Magaestra: Loyalties: An urban fantasy series Read online

  “You’re about to tell me that the deal our fathers made included a ‘no feeding from people’ clause,” Marc rolled his eyes. “Of course, they did. My father didn’t know your family very well. He was concerned about the safety of his people. That is no longer the case, and neither of our fathers are going to pop out of the woodwork to argue with us about it.”

  “But…”

  Marc sighed. “Look, Aldric. The point of the whole agreement was to keep people safe from the sort of vampires that were plaguing the world back then. The ones who were preying on any and every one, without even a thought to consent or safety.” Mark turned a pointed glare at him. “That isn’t you. I don’t know exactly what happened down there, but I know that you didn’t force Faith to bleed for you. If someone decides, of their own free will, to feed you or anyone else in your family, I’m not going to throw you out of the clan for that.”

  Aldric slumped back in the chair, absorbing the news. He had been bracing for the seemingly inevitable since they were rescued. Since Faith had jammed her bloody arm into his face, in fact. That Marc wasn’t doing the expected had thrown him.

  “I do want to ask you, however…” Marc suddenly sounded tentative. He cleared his throat and a crease formed between his brows. “Um, Faith is a mage, and, well. We know why they're hunted. Why Conti and Cherro are helping the Goldfangs.”

  He left the unspoken question hanging in the air. Aldric knew, of course, what he was asking.

  “That’s the truth about how I got freed from the boulder,” Aldric said. He felt almost like he was confessing to murder, but Marc’s expression of concern and his previous words had Aldric taking a deep breath. “We don’t know if there are other effects yet, but after I fed from Faith we tried to use her magic to help me push the boulder off my leg. It did not work out quite the way we expected.”

  The fastest way to answer Marc’s question would be to simply show him.

  21

  Faith glared at her coffee. It had been two days since they raided the Goldfangs’ camp and saved Greg. Ken had split his time at the Clan house between working with her and her magic and taking notes from the captured wolves. Jesse Honeyford was especially chatty once he was allowed to visit with Greg, telling them all about Molin’s skills and habits and whatnot. Guess nobody was all evil. Well, at least he wasn’t.

  Tamika refused to let Faith do anything strenuous, but she had hauled a deck chair over so Faith could watch the self-defense lessons. Madeline had checked in on her at least once a day when she came by to check on Greg’s healing process. It turned out that using her magic so frequently sped up her healing, much like the rest of the injured Frostwalkers. Faith wasn't about to complain since her ribs still ached, but they hurt a hell of a lot less than they would if she was fully human.

  Marc had sought her out several times, making sure that she was resting up and to tell her that they were thinking about hiring Greg on as a Frostwalker Clan homeschool teacher sort of thing. They were worried about sending Jake and Kaylee to a school outside the property what with everything that had been going on, and a few other parents had also expressed some concerns. It was still only the middle of July, but that just meant that they had time to let him heal before taking on a half dozen kids ranging from 5 to 12.

  But Aldric? Faith gulped half her mug back in one go just to prevent the snarl that was starting to form.

  Aldric had been avoiding her. She knew that he could hear her coming and he was making sure that he wasn’t there when she arrived. She was pretty sure he even used his new vampire mist powers to escape out his bedroom window once, and she was about goddamned over it.

  “That is a terrifying scowl,” Tamika said as she plopped into a seat across the table. “I hope I’m not the one that caused it.”

  Faith flashed her friend a grin. “Nope. Aldric.”

  Tamika hissed a breath in and scrunched up her face comically. “Oh lord, are we going to need a new Chief Enforcer? Cause now I’m afraid for his life. What’s he done now?”

  “He’s avoiding me,” Faith grumbled. “Like a jerk.”

  Tamika blinked, surprised. “Why on earth would he do that? He’s stupid over you. As in I actually watched him trip over thin air when you walked past in the hallway once. Like a teenager with his first crush level stupid.”

  Faith felt her eyebrows lift. This was news to her. Well, she knew that he was interested, but…

  “Seriously? He tripped?”

  “Almost face planted into the wall. It was kind of amazing. Took me and Rod ten minutes to stop laughing and we still tease him over it.” Tamika started giggling at the memory. “So, solve the mystery. Why’s he avoiding you?”

  Faith sighed, carefully turning over her words. “Some stuff happened while we were in that cave. It was kind of intense, you know? And I guess he’s not handling it well.”

  Tamika snorted. “You mean when you fed the idiot.”

  Faith flinched back and gaped at the grinning woman across the table.

  “Uh… what?” Faith barely managed to stammer the words out and she sure as heck didn’t think she was convincing.

  Tamika laughed again. “Oh man, sugar, you should see your face! Did you really think we didn’t know?”

  Faith couldn’t manage to get any words to string together, but finally she squeaked out, “But…”

  “Oh, honey.” Tamika reached across the table to pat Faith’s hand. “We’re wolves, remember? We could smell you all over him. And we could see the blood all over where his pants were ripped up, but he wasn’t bleeding. It didn’t take any sort of brilliant insight to figure out what happened.”

  Faith’s stomach sank. No wonder Aldric was avoiding her. It was probably one of the stipulations Marc laid on him to stay in the clan. Marc must have been so pissed. Oh no, and that explained Marc’s frequent check-ins and Madeline coming over so much. Sure, she’d had a concussion, but it had still seemed a bit much. They were making sure that she had no ill effects from Aldric feeding, or that he didn’t try again not that he would.

  “Oh, god. I have to go find Marc. I have to explain.” Faith started to stand, but Tamika’s grip on her hand tightened.

  “Sit down, Faith. What’s wrong? Why are you so freaked out?”

  “I made him do it!” Faith said, her words coming probably too fast. “He didn’t want to, but he was dying, Tamika! I couldn’t just let him die!”

  “Of course not, sugar. Nobody would expect that. The only thing that upset Marc about it is that Aldric didn't tell him. Marc had to drag it out of the idiot.” Tamika stood and rounded the table to pull out the seat next to Faith and perch in it, pulling Faith’s hands into her own. “What exactly are you so worried about?”

  Faith wasn’t even sure where to start. “Aldric knows he broke the rules. He didn’t want to. He shouldn't be punished for that. I mean he was so weak I could have taken him in a fight, and you know I’m not exactly good at throwing a punch.” Boy did she. Tamika had planned to give Faith some extra self-defense lessons, one on one, before the raid had sidelined Faith’s activities. Magic was so much easier.

  “Nobody’s punishing anyone, sugar. Nobody is in trouble,” Tamika said. “I promise. Marc’s been a bit grumpy because he considers Aldric to be his best friend, and Aldric was been very obviously avoiding the subject with him. That boy's still acting a bit shifty around us, and now I guess I know why, if he thought he was going to get raked over the coals for it. I have to say, I’m a bit offended. I’d thought he would know us better than all that.”

  “But he told me that not feeding from people was one of the stipulations for his family joining the Frostwalker Clan in the first place. His dad agreed and they all swore an oath or something.” Faith sniffled.

  Tamika laughed. “Well, sure they did. Old James barely knew them, and the whole world was at war with vampires. It was a pretty reasonable precaution at the time, but like any rule or law there were exceptions made. A, uh, voluntary donation by
a consenting adult is perfectly okay. Apparently vamps can get a little bitey during intimate moments.” Tamika grinned lewdly and wiggled her eyebrows. “I guess that answers an entirely different question of ours, too. Glad we talked Kenya and Ori out of starting a betting pool. I'd have lost good money!”

  Faith huffed and scrunched up her face. “That’s none of your business. Nosey wolves.”

  Tamika laughed. “And don’t you forget it! But honestly, Faith. Neither of you have anything to worry about. I promise. I’d bet Marc is telling Aldric the same thing in their meeting right now for the third or thirtieth time. Giving him a serious talking to for not trusting the rest of us, too. Oh, that boy’s never going to live this one down.”

  It was the nearly gleeful sparkle in her friend’s eyes that finally let Faith relax. Tamika was honestly not upset by the thought of Aldric feeding from Faith. In fact, she seemed to think that he had already done so, at least a nibble.

  “God. I should have known you would figure it out, too.” Faith groaned and leaned back in her chair.

  “Too?” Tamika asked. Her tone was casual, but her eyes had gone sharp. “What do you mean figured it out, too?”

  “Ken figured it out and confronted me about it the other day. He pointed out that he’s a detective. Uncovering things people don’t want to tell him is literally his job.” Faith said with a grimace. “He was definitely not happy about it, though. Gave me hell and I had to defend Aldric’s honor. I wasn’t nearly as worried about him as I was about Marc and you guys, though. Ken has a grudge against non-humans in general and vampires specifically, so I figured it wouldn’t exactly change his opinions, you know?”

  Tamika frowned, the beads in her hair clacking softly as she tipped her head in thought. “I’m not sure that’s a good thing. You should mention it to Marc, I think. That detective is not our biggest fan.”

  “That’s true,” Faith agreed. “But he can’t argue that the cops are even sort of ready to face down a pack of thugged out wolf shifters. Especially not with rent-a-vamps and blighthounds involved.”

  Tamika nodded but didn’t say anything.

  “I know, I know. I guess he could make life difficult. I’ll mention it to Marc,” Faith agreed. “But first I have to figure out what to do about Aldric. If he’s not avoiding me because he was told to, then what the hell is his problem?”

  Tamika rolled her eyes at that. “That boy is a damn fool. That’s what his problem is. How it’s possible we’ve only known you a few weeks I’m not sure. It feels like it took us years to get him to fess up that he was sweet on you.”

  Faith blinked. “Huh?”

  “Aldric is not real experienced at this whole ‘dating’ thing. I think I’ve only seen him go out with someone romantically maybe a half dozen times since I’ve known him? And mind you I met him when I was about two.” Tamika sighed heavily. “If I had to guess I’d say he has a little bit of a hang up about being a vampire. He knows that he’s dangerous to anything with a pulse and he came of age when vampires weren't winning any popularity contests, so he maybe he unconsciously avoids situations that might lead to feeling like taking a nibble, if you catch my drift. I think that he’s been feeling guilty about feeding from you, and that’s what’s going on with him.”

  Faith gaped at the shifter sitting next to her. Tamika’s eyes started to sparkle as she watched Faith’s reactions.

  “It never occurred to you that he was being plain old dumb, did it?” Tamika laughed.

  “What are we, in high school now?” Faith couldn’t quite get her thoughts back together. She’d been irritated, frustrated, then panicking on Aldric’s behalf, then confused and now… “What the hell?”

  Tamika snorted, “I’m pretty sure that Aldric never went to high school. When he was the right age for it, it was sort of optional, I think. Or significantly different at any rate.”

  Faith blinked and slumped forward. Stupid different life span paranormal vampire bullshit. “Not the point, Tamika.”

  “I know, but your brain was spinning in circles and you needed to step off the carousel.” Tamika patted her back. “Don’t worry. Marc is reading Aldric the riot act right now over his moping and nonsense. We’ll make sure that you get a turn next. How’s that sound?”

  Faith sighed and sat up straight. “I’ve been trying to get him to talk to me for days. It sounds like you’re going to have to trick him into it.” She rubbed her hand over her forehead, trying to stave off the stress headache. More coffee would help that, right?

  Tamika laughed again, the sound bright and cheerful against the grey mood Faith was in.

  “You go take some painkillers and clean yourself up a bit,” Tamika said, her hair beads clacking as she shook with laughter. “I will get him up to your room, don’t you worry, sugar.”

  Something in Tamika’s grin seemed entirely too devious. Faith grinned and nodded, then got up to get ready.

  22

  Aldric still felt slightly battered after his conversation with Marc, and it had been several days. After his confession— which turned out to be a great deal less traumatic than he had expected— they had discussed his new ability for a few minutes, then moved on to what they thought the door buried in rubble under the storage shed had meant and why it was so important to hide, then protect with explosives.

  They couldn’t investigate now, however, since the area of the battle was now crawling with human authorities, attracted by the noise of the explosion. They were just lucky that they had managed to clear out before the forest rangers arrived. It had been a close thing. As far as they could tell, the humans had guessed that it was some sort of drug smuggling operation gone wrong.

  It honestly wasn’t far from the truth, as it turned out. Alpha Molin was a slimy, nasty piece of work.

  That, at least, was something that Aldric could feel confident about. The Goldfangs seem to have been badly weakened by this raid, with far more of them at the camp than he and Marc had expected. It seemed that Alpha Molin had driven a great many pack members away. It would likely not be difficult to finish eliminating the threat of the Goldfang Stalkers once they were found.

  Aldric’s own life, however? That was where he felt more than slightly unsure.

  Marc had known. The whole time he had known what Aldric did and had hose to wait impatiently for Aldric to talk to him about it. And the discussion of Aldric’s new ability after had been… interesting was probably the kindest way to put it. Nerve-wracking and more than slightly embarrassing was probably more accurate.

  “Aldric!”

  He startled and blinked, and realized that he had been standing still and staring at the door of his office. Tamika’s voice broke into the self-reflective thoughts he had slid into.

  “Where did you go in there, sugar?” Tamika grinned and tapped his temple lightly with her finger. “I called you about three times before you noticed.”

  “I have a lot on my mind,” Aldric said with a very small smile. He hoped she would drop it.

  “Marc really threw you for a loop, didn’t he? You really thought we wouldn’t notice the blood on your pants and your complete lack of injuries? Really? I think I might be offended!” Her laughter took the sting out of her words as his jaw dropped.

  “You… Did everyone… How many…” Some leader he was. Full sentences should not be this difficult to form.

  “Yes, we all pretty much know. We’re wolves, Aldric. You know better,” Tamika shrugged. “I’m guessing that you were too shaken up to think about it. The real trouble is that Detective Lincoln put two and two together, and came up with four like a good professional sleuth. He’s been after your girl to take Kaylee and run away with him.”

  “What?”

  “I mean, I guess it makes sense from his point of view,” Tamika shrugged. “She’s a human mage, surrounded by non-humans, including several vampires. It wasn’t all that long ago that vampires were the leading cause of death for mages like Faith. It’s understandable that he sees u
s as unhealthy people for her to associate with. And you did feed from her, after all.”

  A new fear gripped Aldric. “But she insisted! I tried to tell her no.” He even sounded petulant to his own ears.

  Tamika shrugged again. “Don’t know what to tell you, sugar. She sat over a cup of coffee for a while after Lincoln left this afternoon, then headed up to her room. Looked determined.”

  Aldric blinked at her, his mind whirling. Then, without coming to a conscious decision, stood abruptly from his desk and headed for the stairs.

  Faith’s room was not far from his own, just down the hallway from Kaylee and Jakes’ rooms. He heard the kids cheerful chatter as he passed Jake’s door, talking about some movie they had just watched, so at the very least Faith hadn’t said anything to her niece about leaving.

  Where would they go, anyway? Where was safer than in the Frostwalker Clan house, surrounded by people dedicated to their safety? Did she think that staying with Lincoln, of all people, could be safer than here?

  He knocked on her door and it swung open to reveal Faith sitting on her bed, staring at her suitcase, which sat on the floor in front of her. She looked up at him, the sound catching her attention.

  “Faith,” Aldric said, starting forward. A strange sensation stopped him, though, like he was trying to walk through deep, thick, sticky mud. He half expected his shoe to stick to the floor and pop off his foot.

  “What the...”. Aldric frowned and looked down at the empty floor that resisted his movements, then back up at Faith. His heart plummeted to his feet when she just blinked back at him. “Did you truly feel like you needed to ward your room? No one here would ever hurt you.”

  She blinked at him, a faint line appearing between her brows. “I know that. I haven’t warded anything.” She frowned deeper. “I’m supposed to go out with Ken later, though, and set up some wards around the property. We don't want another sneak attack like the other morning. Why are you asking about wards?”