Authors: Karen Nichols
“Or if someone had been shielding you from the rest of the world.” Brea went still.
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“Why would someone want to shield me from the world? Am I dangerous?”
“Shield you as in hide you from the others,” Jase told her. “Think about what you told us about your dream. Think about the conversation, Brea.”
“I was ignorant,” she said softly. “I didn’t know….” Her eyes flew around, stopping at each one of the people watching her. “I didn’t know because no one told me. But they wouldn’t answer me. They wouldn’t….and then they couldn’t because someone….some thing….attacked…..said he was grateful that they brought me to him.
He said…..he said I was a half-breed….and the other one…the little doctor one…..he said something about a shield….”
Nick was up and pulling her back to the sofa when her face started to pale, her body swaying a little.
“It was a dream,” she insisted, breathing heavily. “It was a dream.”
“Brea….” Annie waited until Brea faced her. “I have a couple other photos to show you.”
Brea nodded and waited, looking at the pictures laid out on the sofa. Her hand shook, her finger tapping on the first photo.
“She was in my dream….but not….not like this,” her gaze moved to the second one. “He’s the doctor one….I don’t know what he is, but it felt like he was examining me. He said I had a shield around me,” she looked up, fighting the panic inside. “He touched my ear, told me not to move and called me a child.” Annie held her breath, glanced warningly at her son and waited.
Brea shook her head slowly, her hand hovering over the last photo. His clothing 198
wasn’t modern. Not very modern, at least, but it didn’t look like a very old photo.
“He was the one who wanted me. Said he’d been looking for me…..and called me a half breed….but it wasn’t…he didn’t look like this,” she looked up at the faces watching her. “He didn’t! He had horns and his skin was like a horse….a very dark horse. It looked hard and shiny. It was a dream,” she finished, hoarsely. Hopefully.
“Brea, do you want the truth? The information I found out from my friend?”
“How…how do you know them?”
Annie sighed and tapped the photo of the older woman. “She’s one of my instructors in the pottery guild I belong to. We’re getting ready to begin the summer art festival season. I’ve known her many years. He….teaches at the University extension in Cutter’s Cove,” she said with a smile. “He teaches ancient history.”
“Tell me, please,” she wasn’t aware of the pleading quality in her voice, the desperate sound that had Nick pulling her to sit back against the sofa, her knees drawn up and arms around them.
Annie took a deep breath, closed her eyes and opened them slowly.
“Your father was from northern Maine. Your mother from a small village….in North Carolina. She was on a college trip when they met in London. According to Wade,” Annie smiled at Brea. “He swept her off her feet and had no choice but to fall madly in love with him. She returned home the end of the summer with your father a week behind her and two months pregnant. They were married in North Carolina.”
“Is….is there family? His family? Her family?”
“Yes and no,” Annie answered softly. “His family refused to accept his choice, 199
their decision. He chose you and your mother, Brea. Your mother’s family lived in the small village in North Carolina. Your father was welcomed there and they started their life. Wade said they were happy. The family was….the village….was preparing for the biggest celebration they’d ever known, setting that date for your birthdate,” she stopped, looking around and sighing. She held up a palm and went into the kitchen, the sound of drawers and cabinets and then silence. She returned and handed Brea a clean hand towel.
“Thank you. Why….she doesn’t look old enough to have been in the village with my parents,” Brea burst out, swiping at the tears on her face. “And him…..neither of them look older than thirty.”
“He said to tell you….you’re a mere child by comparison,” Annie repeated with a crooked grin, glancing over at Jase and then at Nick.
“He told me that in….in the dream. He looked so young and talked like….as if he’d been around for eons.”
“Which should be really interesting in the years to come.” Jase looked at Nick and they both frowned.
“Interesting how?” Jase forced the words out, really not liking the look on his mother’s face.
“You marked her….you both marked her,” Annie made the comment, not making it a question. “Which means you’ve both taken her blood. And she might not have bitten you….I won’t ask…..but she’s taken your……you’ve kissed and exchanged fluids, let’s say.”
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“Oh, god.” Brea hid her face in the towel. “This can’t possibly get any more embarrassing.”
“It’s my mother, don’t bet on it,” Jase sighed. “Mom….the point?”
“Back to the story for now,” Annie announced with a smile. “They were planning the celebration because of who you were, because of who your mother is, Brea. The name for them is Fae,” she paused at the small groan from Brea. “Basically a creature born between angels and nature. A shifter in their own right, some can change to small creatures, some never change at all. The ones I’ve known, and the ones Wade speaks of, live quietly in conjunction with nature as much as possible. They can control things like plants and the weather and….Jase….”
Both men had been focused completely on Brea until Annie stopped speaking and looked down. Nervously.
“And gravity,” Nick exhaled deeply and gripped Brea’s face, turning her toward him and leaning in, kissing her hard and long. Very slowly everything floated back to the floor. He rested his forehead against hers.
“Why….” Brea blinked at him and then at Jase. “What happened?”
“Break…..want some tea? Cold water?” Nick was up and inhaling deeply. “Annie?
More tea?”
“I…yes…please….” She stood and gestured to the hall. “Be right back.”
“I’ll get it,” Brea said with a nod, taking the empty cup and going toward the kitchen without looking at the men who followed her. She pulled the canister from the cabinet and turned the kettle on, preparing the cup and blinking, dazed. “Coffee? Nick, 201
do you want some tea?”
“Yeah….please,” he laid his cup next to Annie’s.
Jase poured his own coffee, his palm beneath her chin. “This doesn’t change anything, Brea. Nothing my mother is going to tell you changes us. Do you understand that?”
“What did I do in there?” Wide eyes brimmed with tears that didn’t seem to have an end looked at Nick. “You distracted me for a reason, Nick. Why?”
“When you get upset, Brea….things float,” Nick said carefully, as carefully as possible. “Including people.”
“Oh, god…..” Brea gripped the edge of the counter, grateful for the strong hands on her waist. Jase led her to the chair and pushed her into it.
“Sit. We’ll manage this,” Jase heard the whistle of the kettle start and poured the water over the small bags she’d placed in each large cup. “Brea…..what do you want to drink?”
“Ice water,” she said with a little nod.
“Nick, get the ice pack….it might help to wrap it in a towel and put it on the back of her neck,” Annie came into the kitchen and took a seat at the table. “Oh, this is lovely. I wondered if you ever used the things I gave you when you built the house,” she ran her fingers over the bright orange and white checked cloth on the table.
“I…I found a stack of them in the pantry. I like them,” Brea said shakily, turning to lean her elbows on the table. “And I love the fruit bowl…..a huge sunflower.”
“I made that,” Annie said with a wink. “I bet it was in the pantry, too.” 202
“We’re guys. We’re lucky to find the laundry basket,” Jase offered with a crooked grin, pulling out a chair and sinking to sit beside Brea. Nick moved to the other side once he had ice in the pack and it was wrapped in a towel. He handed it to Brea and turned the chair, straddling it and setting his cup on the table.
“It’s beautiful, Mrs….”
“No…Annie, please….you’re part of the family now, Brea,” she sipped the tea and sighed. “Will you be opening another shop? I’ll be buying my tea there.”
“She sells coffee, too,” Jase told her. “Dad will appreciate that.”
“I have to start dinner,” she said with a firm nod, setting the towel down and going to the fridge.
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“Brea…..we won’t do well if you end up out on the floor,” Jase told her immediately.
“This will only take a few minutes,” she tapped over the buttons on the oven and set it to heat, adjusted the rack inside and opened the fresh loaf of bread. “Just….talk about something else. I’m fine. Good. I make things float and I’m not human but…I’m okay…really…seriously….” She ripped apart the bread and found the spices she wanted.
“Yeah…..” Nick shifted slightly, watching her and Annie. “About your question and her shop, yes, she’s going to rebuild. Idiot insurance is jerking things around, but we’ll make it happen.”
“I’ve got Terry Eden and Matt contacting her next week. He’s got good design people on his staff,” Jase held the coffee between both hands, but was watching Brea’s movements. The sound of the knife chopping and the smell of fresh celery filling the kitchen. He saw butter and water go into a small pan along with some herbs that she just sprinkled over the mixture in the bowl as well as the water she had heating.
“A design person?” Brea blinked and looked back at him. “I can design the shop?”
“Of course. And if you don’t want it on that spot….” Jase shrugged. “There’s a couple nice pieces of property on the edge of town, closer to the small business district and further from the other coffee shop in the area. I saw two the other day when I 204
went in to talk to the police. You don’t need the apartment on the second level now.”
“No….no, I don’t guess I do,” she lifted a large wooden spoon and mixed slowly.
“I wasn’t happy with the kitchen but didn’t have the money to renovate the old shop.”
“Now you can make it however you want,” Nick took a swallow of tea, watching her scrub potatoes and wrap them in foil, all movements precise and efficient.
“I have a lovely set of cups and tea plates that would be perfect for a café, Brea,” Annie thought of the ocean pattern she had in the store room. “And I could easily make more of the same….we could even have your café’s name put on them.
They’re in an ocean theme, pale blues and crème; seagulls, sea grasses and sand.”
“They sound perfect,” Brea finished stuffing the large hen, sprinkled butter over the top along with some sea salt and pepper before putting the cover on and sliding it into the oven. The potatoes rested on the side. She had the fresh asparagus out and cut, spread it out in the shallow pan and set the olive oil next to it. It took only fifteen minutes so it would cook while the chicken rested. She set the timer and realized she was scared to sit down.
“It’s okay, Brea,” Jase took her hand when she finally sunk into the chair and took a long drink of water.
“Why didn’t his family like my mother?” Brea straightened up. She’d never been a coward. She braved haunted houses on Halloween. She slept alone when she was three! She wanted answers. She wanted the truth.
“Your father wasn’t human, Brea,” Annie saw the resolution in her eyes.
“He….was he like my mother?” The little girl asked cautiously.
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“No. No….actually he was from a royal family in Belgium. His father was….is….extremely angry with his son, as it was his only son. He disowned him, which your father really didn’t care about. When they set up a home in North Carolina, they honestly expected it to just be them and your mother’s clan. But his father….let’s politely say he did not believe in the mixing of the species,” Annie watched the color drain from Brea’s face and nudged Nick, who picked up the ice pack and held it to Brea’s neck.
“So my grandfather hates me. Well…..DNA don’t mean they like you,” she said with a shrug. She chewed on her lip. “If he wasn’t human and he wasn’t like my mother….that’s why that thing with the horns called me a half-breed.”
“That…..” Annie pushed the photo she’d carried in with her onto the table. “Is your grandfather, Brea. The story says he took a group of his own and….two weeks before you were born, attempted to wipe the village off the planet.” A loud cry left her lips, two shaking hands up and covering her mouth.
“I…oh, god….I can see it,” she breathed raggedly, panting and shaking her head.
“So many died….so many were hurt and hiding. So many helped hide my parents and get them across the country. The stench is horrid….”
“Mother….”
“The last of the snare is gone, Jase,” Annie worked to keep her own tears inside.
“The memory is what her parents saw before she was born. A collective thing that Wade said would be Brea’s when there were no longer shields inside her.”
“Who shielded me? My parents?” Golden amber eyes seething with fury swept 206
the table.
“Wade said they argued often about keeping you hidden, Brea. But the choice to keep you safe, to keep the horror of it all from you, was theirs,” Annie watched her struggle with the information, her head shaking. “I don’t know how I could have allowed that kind of…..of mindless destruction inside my child, Brea. And to keep that hidden, they had to keep you hidden from your own people. Wade is the only one who knew they were in the area, but your parents had powerful magic between them and keeping you from a man wanting you dead was all they could think of.”
“What is my father?” She asked quietly.
“Demon. A very, very powerful demon. They’re aligned with nature, much the same as the Fae, but in a different way. His element is water. When he fell in love with your mother….according to Tempest and Wade, she should have been completely repulsed. If by nothing else than the reputation of his father. But Jeffrey Moore was nothing like his father. He’d been living with his grandmother most of his life in the South of England. Regardless of his feelings, his father still considered him his heir, his child. And when he chose your mother over him…..I think maybe the final strand of sanity broke. The people I’ve spoken to about the…..the event….it’s become a grim reminder to keep to one’s own for so many.”
“For you?” Brea asked the words softly.
“For….oh, god, no, Brea! And obviously not for my son!”
“I’m sorry. I….I had to ask,” Brea took the pack from Nick’s fingers and buried her face in the towel. “I can see it,” she whispered, lowering the pack and staring out 207
the patio doors. “I can feel the heat of the fires. The screaming. I can see him…standing in the middle of the village demanding they bring my mother and father to him. Demanding that…..that the half-breed child be cut….cut….” her lips shook, her words filled with tears that fell. “So much hatred,” she whispered.
Her body was shaking. She couldn’t stop it.
“Get some blankets,” Nick ordered, gathering her up off the chair and carrying her into the living room. “This is like after the dream…..her hands are colder than the damn ice,” he held her against his warmth, watching while Annie and Jase laid out the first quilt before he laid her in the center. Hands wrapped her in them, Annie’s hand running soothingly over her head.
“It’s okay, Brea,” Annie told her, slipping to the arm of the sofa and holding the younger woman close. “It’s okay. She should have been trained….to keep the memories under control. Keep them at bay. Tempest and Wade want to help her, Jase.”
“Help her or use her?” Jase met the look on his mother’s face.
“I should be angry with you, but I honestly don’t know,” Annie Bishop sat on the edge of the sofa, holding Brea against her. “We need someone who knows her kind, Jase. If it were you or Nick, I’d know what to do, who to call. I don’t know what the information and the….the magic is doing to her.”
“We’ll take care of her,” Nick said firmly.
All three heads were up, their faces betraying the surprise when the alarms sounded at the front gate.
“Just what we fucking need,” Jase looked at his mother and then at Nick. “Get 208
them in the back bedroom,” he ordered, striding to the front door and out onto the porch.
Too many things happened at once.
Brea shoved hard against Nick, her eyes suddenly wide and her body up from the sofa. Her head swiveled. Alert. Familiar.
“Take your mother, Jase…..no….don’t go out there….they’re not there,” Brea was crossing the floor when the strange couple suddenly appeared behind Jase, the man placing a warning hand around his throat, large claws digging into his flesh.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” the man said, his palm up toward Brea’s, the woman at his side taking a tentative step forward. “You couldn’t shift before I would kill you.”
“No!” Brea raised one hand, her palm toward them and fingers closing quickly.
Before either of them could move, Jase was at her side.
“Shit,” he looked down at Brea in surprise.
Everyone was stunned, especially the couple watching them.
Brea shook her head. She heard them. She felt them inside her and her palms went to lips that quivered as she stumbled forward.
“Mom? Dad? Oh, god…..you’re alive…..how…..” Jase quickly gripped her waist with both hands.
“Release my daughter, shifter,” black eyes turned color very slowly, the façade melting away from both the man and woman.
“Brea,” Hannah Cooper stepped forward, letting the illusion she’d been projecting fall away. “We’ve been searching for you. We were hurt….we couldn’t get to you.” Tears 209
fell from eyes so similar to Brea’s that Jase was staring, looking at the woman who barely looked old enough to be her mother.
“Jase….it’s my parents! I can…..I can feel them,” she struggled against the strong arm that circled her waist.
“Brea…..baby, listen to me…..” Jase kept his gaze on the couple, his mouth next to her ear. “Are you positive?”
Her body slumped against him, confusion filling her eyes. She looked from them to Nick before letting her head rest against Jase’s shoulder.
“I don’t know….” The words were soft, puzzled.
“Breanna!” The man moved to stand beside the woman.
Brea didn’t move. She stood tall, her hands holding Jase’s behind her. She didn’t have to look to see Nick move to her side, his palm up and stroking over her cheek.
“Can you feel them, Brea?” Nick used the words she had spoken minutes ago.
“What have you done to her?” The man demanded, taking a step forward only to bounce off an invisible wall. His eyes widened, sparked and went to the woman at his side. “Hannah, the snares are gone.”
“Oh, god…..no….he’ll know…..” The woman took a step forward, her palm up and touching the air in front of her. “What have you done to her?” She whispered angrily.
“They haven’t done anything to me.” Brea answered, her voice shaking with contained emotion. “They’ve given me memories I should have grown up with.”
“He’s opened your mind so they’ll find you now! You have to….yes! Yes, we 210
should have taught you, Brea….we should have trained you,” the woman whispered, angry at herself. “We just wanted you safe. We just wanted to be a family.”
“Can you get into my head?” Brea asked curiously, a tiny smile growing when the man and woman frowned. “They told me in my dream. Tiny wings…whispering to me how to stop them from getting inside my head. It’s bad enough things come out my mouth, without strangers pulling things from my head.”
“You can see into mine, Brea,” Hannah took a step forward, her hands out.
“Please….we’ve been so worried about you. We didn’t know who we could trust.” Brea took a step toward her, staring into her eyes and nodding slowly, the tears falling freely now.
Jase released her and felt his heart choke into his throat when she stumbled into her mother’s arms, both of them sinking slowly to the floor in a tightly wound hug. He felt his mother behind him, her hands around his arm and head on his shoulder.
“She thought you were both dead,” Jase said quietly, the tension between the males still filling the air in the large space.
“We almost were,” Jeffrey Cooper stood behind his wife, his hands coiled into tight fists at his side. “It took every ounce of power we both had to shield ourselves enough to get out of the house. Then we had just enough to find a safe place in the woods and sleep. Every ounce of energy Hannah recovered was used to heal us but it was slow and tiring for her. Every new speck that I gained had to be used to keep ourselves from being found. We never stopped worrying about her but thought she’d be safe because of the snares. She didn’t live with us any longer, so whoever……” he 211
exhaled deeply. “But they found her anyway.”
“Someone tried to kill her,” Nick said quietly, not wanting the father of their mate to be their enemy. “She was opening the shop and someone struck her, transported her to the beach across from us….and left her on the sand with her wrists slit.” Gasps broke from the women, Annie’s palms tightening on her son’s arm. There were parts she didn’t know about until now.
“Somehow…” Jase shook his head. “We saw the couple leaving her there and a big storm was coming in, so we went to see if she was alright. The blanket was saturated with her blood, but the wounds were already closed and scars pink.”
“It’s part of her….her nature,” Hannah lifted her head, her arms holding her daughter against her, one hand stroking over the long hair soothingly. “She must have been semi-conscious….enough so that instinct took over. Oh, baby, I’m so very sorry.”