Warrior's Rise (25 page)

More silence. “Who told you? How did you find out?”

“Well, when a psychotic fairy queen tried to kill me and then Darien’s back started to glow I figured something might be up. Never would have guessed that we shared the same sack of crap father who ran out on his own people like a coward!” Years of venom and hate poured out of Logan like magma.

“I didn’t run!” he shouted. “I was the last of my race! I went into the human realm so that I could pass on my lineage! Too bad it was all wasted on two useless sons—”

“These useless sons of yours have fought when you hid, you lousy excuse for a man!” he roared. “And now one of your useless sons is going to be executed in forty-eight hours if you don’t give me the information I want! I didn’t call here to play family reunion with you! I just want an answer to something so that I can go save my brother’s life and do what you never had enough balls to do—protect the Avari people! So shut up and listen to what I have to say! The sooner you give me what I need the sooner I can hang up and go back to pretending like you don’t exist!” He was shaking with the force of his own rage and it must have come across to his father because the man was silent for a very long moment.

“And our only shot at beating Cyrcinus at the moment since my
army
is made up of four human teenagers!”

“All creatures fear the Kaleydia. They’re the masters of the domain and are avoided by all races. The Kaleydia have no friends or allies. They are laws unto themselves.”

“I am
not
—“

Logan heard himself growling again and it immediately made his father stop speaking. It also caused all of the kids to stare at him in shock. “You know something?” he snarled. “For all of the horrid crap you put Darien and me through, it makes me sick to know what a complete weenie man you are. ‘The Kaleydia are dangerous and unpredictable.’”

The kids stifled laughter as Logan mocked his father in a high-pitched voice.

“’I’m the last living full blooded Alveda d’Kai and I beat my sons to make them strong, but I’ll hide in the human realm to avoid doing my real duty and fighting for the people I swore to protect.’ Well guess what, Daddio? You’re nothing. You’re worse than nothing. After this is over and Darien is safe, I’m bringing him home to live with me. I refuse to have him be subjected to you any longer than necessary.”

“You can’t do that!”

“He’s eighteen. He can do whatever he wants. Now shut up and tell me what I need to know or I’ll be sending your son home to you in a body bag!” His voice all but shook the rafters of the cabin.

“The Kaleydia hate the Supporo worse than the other races,” he finally relinquished. “When Cyrcinus started her campaign to be the most powerful ruler in the realm, she not only did away with the Alveda d’Kai. She tried to do away with the Kaleydia as well. It didn’t work so well. She ended up killing the daughter of the chief of one of the packs and wore her fur pelt into battle. All of her soldiers were clad in slain wolf pelts as well. As you can imagine, that did not go over well with the Kaleydia. They almost annihilated all of Cyrcinus’ forces. After that, she planted wolfsbane all around her castle to keep the Kaleydia from attacking… That was years ago.”

Logan scowled. “What you never did. Stick around.” He stabbed his finger down onto the End Call button and let out an enormous sigh. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Lucy standing next to him, offering a comforting smile. Her care twisted his heart and he slipped his arm around her waist. “Come on,” he murmured, “let’s go free Darien, okay?”

She nodded, tears in her eyes.

He stood and faced the others. “Grab what weapons you can.” He stuffed his gun into the back of his pants. “We’re going wolf hunting.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

Her mind kept remembering random events, things that didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, but meant a great deal to her now. Like the time Logan had seen her sitting in the meadow the day he’d been shot in the arm. He’d looked over the flowers Lucy had given him, the ones she’d told him would enable him to see fairies, and he had. He’d looked over the flowers in such a way that it had dispelled the invisible cloak Willow had placed around herself. It had shocked her.

The Avari fairies had next to no special abilities, but they could hide their presence from humans if they wanted to. She’d sat in the meadow, just wanting some peace and quiet, wanting to think… She’d thought it was odd that Logan had showed up there anyway, but she‘d remained. After all, he couldn’t see her. She’d studied him while he’d been out there, him and the entire situation. She’d reacted so badly when she’d found him playing with the weapons stored for her people. Freaked out, yelled at him, told him she’d rather send him to jail than have him there… And then the poor man had taken an arrow in the arm. His luck hadn’t much improved.

When Logan had first waltzed into her office like he owned the world, she thought
he
would be the one to mess up
her
existence. Look what she had done to his. She’d obliterated his entire world. He’d almost been killed twice and everything he’d known had been turned inside out. And still he sought to protect the Avari. After the shock of what he was had worn off, he’d embraced her people as his. He’d picked up where the Alveda d’Kai of her childhood had left off.

Her people were not warriors. They were gentle, nature-loving, family oriented pacifists. He’d tried to teach them to fight… A lot of good it had done them. Cyrcinus had wandered right in and conquered their village while half of the men had been inebriated. Still, he had tried. He had made an effort. He had sought Cyrcinus out and stood toe to toe with her, had taken a knife in the stomach, just to keep her from finding the Avari.

Darien was a great warrior and a kind person. He had the physical abilities of the greatest Alveda d’Kai, but Logan… He had more heart underneath his prickly exterior than any man she had ever known. For someone who had been so self-absorbed, he’d risked so much for her, for her people, and the kids.

She’d been so adamantly against being attracted to him. She’d been so stubborn and so prideful… She’d been so afraid. Afraid he would only use her for what he could get out of her. Afraid it would all be a game to him. Afraid she would just be another conquest.
Why would I want to return to lukewarm mediocrity when I could have fire?
His words… He really thought that of her. He’d told her he wasn’t going to try and seduce her so that she would know he meant what he said, so that she would trust him. He was everything she’d ever wanted in a man and she’d been so against him that she hadn’t even realized it until it was too late. She was a stupid woman. A stupid woman with far too much pride.

“Miss Willow?”

She opened her eyes and turned her head. She and Darien had been tied back to back to a stake in the ground in the courtyard, next to the gutted and burnt structure that had once been her home. They were surrounded by a circle of armed guards to make sure that none of them tried anything funny. They hadn’t been fed, hadn’t been given any water, and just because she felt like making a statement, Cyrcinus had made the guards hold Darien down while she flogged him mercilessly.

“What is it, Darien?” she asked quietly.

“Do you think he’s alive?”

Alveda d’Kai could only heal one another. Their healing abilities did not work on themselves, so Darien’s voice sounded weak and laced with the pain his wounds inflicted. It stabbed at Willow’s heart. “Logan?” she murmured.

“Yeah… And Lucy…”

She closed her eyes, tears threatening at the choked note in Darien’s voice. “They didn’t find their bodies, Darien. They have to be.” Cyrcinus’ men had checked the outlying forest to make sure that her ambush hadn’t managed to kill her prize on accident. No one but a few unfortunate Avari had been found.

Suddenly, a comforting breeze brushed across Willow’s face and she drew in a breath. Tingles broke out all over her skin and her heart skipped a beat. A smile touched her lips and hope surged to life inside of her. “He’s alive,” she stated.

“How do you know?”

“I can feel it.” She didn’t know how, and she didn’t know why, but she could. She knew he was alive. She knew he was all right, and she knew he was coming. She closed her eyes again, and did what she should have done for him all along. She put some faith in him.

* * * *

Logan remained stoic, even though his emotions were in turmoil. He stood atop the hill where Lucy and he had watched Cyrcinus the night before. Willow and Darien were tied to a stake in the middle of a ring of armed guards. He couldn’t see clearly from his position, but Darien looked worn and fatigued. He thought of Willow and her beautiful soul. His brother… His woman… His people. It was up to him to save them. Him and the five courageous kids who stood behind him, waiting. They had all dressed in clothing of green or brown shades to blend in with their surroundings. Lucy carried a bow and arrow. Colt carried a sword. Aki actually had a mace and Doug had a can of pepper spray. Learning how to handle medieval weapons had proved hopeless for him. His gift was with brains, not with brawn. Logan carried his gun and a small dagger. It was the closest he could get to a hunting knife and he was more comfortable with those than with a cumbersome sword or a bow and arrow.

He closed his eyes and focused his attention on the strange, foreign feeling within him, the thing that Willow called his Alveda d’Kai instincts. He’d been fighting them because they felt like a strange entity living in his body, vying for control. He didn’t like to give his control to anyone or anything. It was precious to him. But here, now, he reached inside of himself and embraced the darker part of him, the beast that only Willow could tame. He let the feelings wash over him, filling him with the driving need to possess, to dominate, to fight. He felt it surge through him like fire and it filled him with power and drive. Slowly, he opened his eyes as an eerie calm settled over him. His lip curled as he looked back down at the village he’d come to love, and he felt the growl rumble in his throat and chest. “Pray, Cyrcinus,” he snarled in a low timbre. “Pray I let you live.”

* * * *

“This forest is freaking me out,” Aki whispered as she huddled close to Colt.

“No freaking kidding,” he grumbled. “It looks like the Headless Horseman is gonna pop out any second.”

Logan smirked as he proceeded noiselessly through the dark forest. The moss-covered, leafy woods the Avari resided in had gradually changed into one of dark-wooded, gnarled trees with thick branches. Most of the leaves were green, but some trees had leaves of a dark, blood red color. No moss covered the ground. Only snarled, tangled vines that made it difficult to navigate without tripping and twisting your ankle.

“Please, for the love of everything holy,” Doug whispered. “I love
Lord of the Rings
as much as the next guy, but if ring wraiths really do exist and they come for us, I’m gonna pee myself and not be ashamed of it.”

Logan let out a laugh that he couldn’t stifle. It wouldn’t have mattered any other time, but right then it seemed to be a bad idea because a spear whizzed past his head, coming dangerously close to removing his nose for him. He immediately fell down on his stomach. Aki screamed and arrows rained down around them as sinister figures seemed to materialize right out of the trees. The kids fell down to the ground also, covering their heads while Aki continued to scream. Logan looked up enough to see a fur-covered boot in front of his face. He only caught a glimpse before he was hauled up by the back of his shirt.

He held his hands up. “We come in peace!” he shouted. “We mean you no harm!”

Aki screamed again and Logan looked over to see a troop of men circling the cowering children, spears poised. He gasped as the arm holding him drove him backwards against a tree and held him there with a strong hand on his chest.

“You humans
dare
to enter our territory!” the voice on the other end of the arm snarled.

Logan tried to catch his breath, as it had been driven from him on impact with the tree. “I-I’m Alveda d’Kai,” he croaked.

The hand moved from his chest to his throat and squeezed. “Liar! The Alveda d’Kai have been extinct for the last thirty years!”

Logan shook his head. “No, I’m the last of my kind!” he rasped, grasping desperately at the unyielding grip on his throat. “My brother and I!”

“We seek an audience with the Kaleydia!” Lucy’s surprisingly fearless voice rang out.