“Sheesh. They couldn’t wait until after we left?” she asked.
“Come on,” I said opening the door. “Let’s go see if the tub in the guest room is big enough for you.”
“They built it for an owl and a lynx. I seriously doubt it,” Bree smirked as I scooped her up.
“Yes, but I think they prepared for the possibility of Nashen laying a dragon egg one day,” I said.
Thankfully, the guestroom bathtub did allow her to sink into the water fully. I added in some sea salt and perched on the edge of the tub while she soaked. Neither of us brought up the dead people again because what were we supposed to do this far from home when bodies were showing up in the shape of love? If Pami materialized in front of me, I’d deal with her, but until then, life had to go on. If I stopped living every time shit hit the fan, I’d never get my feet off the ground. You learn to spin with the air currents.
“This feels really nice,” Bree said and I held back on saying ‘I told you so’ because that’s the last thing a stressed out pregnant person wanted to hear.
Chapter 15
Pami
Canton Valley Farm
I slipped back into my own personal loophole right about the time the dragoness bellowed. There was a tiny little spot where one line of a runic letter didn’t quite connect to the next. Pras and Clarence didn’t know everything then and they don’t know everything now either. Neither of them have figured it out. To be fair to the lizards, it is too slim of a margin for Ferrick to slip through, but I’ve always been lithe and apparently that carried over into my afterlife.
Well, sort of afterlife. I went through my door. I did the right thing, but there was nothing there for me. It took what felt like ages to find Broug and he wouldn’t even speak to me. There’s no way to undo the link between us. So at some point he’s going to have to forgive me. Maybe he’ll kill me first the next time around. I can’t imagine now why I chose him. Then again, I don’t know why a lot of things have happened. Some of it I don’t remember. Some of it is only beginning to resurface.
Sharon Claudis is dead to me and I’m going to make sure she remains that way even if I have to kill everyone who carries an ounce of her blood. That bitch isn’t about to rise from the dead after killing me when I was just about to wrap my fingers around ultimate power. Then I lost myself for a bit. I really did. I wasfine with playing quid-pro-quo with the dragon until I realized he meant to kill my brother’s baby. Not my Nashen. No one’s allowed to hurt him. During my living years, he might’ve been the only one whoever loved me. Even my parents used me as Ferrick did. If the dead bear guy – he’s big and hairy as if his fur keeps breaking through his human flesh – didn’t drag me off and make me see Ferrick’s real plans…. I’m not going to think about that because it didn’t happen. Now, I have to make it up to Nashen and I have to keep Sharon Claudis from being reborn. I figured that’s easily enough done at the same time. Nashen wouldn’t want the likes of Sharon Claudis running around.
It was easy enough to find Dewie. All Sharon Claudis knew about her ‘lost’ son was that his carrier was a coyote from some territory down south. Dewie is a coyote from down south. One down for the count. The hairy bear man might not like that I offed his brother but that’s just how life goes. It wasn’t hard to do. Melbie – the jaded shebear was so easy to prod. She thought I was her spirit guide. Convincing her to lay low until I could conjure the perfect storm wasn’t hard. Then she killed Dewie and his bobcat mistress for me. Then I offed her because anyone who could be so easily convinced to kill someone they loved wasn’t a friend I wanted to keep around. There was only room for one crazy person in my social circles and that was me. I arranged them in a nice little heart for Nashen and his new friends to find. I couldn’t blame the dragoness for being a little shocked. After all, I almost gutted her mate, but that’s before I knew what Ferrick wanted to do to Nashen. No one messes with my brother. Especially not an egg smasher who didn’t even have the balls to castrate his cheating mate. If Roster Moonscale had been my mate, I’d have worn his testicles as earrings.
Chapter 16
Eran
Canton Valley Farm
Most shifters weren’t modest, but I did stop and put my clothes on before leaving the bedroom. If it came down to a fight, I at least wanted my balls tucked away before the world exploded.
“What do you think is going on?” Vatten asked me, stepping into his own pants.
“No fucking clue, but it doesn’t sound good. Diamond Moonscale wouldn’t bellow like that for no reason. She’s not squeamish. Either the storm got someone or—Something. I don’t know,” I said and hated that I couldn’t reassure my mate that everything was okay.
Together we ran down the hallway toward the chaotic chatter of the group. I made out words like ‘massacre’ and ‘corpse’ and ‘heart.’ None of them were very promising of it merely being a horse caught in a tornado or something like that. Instead of heading straight for the group gathered by the ladder I spotted my family with the littles all around them and headed that way. If something was wrong at one exit, we were meant to move along to the next one. Except most people were crowdedaround the ladder as if they were willing participants in some humanoid traffic jam.
“What’s up?” I asked, looking toward my sire.
“Dead bodies,” Jacand said before anyone else could answer. “Someone arranged them in a heart shape.”
“Shh!” our carrier shushed him, but the littles were already asking questions.
“I think we’re going to go down a few and slip out that way,” I said, taking Vatten’s hand in mine. Only he slipped away before my parents could tell me it was a bad idea to take off on our own. He headed toward the ladder where Bellamy was holding tight to Gooseberry’s collar as he barked up the ladder. I couldn’t quite make out what the puppy was going on about. The difference between dog shifter and non-shifter was a dialect I never really wrapped my head around fully. Whatever he was saying, though, Gooseberry was not a happy puppy.
“He says the scary lady was up there,” Vatten said in Philip and Canton’s general direction. “The scary lady was around earlier. Freaking scary lady! I’ll eat—” Vatten stopped translating for a minute. “He won’t let her eat anyone down here.”
“It has to be Sharon, right?” Bellamy asked. “You,” he looked at Philip, “said that the other woman couldn’t get out.”
“This isn’t Philip’s fault,” Cypress cut into the conversation and I pushed my way through the crowd to get over to my mate. If Bellamy and Cypress came to blows from the stress of the situation, I didn’t want Vatten anywhere near that.
“This isn’t any of our faults!” Canton said, raising his voice above the increasing chaos. “Look, if you live on the farm, you’re going to follow Brent out that way. You’re going to go home and stay home or at least away from this area. You’re not going to be alone. You’re not going to turn off your security systems because they make weird noises. You’re going to text the group chat if something is amiss and only if something is amiss.”
“Why do people who don’t live here get to stay?” someone asked.
“They don’t. You’re just leaving first, sweetheart, because they have further to go,” Canton said, softening his tone. The speaker was one of Brynn’s teenage daughters. “Go with Brent. He’ll get you.”
