate.

And she didn’t know the first thing about the real world. She was human. Innocent of the knowledge that they were not the only highly advanced creatures that inhabited the earth. Even though she was friends with a half-fey, it was clear the pixie-woman—as Steve had come to think of her—was keeping her friends in the dark about Others.

Trisha didn’t know. And her brother was one of his best friends in the human world. He didn’t know either, though he often questioned some of the things he’d seen Steve do in the field that a regular human man wouldn’t have been able to accomplish—even someone as skilled as Deke Morrow.

Deke was gonna murder him. There was no way around it.

“I’m going to take blood samples from everyone and then I’d like to go see your lab.”

“What about sleep?” He had to object. It was for her own good.

He felt a new responsibility for her welfare—even above and beyond what he’d felt before knowing she was dear to a good friend of his. Suddenly, she’d become dear to
him
, personally, and he felt some kind of weird biological imperative to protect her in all ways.

“Oh, I feel fine now. The shower revived me.” She peered back over her shoulder as he followed her down the hallway. “I’m good to go for a few hours yet. And I’d like to narrow down what’s affecting my friends as soon as possible, just in case it’s something worse than it appears.”

“Maybe I can help with that,” a new voice sounded from behind Steve. It was a mark of his preoccupation that he hadn’t heard the priestess come up behind him.

He turned and made way for Kate, the priestess for the Clan, to pass.

“Hi, I’m Kate. I came to help.” She held out her hand and took some of the nearly overflowing supplies out of Trisha’s hands. “My husband, Slade, is the big guy creeping up on Steve.”

Dammit!

Steve turned around and sure enough, there was Slade, one dark brow quirked in surprise. Then his icy-grey eyes turned to Trisha and back again, widening.

Slade slapped Steve on the back and grinned as he came even with him. “Your brother is downstairs talking things over with Pete. The others are on standby in case we need them. What do you think?”

Steve grimaced. Where the protection of his mate was concerned, there really was no alternative.

“We need them,” he confirmed with a suppressed growl.

While he wanted to be near Trisha, Steve knew he needed some distance to get a grip on his reactions. Two people had just gotten the drop on him. Slade could almost be forgiven. The man shared his soul with the most magical of cat shifters and had spent most of his life as a covert operative. He had serious skills.

But Kate had no stealth skills to speak of. The fact that she’d walked openly up to him and he hadn’t registered her presence told Steve he was dangerously off his game. Better to go away for a few minutes and regroup. He had to see his brother anyway and he trusted Slade to keep an eye on things up here for the moment.

“I’ll go talk to Grif.” Steve watched the two women enter one of the rooms, already chatting like old friends. “One of the women is half-fey. She’s hiding it. The rest of them probably don’t have a clue,” Steve warned Slade as he turned to go.

“And the one with my mate?” Slade delayed him by asking.

“My friend’s sister. The one I was asked to keep an eye on.”

Slade frowned. “That makes it more complicated,” he said cryptically. “I take it your friend doesn’t know about us.”

“He probably suspects. He saw a lot while we were deployed, but he’s never come straight out and asked,” Steve admitted.

“He’s going to try to kick your ass when he finds out you’re sweet on his sister,” Slade observed as if it was obvious Steve had a thing for Trisha. Maybe it was. Slade could literally
see
magic. Maybe the bond between mates was something visible to him.

“Yeah, I know.” Steve ran a hand over his short hair in frustration. “But there’s nothing I can do about it. She’s—”

“Your mate.” Slade’s tone was knowing, unambiguous.

Steve wanted to curse, but he also wanted to crow. After all these years, there
was
a woman for him. He’d given up hope. He’d made his life about his family and his Clan. He’d never expected to add a mate to that equation, but it looked like the Mother of All had other plans for him. Only he had no idea how it was going to work.

“She’s human.” He spoke his thoughts aloud.

Slade was silent for a long time. So long, that Steve looked over at the other man.

“What? You sense something about her?”

Slade’s icy blue eyes narrowed at the spot down the hall where the women had gone. “Could be. Go talk to your brother. I’ll check on my mate—and yours—and I’ll let you know what I find out.”

With those cryptic words, Slade prowled down the hall on silent feet. He shared his soul with two separate creatures—a black leopard and a Himalayan snowcat that came out to play only rarely because its appearance caused such a ruckus. Snowcats were considered holy beings among most other kinds of shifters, and Slade had a lot more magic than most. For one thing, he didn’t have to disrobe in order to shift shape. That was a talent reserved for the most magical of creatures.

But Slade had also been—and still was, Steve privately thought—a highly placed covert operative for the Company. Steve didn’t think Slade was still interested in going on missions, but Steve had little doubt the man kept his hand in. He had an information network that was as far reaching as it was well informed.

Steve stopped delaying and hustled down the stairs to see Grif. No doubt the Clan Alpha would have a few things to say about the guests his brother had brought home tonight. Steve wasn’t looking forward to explaining any of this because he was as confused as he’d ever been. He’d have preferred a little alone time to think things through, but there was no help for it. Grif was here. It was time to face the music, even if he wasn’t prepared to dance.