Chapter Eighteen
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Darcy walked down the stairs from her bedroom in the lodge. What should she do today?
Not shopping, obviously. After the Scythe showed up in Cold Creek last week, the Cosantir had ordered her to stay away from downtown.
Bree and her mates now locked the lodge’s front door—in case some Scythe operative showed up—which meant giving keys to their lodgers.
By the Mother, Darcy had caused everyone so much trouble.
Rather than a valuable addition to the town, she was a perilous guest. The knot in her stomach grew. What if the Scythe realized this was a shifter town? What if someone got hurt?
She’d leave, dammit, but she was stuck, caged by Daonain Law and by the need to know when the Cold Creek searchers located her villagers.
Maybe she’d spend the day in the forest. Owen and Gawain had given her permission, as long as she stayed away from the town. She wrinkled her nose. Running the trails alone wasn’t nearly as much fun, but her mentors were working on their house, hunting for the villagers, and running their smithing and carving businesses.
Just as well. She wanted to decrease the time she spent with them. Although it hurt to see less of them. Actually hurt as if she’d stubbed her heart on an unseen stone or something.
Stay strong, tinker.
She lifted her chin. Maybe she could talk Bree into going for a run.
As she crossed the main room, a high-pitched shriek came from outside in the back.
Heart hammering, Darcy ran out the back doors. The patio was empty.
At the sound of chittering, she checked the sprite in the spruce tree. The pixie was watching the creek below her.
Darcy followed its gaze and grinned.
Where the patio ended, a long expanse of tended grass rolled downhill. Five cublings around four or five years old were making stick castles beside the burbling creek. Just look at them. All fat legs and round stomachs.
Under the water, the silvery undines swirled with delight, brushing up against any fingers that ventured in their stream—and reducing the cubs to infectious giggles. One water elemental sent a thin stream of cold water toward a cubling.
The boy let out a scream and fell backward, laughing so hard he couldn’t sit up.
Well, there was the source of the shriek.
Bonnie, Emma, and a younger female lounged nearby.
“Darcy, perfect.” Bree walked out of the kitchen, carrying a tray filled with sandwiches and cookies. “I was about to call you downstairs and see if you wanted to join us. Emma and her cub just arrived.”
“Is this a special occasion?”
Bree handed her the tray and disappeared back in the kitchen. Her voice drifted out. “We’re just taking advantage of such a warm, sunny day. Bonnie, Emma and their cubs adore Zeb’s little playground and the creek. You met them already, right?”
“At the Wild Hunt, yes.” Curvy, tall, golden Emma was the bard; shorter, brown-haired Bonnie was Owen and Gawain’s littermate.
“There are also a couple of wolf pack cubs with today’s caregiver. I try to keep an eye on the pack cubs when I can.” She reappeared with another tray of milk, iced tea, and glasses. “It’s kind of part of the alpha female duties.”
Right, Bree was a wolf. But alpha female? “If you’re alpha female, does that mean Shay or Zeb is the alpha male?”
“Yes, Shay is alpha, Zeb beta.” Bree led the way onto the grass and set the food on a flattened, polished log that had obviously been created to serve as a knee-high serving table. “The pack had a rough time before Shay arrived, but he’s got it functioning fairly well now.”
“I bet he does.” Shay was not only a natural leader, but also the kind of person who took care of everyone around them. Setting her tray down, Darcy looked around.
The three other females sat on blankets strategically positioned out of splashing range. Emma wore her golden hair in a long braid. In jeans and a tank top, a slender redhead in her early twenties was talking to her. Bonnie apparently had monitor duty—her gaze stayed on the children.
“Look, it’s Darcy!” Smiling, Emma pushed to her feet and tossed her braid over her shoulder.
Bonnie looked up and waved.
At the table, Emma pulled Darcy into a big hug. Yes, the female was totally a bear. “I hoped you’d come.”
The sincerity in her voice made Darcy blink quickly.
“Hey, Bree!” A cub with wavy golden-brown hair, dashed up from the bank. “Bree!”
After some happy hugs, Bree said, “Darcy, this is Minette who belongs to Emma, Ben, and Ryder.”
The cubling had beautiful hazel eyes, fair skin, round cheeks.
“Hi, Minette. It’s nice to meet you.” Darcy glanced at Emma. “I don’t think I know Ben or Ryder.”
As Emma poured iced tea for the females and handed the glasses out, she said, “I don’t think you were introduced, but Ben said he met you here one day. On the patio.”
“He’s a cahir—a grizzly—and simply huge,” Bree added.
On the patio, huge cahir. Darcy gave an embarrassed huff. “I remember. He was there when I got in trouble for being in cougar form too close to the lodge.”
Emma gave her a sympathetic smile. “I’ve been on the receiving end of a cahir scolding; I know the pain. But Ben feels awful that he upset you.”
Darcy snorted. “I upset myself. I hate doing stupid things.”
Coming up to accept a glass, the redheaded female laughed. “Oh, I know!” She took a cookie from Bree and continued, “I’m Nia. Bonnie and I are the wolf cub-watchers today.”
“They look like they’ll keep you busy.”
Nia rolled her eyes. “I’m rethinking ever having cubs.”
“You’ll change your mind when you find the right mates,” Bree told her.
“The right mates? Not happening.” Nia dropped down onto the blanket. “Bonnie, it’s my turn to watch. Get yourself a cookie.”
Once on her feet, Bonnie called, “Luke, Tyler, come and meet Darcy.
Two young boys about four ran over.
Bonnie beamed and turned to Darcy. “These are my two cubs, Tyler and Luke.”
Aww. All bright eyes and bounce. “They’re adorable.”
“I think so.” Grinning, Bonnie put an arm around each tiny body. “Cubs, this is Darcy who fixed your computer, so say thank you.”
“T’ank you!” said one. The other gave her a hug.
So, so cute. She crouched down to their size and whispered, “Did you see what’s watching you from the big tree?”
They turned and after a second, spotted the pixie swinging on the end of a branch, as if she was trying to get closer to the fun.
Their open delight in seeing her made the pixie do a fancy swing—and another when they cheered in glee.
“Sprites and cubs—they enjoy the same things, have you noticed?” Emma said, grinning.
“Everything is more fun with pixies and cublings,” Darcy agreed. “I miss the tiny ones.” The littlest in the prìosan were now teenagers.
“Oh, girl, you’re welcome to come and cub-watch anytime your heart desires,” Bonnie said. She shook her head as one of her cubs jumped up onto a boulder—an amazing leap for someone so tiny—and pounced on his brother.
Bonnie grinned at Bree. “Shay taught him that leap.”
“Shay loves to teach,” Bree said. “And it’s nice that they’re learning some of those skills early.”
Darcy scowled at the ground, remembering how she was still messing up her own jumps. She had to do better. When the shifter-soldier forest camp was located, she’d have to sneak past the guards to contact the males. And, if she had to take to the trees, she’d probably fall off a branch and get caught.
Or if the shifter-soldiers caught her scent, who knew how they’d react? She’d need to disguise her presence until she was close enough to speak with them.
Picking up a twig, she twirled it between her fingers. When the time came, she had to be ready to act—skillfully. It was time to work her tail off and master the skills she needed.
She looked up to see Nia nibbling on a cookie and studying her. The redhead said, “You must not be a wolf or you’d have joined us on the last pack run. So are you a bear? Or a mountain lion or panther or whatever term you felines are using these days?”
Emma laughed. “It’s not fair, is it? A wolf is a wolf is a wolf, whereas cats are mountain lions or panthers or cougars or puma or…really, you guys have a dozen different names that all mean panther.”
“Exactly!” Huffing, Nia pointed her finger at Emma and scowled. “I was trying to say that I don’t want to know all those names. Bards, sheesh.” She looked at Darcy. “So, what name of cat do you prefer?”
Such an indignant expression.
Darcy grinned. “I love how mountain lion sounds. Only when I’m in a hurry, two words are one too many, so I use cougar mostly, only the humans use that now to mean an older woman hooking up with a younger man, so I use panther now, too.”
Nia’s vexed look deepened. “Oh my Gods, you’re as bad as the bard.”
When the laughter broke out, all the cubs turned to see what was going on—making everyone laugh harder.
As the females settled onto the blankets, Bree said to Darcy, “I saw your mentors head off together toward town. Did you escape a lesson today?”
“Gawain has a blade to forge, and Owen’s doing something for the Cosantir. No lesson today.” Darcy took a bite of cookie. Sugar and chocolate chips and walnuts. Mmmm.
“I bet it’s a relief to escape,” Nia muttered, gaze on the cublings.
Darcy blinked, caught Bree’s slight shake of the head, and moved on. “I was going to go explore a new set of trails, but, this is so much nicer.”
“Are Owen and Gawain teaching you anything besides hunting?” Bonnie asked before grinning at Bree. “I remember how ignorant our Bree was when first arrived. She didn’t know anything about the Daonain or wolf packs. Or anything about Gatherings.”
Darcy rolled her eyes. “I’m in the same sad shape.”
“I can’t even imagine how scary that must be. I’m new, but if you need someone to hang with at a Gathering, just yell.” Nia frowned. “Did you attend the last Gathering in Cold Creek? I didn’t see you.”
Darcy felt her cheeks heat. “I wasn’t there. I’d gone to the Twin Sisters to search for my people.”
“On a Gathering night?” Nia’s tone was scandalized.
“No one had told me about full moons or Gatherings. I guess I was lucky. My mentors as well as Donal and Tynan caught up to me before the moon rose.” Remembering how gently the males had treated her…and how intimate it had gotten, her insides melted. Gawain and his laughing eyes and powerful body. Owen, such a mixture of rough and gentle.
Being with them, mating with them, had changed her.
Some forest pinecones wouldn’t sprout until burned by fire. She’d been burned—and now love was sprouting in her heart. Oh no. Don’t be a turkey-brained tinker. She mustn’t—couldn’t—be in love with them.
She was.
Oh my Gods.
She cleared her throat. “The males were all very kind to me, especially for my first full moon heat.”
“Right. I’m glad for you. But, don’t expect… Um.” Nia’s smile was bittersweet. “I found out the nasty way that what a male does under the full moon means nothing once the moon sets.”
“What do you mean?” Darcy asked.
“Well, see, I mated Owen, and it was amazing. He was really nice.” She shook her head. “Only, I thought he liked me, but when I saw him the next day, he said he didn’t like me—or any female—and he hates that he has to fuck us once a month.”
“He was awfully rude,” Darcy’s voice came out hesitant. Would even grumpy Owen have said something so mean?
Nia glanced at Bree. “You heard him.”
Bree nodded with a sad look at Darcy.
“He did apologize, though.” Nia wrinkled her nose. “Probably the Cosantir told him to.”
Bonnie was frowning. “I’m sorry, Nia. Owen is…”
“Oh, it’s all right. He was nasty, but I was silly to see more in a mating than was really there.” Nia shrugged. “It was a lesson I needed to learn.”
But such a harsh one.
Apparently, Darcy had needed the lesson, as well.
She knew he avoided females, although he did like her. He’d said so. However, like wasn’t the same as love, now was it?
Nia wasn’t the only foolish one. Akin to the cublings, Darcy had been building castles out of mud and had somehow forgotten that matings under a full moon weren’t a prelude to a relationship.
Had Gawain or Owen said they loved her? No, they hadn’t. The two were wonderful and protective…and her mentors. Nothing more. Control your emotions, tinker.
This really was for the best, anyway, since she’d be leaving Cold Creek. Love wasn’t in her destiny.