River Cast: Part Two in the Tale of Lunarmorte Read online

  “My contact tells me you have a problem, Nikolai.”

  Nikolai chuckled, lifting his hands up in a gesture of disbelief. “I would really like to know how you... have contacts within my Coven.”

  “I’m very old, Nikolai. I have had many years to garner enough knowledge in which to blackmail people.”

  “Of course.”

  “My contact told me your problem goes by the name Pierre Du Bois.”

  Nikolai stiffened. “What is Du Bois up to now?”

  “You know him?”

  “Da. He is a thorn to say the least. What is he up to?”

  He shrugged. “My contact doesn’t know.”

  “You believe your contact?”

  “Yes. Let’s just say he has no pain threshold.”

  “You must watch your methods. If we want our plan to work we must present the right image.”

  He nodded. “Believe me, I know. Don’t worry about me. You better find out what Du Bois is up to, Nikolai.”

  “I have every intention of doing so. If it’s what I think he is up to, it will provide me the perfect opportunity to have him… misplaced.”

  A silence settled upon the room. Then...

  “And the document; is it finished?”

  Nikolai nodded gravely and stood up. His large hand delved inside the wool coat and reappeared with an envelope. He pushed it across the desk separating them, the small diamond on the onyx ring on his pinky finger winking in the dim light.

  He opened the envelope his hands almost shaking in anticipation. The paper inside was the beginning of the end. He was sure of it. He pulled it out and unfolded it slowly, his eyes widening at the information printed in Nikolai’s scrawling penmanship.

  “The Septum,” he breathed.

  “Da.”

  “And we’re sure this is correct?”

  “Positive. We’ve been searching a long time. I would not have brought you it merely based on assumption.”

  He nodded impatiently. “I know, I know. I just can’t believe we’re getting this close.”

  His heart thudded loudly in his chest. All they needed now was the girl. He needed to get back. His plans so far were not going as smoothly as he had hoped, but it was time to take matters in hand. He needed the girl, and at present he only had one avenue to her.

  “Will we get her, you think?”

  “Have no fear, Nikolai. Caia Ribeiro will be in our hands before the year is out.”

  6 - Why?

  “Well, ain’t you a picture,” Ryder boomed as Jaeden threw open her motel door, face pale, and eyes squinting against the sun.

  She sighed heavily, slipping a pair of dark sunglasses over her eyes. “You know I’ve never noticed how annoyingly chirpy you are. Have you always been so, or is this a recent development?”

  He laughed as she pushed past him, heading across the lot to the motel grill & bar. “Not a morning person, huh?”

  “Please be quiet.”

  He grinned behind her back, enjoying her obvious irritation, and by the looks of the stiffness in her body, the morning effects of sleeping in the worst bed in the state.

  Doing as requested, Ryder didn’t direct any conversation at her until they were seated and had ordered. He waited until she finally took the sunglasses off before deciding to hit her with the question that had been bugging him for a while.

  “So tell me... why did you leave the pack in the first place?”

  Her dark blue eyes narrowed, and her full lips thinned in discomfort at his directness. She glared.

  He shrugged. “Hey, I’m just asking the question that everyone will be asking when we get home.”

  More glaring. Wait, was she snarling?

  Ryder snorted and sat up, leaning across the table towards her. “Look, Jae, you are going to have to talk about this at some point. Dimitri was going nuts whilst you were gone. He probably would have had a search party out scouring the country if Lucien hadn’t given him a direct order to leave you alone.”

  He watched the surprise flit across her face, her mouth dropping open in astonishment. It was fascinating, watching the way she wiped the expression clean, putting her cool facade back in place. And just when he thought he wasn’t going to get a reaction...

  “Why would Lucien do that?”

  Ryder smirked, smug (and a little relieved) that he still knew her enough to know she couldn’t resist that little bit of information. “Caia asked him to.”

  Jae frowned. “Wait... why?”

  Suddenly the memory of her broken, of her young skin lashed and burned, her bright eyes blank and numb with torture, flooded his thoughts, sobering him immediately. “Because after what happened to you she thought you deserved the time you needed to yourself.”

  She looked down, shielding her eyes and thoughts from him. “That was... kind.”

  “The girl you met for those, what two weeks, you liked her, right?”

  Still not looking at him, Jae nodded. “She was cool.”

  “Caia cares about you a great deal.”

  She was frowning again, and suddenly he was caught in her curious gaze. “You respect her a lot, don’t you?”

  Ryder chuckled. “Yeah. She’s my friend... actually she’s more like a sister.”

  “So you don’t...”

  What was she trying to ask?

  Laughter bubbled up inside of him as realisation dawned, but he managed to contain it as he replied in a strangled voice, “Nah, I’ll leave that particular privilege to her mate.”

  Sitting back in her seat, seeming more relaxed, she smiled wryly at him, and he tried to ignore the sudden speed in his pulse.

  “Yeah, what’s up with that? Lucien doing what Caia tells him to do?”

  The whole Lucien and Caia thing was mind boggling to him. It was obvious they were crazy about each other, but neither one could see it, and neither one wanted to talk about it. He had had his head bitten off enough times for him to shut up on the matter. Hopefully, they’d work it out before it really was too late, and someone did something they would regret.

  “Cy’s got Lucien wrapped around her little pinky and vice versa.”

  “Before I left I got the impression they were going to ignore their mating.”

  “You got right. Nothing’s changed. They’re still idiots.”

  Jaeden chuckled and sipped at her coke. “I’ve missed the pack and all the drama.”

  “I would have thought breaking Coven laws, and hunting vampyres, would have been enough drama.”

  “That was bad drama. The pack is good drama.”

  “So why did you leave?”

  She groaned and went back to glaring at him. He merely enjoyed annoying her further by grinning cheekily at her.

  She glared. “You never give up, do you?”

  “I’m tenacious. Persistent. Determined. Dogged-”

  “You’re like a rash that won’t go away.”

  His smile widened, but he didn’t have a chance to retort because their food arrived. The first few minutes of silence descended on their table whilst they dug in. Ryder decided to choose his moment carefully, waiting until a sigh of pleasure escaped from Jaeden. Now that she had fed, she might be more amenable to answering the damn question.

  “So why did you leave?”

  This time she just watched him as she chewed carefully, swallowed, and took a sip of her drink. She was deliberately tormenting him, fully aware of his lack of patience.

  “You really want to know?”

  Finally.

  He nodded, afraid he would say the wrong thing and lose the moment.

  At first as she spoke, Jae held his gaze, strong, steady. “After what happened, I was in too much pain to be comforted, and I knew my coldness would only hurt my family.” She stopped and her gaze dropped. “I didn’t know how to tell them all that had happened to me. I didn’t want to hurt them any more with that knowledge. And I was just... a mess... I didn’t want them to see me like that.”

  She refuse
d to meet his eyes.

  You’re lying.

  Oh, he was sure what she’d just revealed was partly the truth, but there was more. He could feel it. What was she hiding from him, from them all?

  Ryder concealed his frowning interest by pretending to cough on his burger. When he looked back up at her, she was eating away at the rest of her food, seeming more relaxed, believing he had bought it.

  Well, let her relax, he mused, while I find out what the Hades she’s been up to.

  ***

  Jae was feeling lighter. She hadn’t had any nightmares last night, no telekinesis kicking in. Ryder seemed to have bought her story and was no longer asking annoying and prying questions. In fact, the rest of breakfast had been fun. They had talked and laughed, and he had filled her in on what had been happening with the pack whilst she was gone. If the rest of the pack were this easy, perhaps her return would go far more smoothly that she’d thought.

  Ah she couldn’t wait to go on a run. Her body was screaming for the change.

  “We’ll be home soon enough and you can run as much as you like.” Ryder smiled, walking closely by her side as they crossed the lot back to her motel room.

  Goddess, she hadn’t realised she had said that out loud.

  “My stuff’s already in the truck. You got your bag together?”

  “It’s already packed.” She sighed, unlocking the door, and wrinkling her nose as she stepped inside the rank room. “I can’t believe you made me sleep here.”

  Stepping further in, a slight coppery smell tickled her nostrils and she stopped abruptly.

  “Oof.” Ryder banged into the back of her, sending her stumbling forward.

  She whirled to face him, her eyes narrowed in concentration. “Do you smell that?”

  He puckered his brow, shrugging and twirling his keys impatiently. “Don’t smell a thing except urine, beer and sex. Can we please go?”

  She shook her head unconvinced, her eyes searching the room. “I smell... I dunno... something familiar.”

  “What’s not familiar about urine, beer and-”

  She smirked at him as he flushed. “And?” She prompted, enjoying his discomfort.

  “Just get your bag,” Ryder muttered, turning away from her.

  Jaeden laughed softly, and turned toward her things, only to stop again. “Hey!”

  “What, what?” Suddenly he was right at her back in defence mode.

  Her t-shirt and jeans lay strewn across the ancient chair in the corner of the room, crumpled beside her now open backpack.

  “I could have sworn I packed this before we went for breakfast.”

  “Is that all,” he whined, “Goddess, Jae, I thought there was an actual problem... not some hormonal imbalance causing female memory loss.”

  “Hey!” She snapped around at him, glaring at him all the while she stuffed her things back into her bag. “I know you’re more of a gentleman than that to talk chauvinistic crap to a lady, so stop trying to irritate the life out of me, Ryder, before I go crazy and end yours!”

  Abruptly he grinned, his golden brown eyes glittering with humour. “Why would I stop when it’s this much fun. Truly...” He placed a hand on his heart. “You bring such joy to my life.”

  She was not going to laugh at him.

  Or think about how light-hearted he made her feel.

  How good.

  No. Down that road there be complications.

  Instead she threw her back pack at him and strode past his laughing face. “You’re funny,” she said sarcastically. “The fact that you’ve been designated the pack golden retriever really doesn’t seem to have dampened your spirits at all.”

  “Uh, hello,” he called to her back, and she heard his pounding steps catching up to her as she neared the truck, “Retrieving you, and saving you from imprisonment, was a very important job.”

  She turned back to him, smiling sweetly. “But hardly the job of a Rogue Hunter.”

  “I’m not a golden retriever.”

  “No? Well, what’s that bell around your neck?” She pointed innocently to his throat.

  He grimaced glancing down, which sent her into hysterics.

  “You looked! You actually looked... I can’t believe that-”

  “Get in the truck,” he growled at her immaturity and stomped around to the driver’s side.

  She sighed happily, jumping into the cab, and twisting around to face him as she buckled herself up. “What’s the matter Ryder? Can’t take a little teasing?”

  He snorted and glanced up at her from under his enviously long lashes. “Oh baby, I can take a little teasing. But you just made this war.”

  Well, she chuckled, this was going to be a looong drive home.

  But at least he would be too distracted to ask any uncomfortable questions along the way.

  ***

  Well, well, well, Marcus thought, watching as the lykan climbed into the truck with her mate. This was turning out better than he had thought. Marcus had tailed the tall female wolf from the city; following the scent he had found at his dead girlfriend’s body before the sun destroyed any evidence of Cora’s existence.

  He had thought to capture the lykan, torture her - perhaps even show her how a man of his species showed a female a good time.

  But this was better.

  Much better.

  The lykan took his female...

  Well, before Marcus killed her, he’d just have to kill her mate and make her watch while he did it.

  And there was no doubt in his mind that the brawny male lykan escorting her out of the motel room was her mate.

  He waited five minutes before jumping into his car and following their exit. He had refreshed himself with the females scent by breaking into their room and sniffing her clothes. He would be able to tail them until their next stop...

  And then he’d make his move.

  7 - New Friends, Old Acquaintances

  Caia was in awe. The fact that some of the students in the huge hall were clearly uncomfortable with her presence didn’t even dispel how excited she was to be watching young magiks and faeries learn communication training from their elders. She could feel Marion beaming beside her, Caia’s apparent enthusiasm rubbing off on the older magik.

  “Have you watched enough, Caia?” Mordecai smiled. “You want to try?”

  That morning, she had opened her guest room door to Marion, a perkier Marion than Caia had ever encountered - eager, Caia was beginning to realise, to show off her protégé. Apparently Lucien had already gone with his escort to check out the Second Unit. At first she had felt a little anxious about being separated from him, but now she was too caught up in the activities of the Centre. Their first stop had been to pick up their ‘tour guide’, Mordecai. He was a stocky, bookish-looking magik in his late twenties, with kind eyes and an easy smile. From his warm reception, Caia was guessing Marion had not only picked him as her escort because of his being a powerful water magik, but because he obviously didn’t care about the fact that Caia’s mother had been a Midnight.

  She beamed like a little girl. “Can I? I mean, I wouldn’t know where to start.”

  He chuckled, enjoying her keenness as much as Marion. “Well, we’ll keep it simple. You haven’t seen much of the Centre so the furthest we can allow you to travel is from here to your guest suite.”

  Little butterflies awoke in her stomach, churning her breakfast back into action. “Wow. I want to, you know, but... those guys make it look easy. I’m guessing dematerialising and re-materialising isn’t exactly popcorn?” Her wide eyes drank in the bright room, watching as magiks and faeries popped in and out of the room at the quiet instructions of their teachers. As if sensing she was about to attempt the spell, some of them stopped what they were doing along with their instructors to gaze across the space at her. She could make out what the closer ones were whispering to one another.

  “She doesn’t look like much. What is everyone afraid of?”

  “I can’t believe they
let her in here. What if she’s a spy?”

  “I heard she eviscerated her uncle without any remorse. Apparently she was smiling while she did it. Ugh.”

  “I think we should give her a chance. If Marion says she’s trustworthy then she’s trustworthy.”

  Caia drew in a shuddering breath, her eyes finding solace in Marion’s gaze.

  “I don’t know what you’re hearing with those ears of yours, but just block them out, Caia.” Marion smiled gently. “Mordecai will talk you through this.”

  “But they’re all watching.”

  “Yes. So? Just forget them. And remember, it can take many, many attempts to pull off your first travel. No one here,” she sneered around the room at them, as if sensing their disapproval of her for bringing Caia, “Has ever done it first time.”

  Exhaling, Caia turned to Mordecai, who was smiling reassuringly. “Let’s give it a go.”

  He nodded, brushing his thick locks off his forehead and pushing the frame of his glasses further up his nose. “Now, Marion has explained that you can differentiate with ease the two energies that make up your lykan and your magik. Is that correct?”

  “Yes.”

  “OK. The tricky thing for you in a communication spell is that other energy bobbing in the background. You see, for any other use of your magik you tap into the energy and expel it from whichever part of your body you want... usually your hands. But to travel you need to grab hold of that energy, and wrap it around your body’s system... cells, muscles, bones... everything, everywhere. You’ll know when you’ve done it, believe me. It’s hard to explain, but you will. Thing is though, it takes a lot of concentration, and at first a lot of time to go through the process. You have the added complication of having your lykanthrope energy. What we need you to do is wrap your magik around that energy without merging the two energies together.”

  Caia blinked, her heart suddenly picking up speed. “What happens if they merge?”

  Mordecai glanced briefly at a stoic Marion and then back to her. “We don’t know. We just don’t want to take that chance. We need you to treat that energy as carefully as you would an artery, wrap around it, but don’t rupture it.”