Triple Dog Dare [Triple Trouble 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (14 page)

Jan quickly shook his head and took a step back. “No, sorry, lovely. Of course not.”

Lina let out an amused snort and hooked her arm through Elain’s. “Come on, girlfriend. We want to show you something.”

Out on the porch, Lacey took Elain’s other arm. “We’ve got a lot to talk about.” Jasper led the way, not pulling but definitely eager to get going. The path led through Lacey’s garden, which was lushly blooming with the last of her late-summer flowers and herbs. A sundial sat on a pad of paving stones. Past the garden, the path gave way into a needle-strewn path through the forest.

“Ain and the guys said you could tell me if I’m a shape-shifter like them.”

Lacey nodded. “Yes, I can.”

Elain tried to hold in her nervous irritation. “Am I?”

“Are you what, dear?”

“Am I a shape-shifter like my guys?”

“No.”

Relief threatened to overwhelm her. “Oh, thank God! That would have been too much extra wackiness I don’t need right now.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I think you misunderstood me. You
are
a shape-shifter, but you’re
not
a shape-shifter like your men.”

Elain stopped. “What?”

Both Lina and Lacey urged her forward. “Keep walking, chica,” Lina joked. “We haven’t finished frying your brain yet.”

“But…but you said I wasn’t a shape-shifter!” She really,
really
wanted to hold on to that little nugget.

Lacey kindly laughed. “I’m sorry, dear. That was a poor choice of words on my part. You
are
a shape-shifter. You’re just not like your men.”

“So what am I? Are you going to tell me I’m a raccoon or something?”

Lina snickered. “I’d pay money to see that.”

“Not helping!” Elain screeched.

Lacey patted Elain’s arm. “Calm down, Elain. You are a wolf shifter. But you are not just like your men. Your men are Alphas, yes. As are you.”

The longer Lacey talked, the more Elain watched her hopes for any semblance of a normal life go up in a puff of despair.

“But you are far more than your men,” the old Seer continued. As they walked, Elain felt the path descend. The woods around them had thinned, and Elain distinctly smelled cold, salt water nearby.

“Is there some sort of cure for this?” Elain grumbled. “Some way to un-wolf me?”

Lacey smiled. “No, dear. Believe me, once you wrap your mind around everything, you won’t want to let go of your new life.”

“Can I tell her?” Lina asked.

Lacey laughed. “If you must, Lina.”

Lina squeezed Elain’s hand. “You know how we talked about my Seer gig?”

“Yeah?”

Lina grinned. “Guess what? You’ve joined our club.”

Elain stopped short, her feet planted firmly enough Lina and Lacey both had to stop, too, or let go of her arms. “Say what the fuck?”

“You’re a Seer, like me,” Lina said. “Well, not exactly like me. I’ve got all the Goddess crap and found out about that first before the Seer shit. But you were born to the office, as it were.”

“But…but I don’t have visions or dreams or whatever they are like you do.” Then she remembered the visions she had about her and her men and children.

She shoved that memory out of her head. She already had too much to deal with.

“You don’t have to,” Lacey said. “That will come as your power develops. Have you noticed lately that you seem to be able to read other people’s emotions?”

Elain started to say
hell no
then stopped.

Kimberlie, that day at the restaurant, when Elain went to have a talk with her about Brodey. She’d felt the other woman’s sadness.

Lina, when they first met at the house, and several times since then. Not too long ago, when she met Lacey.

And her own men, and others…

Elain let go of the other two women and plopped down in the middle of the path, her head in her hands. “Fuck!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. Jasper, apparently worried about her outburst, nosed in close and whined, his tail slowly wagging in a sign of uncertainty.

The two women stood there, quietly watching Elain pitch an epic temper tantrum worthy of the most cantankerous three-year-old. Then, she stopped screaming and took a deep breath, slowly letting it out again. She let out a hoarse laugh as Jasper pawed at her and whined again. She petted him, laughing again when he licked her cheek.

“Feel better?” Lina asked.

“Not really.” Elain climbed to her feet after giving Jasper one last pat. “But at least I got that out of my system. I’ve been wanting to do it for a while.”

“Now don’t you wish you could make a tree explode?” Lina asked with a playful smile.

Elain nodded. “I’ll admit it sounds like a handy talent.”

* * * *

They reached the rocky overlook at the shoreline a few minutes later. Elain had her doubts about either the aged or the uber-pregnant Seer being able to make it down the steep, rocky path leading to the shore, but both women, apparently well familiar with the trail, forged on ahead without hesitation. Lacey unsnapped Jasper’s leash, and he ran down first. Once on the trail, Elain realized it looked much more treacherous than it was. Within minutes, they were down at the secluded beach area. Jasper happily barked as he ran around, staying just clear of the water and bringing them small driftwood branches to throw for him.

Elain stared out over the water. “This is beautiful.”

“That’s what I thought the first time I saw it,” Lina said. She grabbed Elain’s arm again. “Come on. Over to the thinking rock.”

Lina groused a little when she realized she needed an extra boost from Elain to clamber up onto the large, flat-topped rock, but once all three women were seated and staring out over the water, Elain took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

Around her the gentle sound of the breeze and waves breaking on the shore filled the air. The occasional
caw
of a seagull, apparently a creature as ubiquitous here as on Florida beaches, punctuated the air. After a few minutes, Jasper settled down and clambered up onto the rock with them where he settled between Elain and Lacey. He laid his head on Lacey’s leg and promptly went to sleep.

“This is nice,” Elain whispered. For the first time since her mom’s arrival in Florida just days earlier, she felt a sense of peace descend upon her.

Hell, it was the most peaceful she’d felt since before Brodey and Cail took her to lunch in Venice a couple of months earlier and had her for dessert in the parking lot, which started her wild ride, headfirst, down the waterslide to hell.

“You’re always welcomed here, Elain,” Lacey said. “Even if I’m not home, feel free to come down here.”

“So what are we doing here?” Elain asked. “Please don’t tell me we’re going to hold hands and break out into rounds of ‘Kum Ba Yah.’ That’s really not my thing.”

Lina snorted. “No, I’m more a Black Sabbath kind of girl.”

“I feel like I’m on a crazy train, that’s for freaking sure,” Elain snarked. “Totally off the rails.”

Lacey laughed. “For one thing, that was Ozzy, not Black Sabbath. For another, we’re not singing. We’re here to talk.”

That took Elain aback. “I’m freaking impressed, lady. You don’t look like a rocker chick.”

“You live as long as I do, you get tired of the same old shit.” Lacey let out a sigh. “Let’s get down to business, ladies.”

Elain laughed. “Aw, I wanted to see Lina blow up a tree.”

“I’m here all week,” Lina added. “Try the veal.”

Lacey shook her head. “You two should have been born sisters.”

“No, then we’d probably hate each other,” Lina said.

“True,” Lacey nodded. “The family we choose is sometimes far better than the family chosen for us by Fate.”

“I still don’t know what all this means,” Elain said. “I’m a Seer? What does that even mean?”

“The wheel is constantly turning,” Lacey explained. “I still have many years left in me, but I will not live forever. As your powers grow, and you learn how to use them, you will one day take over for me.”

Elain stared at her for a moment before flopping back on the rock and staring up at the sky. “Can I just kill myself and put myself out of my misery?”

“Aaaand we’ve reached the kill-me-now phase of our fun,” Lina quipped.

“No, seriously,” Elain said. “What am I supposed to do with this new information?”

“Nothing,” Lacey said. “There’s nothing you’re ‘supposed’ to do with it.”

She stared at the woman for a moment. “Say again?”

“All we’re here to do today is tell you what we know. As Lina can tell you, her experiences are different than mine. I was friends with Bertholde, Lina’s predecessor. How Bertholde experienced her abilities was different than how I did. And different than how Lina does. No two Seers are alike. All we can do is offer our counsel to our Clans. Lina was a crucial key to bringing the wolves and dragons together. Her Clan’s prophecies were key in bringing us to the point we’ve now reached. What we must do is close our ranks and protect ourselves from those who would destroy us.”

“Those chicken dudes?” Elain asked.

Lina laughed. “Cockatrice. And yes, those dudes.”

Elain had to ask. “What’s up with this whole blood oath thing? Do those asshats honestly think they have some claim on me?”

Lacey frowned. “The Abernathy Clan has been…avoided for a long time now. They were troublemakers back in the old times. They started, and lost, several Clan wars. To the point their ranks were eviscerated of Alphas. They closed themselves off and required extravagant dowries of money, and blood oaths for children, to allow people to mate into and out of their Clan.”

Elain tried to absorb that. She sat up again. “That makes absolutely no sense. What about finding a One?”

Lacey shrugged. “They could care less about that. Rodolfo Abernathy, as long as there is still breath in his hide, rules his Clan with an iron fist. It is said he killed one of his own sons and one of that son’s sons because they disappointed him. He is an Alpha. One of the very few left in his Clan.”

“He doesn’t realize there’s no fucking way I’ll go with him? Much less that the guys won’t let it happen? I triple dog dare the fucker to try to take me.”

“Oh, he wouldn’t hesitate to resort to abduction.”

“That’s illegal!” Elain said.

“Unfortunately, he doesn’t care about the law,” Lacey responded.

“He’d have to fucking kill me. This guy isn’t dealing with reality. I’m sorry, I’m no lawyer, but I’m pretty damn sure blood oaths aren’t legally recognized contracts in this country.”

“And that is why Charles and Ellie did what they could to help shifters. I dare say at least half, if not more, of the people they helped were trying to escape from the Abernathys. Rodolfo Abernathy isn’t interested in right or wrong, only in keeping his Clan under his paw and guaranteeing his line survives.”

“And that’s why Charles and Ellie were killed?” Elaine asked. “Because they helped people escape him?”

“I’m sure that’s part of it, although there is no concrete proof. There are others who have taken their place. They aren’t openly talked about, needless to say.”

“I have proof,” Lina said. “I saw the fucker who killed them. Fat Boy.”

“Mr. Creepy?” Elain asked.

Lina nodded. “One and the same. And since he did it after Liam met with them, my guess is he’s after you.”

“Ain seemed pretty insistent on trying to keep this whole thing hush-hush from the Clan bigwigs,” Elain said. “Like he’s afraid the Clan will actually hand me over.”

“You have to understand something,” Lacey said. “We don’t want another Clan war. Anything that draws outside attention to our affairs puts us all at risk. Rodolfo Abernathy knows that. He’s willing to risk it.”

“So you’re saying she not only has to worry about those asshats, but asshats from her own Clan?” Lina asked incredulously. “I can’t believe Ain and the guys would agree to that.”

“No. To keep the peace, the Clan Council would agree to uphold the oath.” The old Seer slyly smiled. “Who’s to say you wouldn’t disappear without a trace, however?”

Elain followed her train of thought. “And then the Abernathy asshats couldn’t complain I wasn’t handed over, and the onus is on them.”

Lacey touched her nose.

“Sooo,” Elain slowly said, “what you’re saying is that I shouldn’t worry?”

“Oh, I’d worry,” Lacey said. “They’re bug-nuts crazy. However, what happens in public isn’t the same as what will happen behind the scenes.”

“Why doesn’t someone just fry Rodolfo’s nuts and get it over with?” Lina asked as she examined her fingernails. “I’d be happy to oblige.” She waved her hand in the air. “Ooh, pick me, pick me!”

“And perhaps that’s what should happen,” Lacey said. “I haven’t seen his future. I haven’t seen anything about him in a few centuries, to be quite honest.”

“Do you know their Seer?” Elain asked.

Lacy shook her head. “They haven’t had a Seer in over two hundred years. He killed the last one because she dared tell him the truth.”