Chapter 4
Wyked hadn’t really wanted to spend another afternoon at Georgette’s, but he and Fate had drawn straws to see who would accompany Jilly, and Wyked had lost. He got to spend time with his kitten, so he technically won, but the first time they’d gotten together with Georgette had been powerfully boring. This time, at least, he was prepared for the boredom with downloaded TV shows on his phone and wireless earbuds.
Jilly’s birthday – and their combined mating and wedding ceremonies – were in six days. Saturday morning Jilly would turn twenty-one, and they’d finally get to make her theirs in truth. Her family and the pride were working hard to make their day special, but for Wyked, they could have lunch at a fast food joint in their jeans, and he’d be just as happy as all the fuss they were going through. He knew it was different for females who enjoyed celebrating every milestone.
Of course, it wasn’t normal for three ceremonies to happen in one day, but they were going with the flow.
When they reached Georgette’s, Wyked and Hanai left the females in the garden for their lesson and returned to the morning room. Hanai settled in the chair and closed his eyes with a yawn.
“Tired? I’ve heard that happens in the twilight years.”
Hanai opened one eye and snorted. “I’m not that old.”
“If you say so. I think there’s a lot more gray at your temples today than there was yesterday.”
“Because you stress me out.”
Wyked laughed. “Oh, sure. Blame me.”
“I had a strange dream last night,” Hanai said. “I woke up from it and couldn’t get back to sleep.”
“Strange good or strange bad?”
Hanai arched an eye brow. “Is strange ever good?”
“What was the dream about?”
“I was walking through the debris of a ruined house. It looked like it had been hit by a bomb. I was sad about the house, but I don’t know why. In the midst of the rubble, I saw pink and blue gems. They were thin and shiny, almost translucent.”
“That’s definitely a strange dream. But it doesn’t seem like the sort of dream to keep you awake.”
“Not normally, but I was just so sad when I woke up, and I couldn’t shake the feeling.”
Wyked said nothing while he mulled over his uncle’s dream. He didn’t necessarily believe in prophetic dreams, but Jilly had told him that morning that she’d had a strange dream about looking for something in the dark. She’d been so unsettled when she woke up that she hadn’t been able to get back to sleep.
“There must be something in the air,” he said finally. “Jilly had a weird dream, too.”
Hanai hummed. “I think the dream has struck a chord with me because I’m kind of sad that we’re leaving Ashland in a few weeks.”
“I’ll miss being here, too, but I’m also anxious about getting on the road. My cat wants to travel.”
“Mine too. It has been nice to live in one place for the past three years, though, and the mountain lions are a great group.”
Wyked nodded. He would miss the pride, but he couldn’t stop from being happy that he’d finally get to be with Jilly full-time. They’d be a mated group, and they could start the next chapter of their lives together. If Jilly had wanted to stay in Ashland, he knew he would have settled happily into that life with her because her happiness was paramount to him. He was, however, thankful that she wanted to be part of the clan and travel.
The time in Georgette’s house drew to a close several hours later. Jilly and the fae came into the house, and his mate was once more carrying a paper sack of plant clippings. The bay window garden that they’d created for her in the RV was already half-full of plants, but he knew she hoped to have a diverse plant collection to use for healing. He loved seeing her so happy with what she was learning. She’d seemed almost aimless for a while, studying with Hanai but not really all-in with it. But since she’d met Georgette, a whole world had opened up for her with the combination of gardening and healing. He loved seeing her eyes brighten when she talked about a new plant. Or how happy she was when she’d successfully dried thyme to store in the cabinet they’d installed in the RV kitchen for her supplies.
“Hey, kitten,” he said, standing and stretching.
She took a step toward him and then paused, her brow furrowing as she turned slowly and stared down a dark hallway. Her whole body tensed, and the bag of clippings and her journal tumbled to the floor as a curious growl rumbled in her chest.
He moved to her and placed his hand on her shoulder, surprised at how tense she was. “Jilly?”
“What is that?” she asked.
Hanai moved to them and stared down the hallway. He looked at Wyked and shrugged. “What is what?” Hanai asked.
“I feel…something familiar,” she answered.
Wyked looked at Georgette, and the fae flicked her fingers swiftly, a move that he would have missed if he hadn’t been looking at her because her hand was buried in the folds of her long skirt. “What’s going on?” Wyked asked. “Is there someone here?”
Jilly relaxed suddenly and shook her head. “That’s so strange. I thought someone was looking at me. I felt eyes on me.” She shivered a little and turned into Wyked, slipping her arms around his waist. “It was like my dream.”
Georgette cleared her throat and smiled, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but there’s no one here but me.” She stepped toward them, her arms outstretched to usher them toward the front door and away from the hallway. Wyked stared into the dark hallway as they walked away, seeing nothing. He trusted his mate, though, and if she said she felt something familiar, then she did, which meant that the fae was hiding something.
Or someone.
“Thanks for your time today,” Jilly said when they were outside. She inhaled deeply and smiled at Georgette. “I feel like I learn so much when we’re together.”
Georgette nodded. “I’m glad. You’re a great student. I’ll see you in two weeks?”
“Yes. Our mating is Saturday, so I’ll see you the following Saturday.”
“Excellent. Have a happy mating, marriage, and birthday.” Georgette waved and then stepped back inside her home, shutting the door.
“That was weird, right?” Wyked asked as he led Jilly to the SUV.
“Definitely,” Hanai said.
“Did you feel it, too?” Jilly asked.
“No,” Wyked said as he opened the passenger door, “but you clearly did.”
“Oh, dang it,” she said. “I dropped my journal and the plant clippings.”
“I’ll get them,” he offered.
“No, I will,” she said, hurrying toward the house.
Wyked watched her go, a strange sense of foreboding settling on him. He opened his mouth to call her back as she pushed open the front door and it slammed shut behind her. She screamed in surprise, and he and Hanai rushed to the door.
“It’s locked! Open the door!” Wyked shouted, pounding on it with his fist. “Jilly!”
* * *
Jilly screamed as the door slammed shut behind her. She spun and faced the room and saw Georgette standing protectively in front of a small female. Georgette’s skin was glowing an eerie blue color, and her eyes flared bright silver.
Jilly could hear Wyked and Hanai shouting for her and rattling the door.
“What are you doing here?” Georgette demanded as little blue arcs of lightning flashed over her skin. The hair on Jilly’s arms rose, and she shuddered at the power that rolled off the fae.
“I dropped my journal and bag. You said there wasn’t anyone in here with you, but clearly there is. Who is she?”
“No one,” Georgette said, her voice rising as the blue glow intensified.
“Auntie, please,” the female said, leaning to the side and giving Jilly a tentative smile. “She’s the one I dreamed about.”
“What?” Jilly asked.
Georgette’s glow faded slowly, and she sighed. “Are you certain?”
The female stepped from behind Georgette. She was petite, with luminous green eyes and hair that was tipped with bright pinks and blues.
“I’m Treasure,” she said. “Georgette is my aunt.”
“I’m Jilly.” She smiled at the girl and then looked at Georgette. “Why were you hiding her? I knew I felt a presence, but I don’t understand how you kept her so well hidden.”
“You weren’t supposed to be able to sense her at all, and I don’t understand why you did.” Georgette frowned and rubbed her hands together. “It was a protection spell to keep Treasure safe. No one should have sensed anything, period.”
She couldn’t explain why, but she thought about the dream she’d had the night before. She’d been looking for something in the dark. She had no idea what she was looking for, but when she woke in a cold sweat, she couldn’t get back to sleep.
“It was you,” she said, looking at Treasure. “I had a dream last night that I was looking for something in the dark. When I came into the house after our time in the garden, I looked into the hallway and felt a presence there. I was looking in the dark for you. But if you were here last time I visited, why didn’t I feel you then?”
Georgette shook her head. “She didn’t come to stay with me until the day after you were here.”
Treasure walked to Jilly and took her hand. Jilly felt a jolt of awareness as her hand linked with the girl’s, and she gasped as she watched translucent pink and blue wings slip from her back. The tops of the wings rose past her ears, and the bottoms reached to her waist. They were the prettiest wings she’d ever seen, like an exotic butterfly.
But then Treasure’s face began to change. Fangs lengthened in her mouth, and her irises became elongated like a snake’s, no longer green but now deep blue. Scales appeared on her cheeks, shimmering blue and pink in the light.
“No!” Georgette shouted, running to Treasure. “Don’t transform. I won’t be able to hold the spell!”
Treasure let out a pain-filled cry and doubled over as her wings disappeared into her back and the scent of sulfur filled the air. Georgette wrapped her arms around the girl and held her as she sobbed.
“What’s going on?” Jilly asked. “I don’t understand what I just saw.”
“Because you weren’t supposed to see it,” Georgette said. She glanced at the door, which Wyked and Hanai were still pounding on as they shouted for Jilly, and then she leveled a look at Jilly that told her she was going to share something serious. “You can let them in.”
Jilly reached for the door and opened it, just as Wyked appeared to be attempting to ram it with his shoulder. “Wait!” Jilly said.
“What happened?” Hanai demanded as Jilly motioned for him and Wyked to join her.
“Jilly sensed my niece even though I had a powerful protection spell around her,” Georgette said.
Wyked stepped in front of Jilly with a snarl, claws emerging from his fingertips. “What the hell?”
“It’s okay,” Jilly said, wrapping her arms around his waist. “I’m fine.”
“She just startled me,” Georgette said, “and I reacted badly. I’m sorry that I scared you.”
Hanai bent down and lifted something from the floor. It was pink and blue like Treasure’s wings, but looked like a scale. “I had a dream about these,” he said. “I thought they were gemstones.”
Treasure bit her lip and wrung her hands. “It’s a scale.”
“I thought you were a fairy?” Jilly asked.
“Hold on,” Georgette said, “I need to recast the protection spell. Then we can talk.”
She lifted her hands and spoke in a language that Jilly didn’t recognize. A strange heaviness settled around them, the way the air felt right before a storm. The air shimmered slightly, and then the heavy feeling disappeared. “Okay, now that Treasure is protected again, I need to know that what you’ve seen today won’t leave this house. Her safety is the most important thing in the world to me.”
“Of course we won’t share it,” Hanai said. “Why is she in danger?”
“Yeah, and just what is she exactly?” Wyked asked.
“My sister is a fae like me, but her power is over fire. She mated with a dragon shifter, and Treasure was born.”
“There are dragon shifters?” Jilly asked.
Georgette gestured to a couch and they sat. Jilly couldn’t help but notice that Treasure was staring at her intently.
“Dragon shifters have all but died out. There are some around the fae realm, but they keep to themselves, using protection spells to hide their presence. Dragons were hunted to near extinction by fae who used their scales and blood for spell-casting. My sister left with her mate and went to hide in the mountains. I saw her infrequently, once every few years because it wasn’t safe for them to travel away from their protected land, even here away from the fae realm. But then Treasure was born. At first it appeared that she was going to take after my sister and be a fae, but then she changed into a dragon. She’s a hybrid of her parents, known as a dragonfae. Dragonfae are so rare, that they’re thought of as entirely legend. When a fae mates with a person other than another fae, the child usually takes after one parent or the other, but occasionally there are those who take on both traits.
“They believed that Treasure was entirely fae, but this year when she turned twelve, she changed into a dragonfae. Somehow, fae found out about her and attempted to abduct her. My sister and brother-in-law were killed defending Treasure. Before she passed, my sister sent Treasure through a portal to me, and I’ve kept her hidden with protection spells. I don’t know how you felt her, though.”
“Because I dreamed about her,” Treasure said.
“What was your dream about?” Jilly asked.
“I saw a big cat in the woods, and I followed it home.”
Jilly’s eyebrows rose. “That’s a weird dream.”
Georgette shook her head. “I don’t know why you’re all dreaming about one another, but it must mean that your lives were meant to cross at this time.”
“But my home is here now,” Treasure said. “Why would I follow you?”
“I don’t know. I feel like I was meant to find you, though. Maybe we’re just meant to be friends.”
Treasure smiled hopefully. Jilly’s heart panged, knowing that they were leaving to travel soon and wouldn’t be back for months. She decided not to say anything, since Treasure had been through so much since losing her parents and being sent so abruptly to a strange place.
“We should get going,” Wyked said, glancing at his watch. “My brother is waiting for us.”
Jilly stood and Treasure hugged her, squeezing tight and trilling out a purr that reminded her of a bird. “Next time you visit, you’ll be able to see me,” Treasure said. “Because we’re friends now.”
“You bet,” Jilly said. She hugged Georgette as Wyked walked into the morning room to fetch her journal and plant clippings. “I’m sorry for barging in before, but I’m not sorry to have met your niece.”
“If we can help in any way,” Hanai said, “don’t hesitate to call.”
“I will.”
“We’ll keep our promise,” Jilly said. “Treasure is a secret we won’t share.”
“Thank you,” Georgette said. “See you in two weeks.”
Hanai held open the door, and Jilly and Wyked walked out. When the door shut and locked behind them, Jilly looked over her shoulder and saw the air shimmer around the house, which she recognized as the protection spell.
“That was crazy,” she said as she buckled her seatbelt. “I didn’t think she was going to let me out of the house at first.”
“Damn door didn’t have a lock I could pick from the outside,” Wyked said with a growl. He always carried lock picking tools with him because once, when she’d been kidnapped by the mountain lion females, she’d been locked in a room and he’d had to break down the door. He’d kept a set on him from that point on, just in case.
Hanai turned on the SUV and pulled away from the cabin.
Wyked said, “Is anyone going to say how weird it is that the three of you had dreams about one another?”
Jilly smiled. “It was weird. But it must have been a coincidence, right?”
“I really don’t know,” Hanai said. He explained his dream to Jilly.
Jilly looked thoughtful. “So I dreamed about darkness, and I saw Treasure in the hallway. You dreamed about a ruined house and her scales. But you found her scale, and the house wasn’t ruined.”
He shrugged. “Maybe the ruined house was symbolic of the secret being told.”
“But Treasure said she followed you,” Wyked pointed out. “And we left her behind.”
“Well, whatever the reason for meeting the young female today, we were clearly meant to. What that means for the future I have no idea, though.”
“You promised not to tell anyone, but are you going to tell Fate?” Wyked asked.
She nodded. “I can’t keep it from him. It wouldn’t be right. But he’ll be the only one we tell.”
“Good. I don’t want to keep a secret from him either.”
She yawned and leaned against Wyked. He slipped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer, resting his cheek on top of her head. “My sweet little kitten,” he murmured. “I love you.”
She slipped her hand under the hem of his shirt and rested it over his heart. “I love you, too.”
* * *
Fate hummed after hearing about the young dragon fairy that Jilly and Wyked had met. “Of course, I won’t tell anyone else,” he said. He wasn’t sure that he couldn’t talk about a fae who could shift into a dragon without sounding like a lunatic anyway.
“I know you’ll keep it to yourself,” Jilly said as she carefully removed the plant trimmings from the paper sack.
Wyked cooked lunch for them while Fate helped her transplant her plants into terracotta pots. She made labels for the pots, and they arranged them in the window. “Looks good, kitten,” Wyked said as he cored apples and sliced them.
“Thanks. I think we’ll need to replace another window as the plants grow,” she said.
“We can replace as many windows as you like,” Fate promised.
She beamed at him.
Wyked set plates on the table and then opened the refrigerator, removing bottles of flavored water, which he set in front of them. After Fate and Jilly cleaned up their gardening supplies and washed their hands, they joined him at the table.
“I’m sleeping at the boarding house tonight,” Jilly said. “The girls are having a rom-com movie fest, and I promised to make caramel popcorn.”
“Sounds fun,” Fate said. “We’ll miss you.”
He couldn’t miss the heat in her eyes. “I’ll miss you, too. But then in the morning, it will be only five days until we can be together and I can move here permanently.”
Wyked purred and Fate rolled his eyes. Jilly chuckled and the heat disappeared from her gaze. Soon enough, they’d have her all to themselves, all the time. He hated the nights when she wasn’t with them. It had been a long three years, but they were on the home stretch. It felt like his whole life had led up to this point.
When the meal was over and the kitchen was clean, Jilly said, “I’d like to go for a walk.”
Fate’s brow rose. “Alone? Or did you want company?”
“With you both.”
They left the RV, waved to their parents, who sat on chairs in front of their own RV, and explained they were going for a walk.
“Have fun,” Dag, their father, said.
The trio walked across the field and into the woods. The air felt hot and humid, but once they were under the shade of the trees, the temperature cooled enough to be comfortable.
“What’s on your mind?” Fate asked as she walked between him and his brother, holding their hands.
“What makes you think something’s on my mind?”
“Because the last time you wanted to go for a walk out of the blue, you decided to drop out of college and study with Hanai,” Fate said.
“Oh, right. Well, I think we should take more walks. They’re nice. But you’re right, something’s on my mind, and I don’t really know how to bring this up, but I feel like we need to talk about it before our mating day, or I’m going to be worried the whole time.”
Fate’s mind spun. She wasn’t a virgin, and neither were they, but they’d been celibate since they’d met, and they’d sworn to touch her only if he and Wyked were fully clothed. She was far too tempting for them to stick to their vows if they got naked.
They stopped walking, and he and Wyked faced Jilly. She chewed on her bottom lip and squeezed their joined hands.
“You can tell us anything,” Fate said. “There are no secrets between us.”
She tilted back her head and stared at the trees over their heads, and then she sighed deeply and lowered her head until she was looking at them. “I’m not on birth control.”
Fate frowned and glanced at Wyked, who looked as confused as he felt.
“I don’t understand,” Wyked said. “Why would you be worried about being on birth control?”
“Yeah, I mean we haven’t had sex in three years, so there wouldn’t be any reason for you to be on it.”
Her cheeks flamed crimson, and she ground her molars, making a muscle in her cheek jump. “No, it’s not that. Or it’s not just about that. We’ve never talked about having kids. We’re going to start living together on Saturday, and I’m not on anything that would prevent me from getting pregnant.”
“Why wouldn’t you want to get pregnant?” Fate asked.
She let out a little frustrated grunt. “I’m not saying this right. There are two of you, and only one of me. And I can only have one kid at a time, and I was wondering if you’d know if a child belonged to one of you or not. I’ve been wondering if I have a baby with one of you, will the other will be jealous? Should we use condoms for one of you until I get pregnant and then switch to the other using condoms, so you each get your own baby?”
For a long moment, no one said anything. Her words hung in the air between them, a question that he’d never given much thought to but that clearly had been worrying her.
“Kitten,” Wyked said, lifting her hand to his lips. “First of all, we’re identical twins, so unless a cub happens to take after one of us as he or she grows up, I don’t know that we would be able to tell if a cub was mine or Fate’s unless we did some kind of DNA testing. And that’s not something that Fate or I would ever want to do.”
Fate nodded. “Any children you have will belong to all three of us. They’ll all be precious.”
She blinked rapidly a few times, and her eyes shone with unshed tears. He drew her against him, and Wyked moved to her back, caging her between them. “Oh, sweetheart,” Fate murmured. “We’re going to have a wonderful family.”
She sniffled and rubbed her cheek against his chest. “I just don’t want either of you to resent me or each other.”
Fate said, “We won’t.”
“Besides,” Wyked said, lowering his voice, “we want to come inside you. We don’t want there to be anything between us.”
She lifted her head, and Fate brushed the tears from her cheeks. “I don’t want there to be anything between us either.”
“Good,” Fate said. “But if you ever need or want to take a break from the possibility of getting pregnant, you only need to let us know. You’re utterly in charge.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m really not.”
“What? Of course you are.”
“No, if I had my way, we would have made love that first night we were together, and I’d already have had a kid or two.”
Her smirk told him that her worries and sadness had eased enough to joke.
Wyked growled. “Tempting little kitten.”
“Thank you,” she said. She rose onto her toes and kissed Fate and then turned to kiss Wyked.
“For what?” Fate asked.
“For being wonderful. I’m the luckiest mountain lion in the world.”
“And we’re the luckiest panthers,” Wyked said. “To have such a beautiful, amazing lioness to call our own.”