Wyvern and Company (15 page)

"She was. I was too young at the time to realize what was
happening. It just seems so long ago," she shrugged. "We have a headstone
at a cemetery, but there's nothing else there."

"We saw Randall Pierce on the way home, yesterday,"
Sarah said.

"Was his Mongol horde with him?" I asked, turning my
attention to her.

"Two of them. They honked and gave us the finger when we
drove past them."

"His father was fired yesterday," Dad said. "It's
not common knowledge yet," he added. "My attorney is working with
Mack's dad on a lawsuit—when you willingly break the law, it's generally not a
good idea to brag to your coworkers about it."

"He did that?" Gina's soft brown eyes turned to Dad
in alarm. "He did it on purpose, then told people?"

"He almost got Mack killed," I growled. It was a
decent growl and if I worked on it, I might compete with Mack someday on what
he had naturally. "On purpose."

"They're investigating other incidents at the jail,"
Dad said. "When inmates were attacked or found dead in their cells, just
to see whether Raymond Pierce had any involvement in those events. It's not
looking good for him at the moment."

"So he's lost his job, and may get jail time?" Mack
asked.

"It's possible. He almost committed murder, after all."

"Randall probably knows we're being homeschooled with you
and Mack," Sarah pointed out. "Some of the kids at school know, so it
makes sense."

"We can make arrangements to pick you up and take you
home," Mom offered. "Someone will be with you, in case threats are
made. We can notify the police, too, if they harass you further."

"A ride wouldn't be a bad idea," Sarah agreed. "I
don't want that to happen again. They were really rude."

"Then Adam will drive you home today, and Lion will follow
you in your car," Mom said. "I don't think those boys are stupid
enough to toss insults at adults."

"They're not brave enough to toss insults at adults,"
I said. "They're cowards, and can't stand up to anybody unless they have
friends with them."

"That's true," Gina agreed with me. "If they
think they have the edge, they'll be as nasty as they want. Threaten them back
and they run."

"That's usually how things work. Just watch out for them
to come running back with bigger, badder friends," Mack said. I realized
he was talking about the night before, as well as Randall Pierce.

Did what we fought last night have bigger, badder friends
waiting? Grampa Frank and Uncle Merrill said they existed and to watch out for
them. I wanted to shiver. I forced the fear back as best I could and tuned into
the conversation again.

* * *

"If his dad lost his job, Randall will lose his car,"
Mack pointed out quietly on our way back to class. "He thinks this is our
fault, instead of placing the blame where it belongs. He'll retaliate, just
wait and see."

"I hope not," Gina hugged herself beside me. "I
know he's a bully, but surely he wouldn't do anything serious."

"I wouldn't put anything past him," Sarah grumped. "We
saw what he did to Justin's car."

"Yeah. It still isn't fixed," I said. It sat in one
of our garage spaces, a forlorn remnant of its former glory. I'd liked my car,
even though it wasn't a sports car like some of the others had, or painted a
flashy color.

The Honda was reliable, and never failed to get me where I was
going.

Your dad says the property here is warded, whatever that
means
, Mack sent as we walked into our afternoon classroom and lessons with
Bearcat.

I think it means that Randall can't get past the gate
,
I replied.

School let out early that afternoon. I was glad, because Mack
and I were nearly asleep when Bearcat handed out a writing assignment and sent
all of us out the door.

Just as Dad promised, he drove Sarah and Gina home and Lion followed
in Sarah's car. No sightings of Randall Pierce, but that didn't mean anything.
I was suspicious of him, anyway.

Mack and I slept until dinner, worked on our homework
assignment for a while afterward and went back to bed. Fighting spawn was
tiring work, no matter how you looked at it.

* * *

A long grocery list lay on the island when we walked into the
kitchen on Thursday morning. Breakfast waited, so Mack and I dug in.

"Extra crackers and peanut butter?" Mom teased Mack
as she added things to the list. "Marlianna and I are going to the store after
a while."

"Cookies?" I begged. I loved the kind that were
crunchy on the outside with frosting on the inside.

"One package, and you have to make it last," Mom
pointed a finger at me.

"Will do," I grinned. She didn't buy those cookies
often, because of the HFCS and palm oil added. Fresh-baked was always better,
but I had a thing for evil sandwich cookies.

Mack and I shuffled away to brush our teeth after breakfast,
so we could get to class on time. We'd discovered that Joey liked his students to
be punctual.

* * *

Adam's Journal

I was on the phone with Martin Walters when Kiarra and
Marlianna went out the door. With so many people in the house, we needed more
groceries more often. I waved at her as they walked toward the door leading
into the garage.

I should have gone with them.

* * *

Justin's Journal

About an hour into our afternoon classes, I knew something was
wrong. So did Bearcat.

"I'll be back," he stopped in midsentence and
practically ran from the room. Gina and Sarah turned to Mack and me, but I felt
terrified and ill for some reason.

"I gotta go, I think I'm gonna be sick," I ran out
behind Bearcat.

I skidded across the kitchen tiles in time to see Dad carrying
Mom into the house. She was covered in blood and I wanted to shout.

Lion followed Dad, and he held Marlianna so tightly against
his side they looked like one person.

"Out of the way," Karzac appeared from nowhere with
Dragon. Pheligar appeared right behind Karzac and looked like a blue
thundercloud.

"Justin, come with us." Uncle Lynx arrived, with
Aunt Wolf behind him. Lynx wrapped a strong arm around my shoulders and pulled
me back so Dad could get past.

"What happened?" I still felt queasy, but now I
wanted to cry, too. Mom wasn't conscious, and that frightened me in ways I
couldn't begin to describe.

"Humans, backed by larger spawn," Aunt Wolf growled.
I recognized that growl. It belonged to a wolf. "In a parking lot, of all
places," she added.

"They attacked in the grocery store parking lot?" I
squeaked.

"That's right, in broad daylight," Lynx huffed. "Somebody
was watching for them to leave the property."

"What the hell is going on?" Merrill raced into the
kitchen and demanded. I could tell he was ready to take somebody apart, too.

"Kiarra and Marlianna were attacked outside the grocery
story," Wolf explained. "Kee fought them off, but she was wounded and
now she may lose the baby."

Before then, I didn't know Merrill's background. I knew
enough, though, to recognize Latin when I heard it. He was cursing and running
down the hall toward Mom and Dad's bedroom in a blink.

"What happened?" Mack, Gina and Sarah walked into
the kitchen.

"Justin's mother was in an accident," Wolf said. "I
think school is over for today. Lynx and I will drive you home."

* * *

"They attacked her outside the grocery store?" Mack
shook his head in disbelief after Lynx and Wolf herded Gina and Sarah into the
garage and drove away.

"Yeah. I don't know how many, but Wolf and Lynx said that
humans and older spawn attacked."

"This sucks," Mack shivered. "I mean really,
really sucks."

"Yeah. I hope Uncle Karzac can do something."

* * *

Ad
am's Journal

"Stay with me, Kiarra," Pheligar said. He and Karzac
managed to bring her back to consciousness, but she was naked and covered in
blood as they struggled to save the babe. She was also crying as she lay on our
bed, so I did my best to soothe her with mindspeech while the best physician I
knew and a Larentii worked over her.

Dragon was hunched over in a corner, going quietly insane, I
think, because his mate, as tiny and inconsequential as she was, was slipping
away from us.

Justin and Mack needed information, too, and they'd been left
alone in the kitchen while Lynx and Wolf took care of the human girls. Bearcat
and Joey waited nearby, in case their healing services might be requested, but
there was little for them to do except worry.

Lion had his hands full with Marlianna, and eventually folded
her from the room, as she was still terrified after the attack and shaking
after seeing what she assumed to be a miscarriage.

"Kiarra, focus on me," Pheligar said. "Connect
with me. I will lend you what I can." He began to glow, and eventually
Kiarra was bathed in blue light. Karzac pulled his hands away—Pheligar was
doing something I'd never seen or heard of before.

We watched as slowly, so slowly, things came back to normal
and the blue light disappeared. Karzac placed his hands on Kiarra's abdomen,
then dropped to his knees bedside our bed in relief.

"The child lives," he croaked.

"I must feed," Pheligar's voice was little more than
a whisper as he disappeared. He'd spent the vast energy he had to save my
daughter.

* * *

Justin's Journal

"Your Dad and Karzac will stay with her for a while,"
Joey and Bearcat walked into the kitchen. Joey sat on a barstool, while Bearcat
wrapped his arms around Joey. For the first time in my life, I saw Joey shaking
while Bearcat did his best to make Joey comfortable and calm him down.

"She's fine; they saved the baby," Bearcat laid a
kiss on top of Joey's head. "They're letting her sleep, now."

She's all right, Son
, filtered into my head.
The
baby, too. Karzac's keeping her in a healing sleep, that's all
.

Thanks, Dad
, I returned.

Wolf and Lynx didn't come back until an hour and a half later,
but they had Dad's SUV filled with groceries. They'd gotten what was on Mom's
list and then some. Mack and I, still feeling as if the ground had shifted
beneath our feet, helped them unload everything and put it away.

I never knew Wolf had a healer until then, but he arrived and
she introduced him. Antiani wasn't human. Oh, he looked mostly human, but he
only had three fingers and a thumb, instead of the usual four. His skin was the
color of pale coffee, his eyes were green and he smiled a lot.

He fixed dinner for us—beef stir-fry, with help from Wolf and
Lynx. Dinner that night was a somber meeting with everybody in the house.
Daniel, who'd been out most of the night before with the Fresno Pack, wandered
downstairs and stopped dead still when Wolf turned to hand him a plate.

Lynx caught the plate before it fell, because Wolf had done
the same as Daniel, forgetting she held a plate to start with. Mack blinked at
me before we both turned back to stare.

Daniel moved first, raising his hand slowly, as if he were
afraid he'd spook Wolf and make her disappear.

I heard her intake of breath, then, because for a few moments,
she'd forgotten to breathe.

It's the M'Fiyah
, Lynx sent as he stepped back quietly.
Mate recognition
, he translated, after realizing I didn't understand
what M'Fiyah meant.

I think I released a breath I didn't realize I'd been holding
when Daniel's hand touched Wolf's face, then held my breath again as Wolf
turned her cheek into Daniel's cupped hand and closed her eyes in ecstasy.

We were watching love at first sight, six-point-oh.

"Holy, freaking cow," Mack mumbled beside me.

They heard, Daniel dropped his hand, Wolf turned pink and both
laughed. Then, all during dinner, Daniel had his hands on Wolf as often as
possible and both disappeared the moment it was polite to do so.

Mack and I did the dishes, so everybody else went to the back
deck to talk. Half of them carried drinks. Dragon, who'd come in at the last,
didn't speak, ate quickly and poured bourbon from Dad's private stash into a
glass before going with the others.

He'd had a hard day, too.

"Think we can sneak in to see Mom?" Mack whispered
as he shut the dishwasher door and turned it on.

"I hope so," I nodded. "Let's go."

Karzac and Dad were with her; she was still asleep when we
walked in as softly as we could.

I was surprised that the blood had disappeared. Actually, it
shouldn't be a surprise. If somebody can build a mansion in a day using power,
I guess cleanup is nothing after that.

She's fine—we'll wake her in a few minutes, she needs to
eat
, Dad sent.

So do you
, I pointed out.
Leftovers are on the
stove, and Antiani made noodles with mushrooms and tofu for Mom
.

Antiani is a good cook
, Dad replied.
That's your
mother's favorite dish that he makes
.
When he and Raheela cook together,
your mother always asks for a plate
.

Raheela?

Lynx's healer. She's an elf. They're together, they just
like to keep that fact secret. Antiani doesn't want to aggravate the Elf King
.

There's an Elf King?
My head was reeling as
The Lord
of the Rings
swept through my mind.

It's nothing like that
, Dad offered a mental chuckle.
I
hear the Elf King can use profanity better than anyone, and that includes your
mother
.
He was angry that Lynx stole one of his citizens away to become
his healer. That's where the secrecy comes in
.

I wish I understood that
better
, I shook my
head.