Chapter Ten

Kitty was still gasping and giggling about the morning’s events. “I can’t believe it. You faced down an entire wolf pack.”

“Exams are worse. This was just a standard neighbour dispute. The new guys were trying to see how far they could push. If not for your invitation, your family would have dealt with it, I am sure.”

“Not as quickly and someone might have gotten hurt.”

Imara smiled and patted the soil over the last stone. With the barrier in place, she powered it up. It was enough to last Anderson a few years of free wandering and a light top up could be done remotely.

“No one was hurt. I am a little scuffed up, and Mr. E has confiscated my favourite nightgown, so a few losses on my side, but nothing I can’t survive.”

Kitty got on her horse and waited with Bright Bell. When Imara was back in the saddle, they headed back to the farm with their hands covered in soil and sweat on their backs.

“So, was Agent Noro really flirting with you?”

Imara chuckled. “The fey don’t flirt. For a nearly ageless species, they are shockingly direct. If they want you, they let you know.”

“You said no?”

“I did. He isn’t my type, and the lithe body type isn’t my preference. I like a guy who looks like he can rescue you from danger and you get that feeling in the first glance.” She smiled softly.

“Your face is doing that thing again. I can hardly wait to meet your guy.”

Imara laughed. “Fine. I will ask him to go out for dinner or lunch with us on his day off.”

They were back at the farmstead in a few minutes, and Kitty asked one more question, “So, is he really an XIA agent?”

“Yeah. We met in class.”

“That is so cool. Back in a few minutes. These guys have gotten quite a workout today.”

Imara headed to the hosepipe outside the barn, and she scrubbed her hands before pressing the wet skin to the back of her neck.

“You were working on something.” The older male from the pack was next to her, and she left the stand and the barrel that caught the over pours.

“I was. Just wrapping up one project before the trees get here.”

“They just arrived. The ladies are arranging lunch, and when the boys have earned it, they will eat.”

“Great. With cooperation, we should be done in two hours. It’s a good thing that your guys can dig.”

He paused and blinked. “You mean the wolves?”

“Yup. They transgressed, so they need to make themselves useful. At each tree, we need a hole and then the tree planted and filled in.”

“Do you know how many trees were ordered?”

Imara smiled, “Enough for our purposes. The sooner we start, the sooner we finish. Don’t worry; the soil is soft. I have already dug the initial holes, and the trees go in to the left or right. If I can do it with my pathetic human hands, you wolves should be able to manage it.”

His skin darkened with embarrassment. “Ah, right.”

She laughed and walked over to the driveway where the process of unloading was happening.

The quantity of trees was staggering, but then, the same quantity of rocks took a lot less space.

Andy asked her, “Can you explain what we are doing with these?”

Imara stood up on a bench, and she clapped her hands. “Right. Ladies and gentlemen. We are working to plant a security ring around the property. The beasts will be repelled by it, and the humans will be reminded of the barrier.”

She made eye contact with everyone for a moment, keeping her gaze calm. “This morning, Kitty and I went around and buried stones with a power signature. The only person that they matter to lives on this property. Taking or removing them from their resting places will not benefit anyone unless you want a spectre in your room.”

Henry raised his hand. “What is a spectre?”

“A physical manifestation of a deceased mage, containing his power and intellect.”

Anderson stepped forward. “I am a spectre.”

Anna smiled at him, her mind appearing to have righted itself overnight. “He really is. He died twenty years ago, and here he stands today.”

The wolves still didn’t seem to understand.

Imara looked to Anderson, “May I?”

He nodded.

With a slight alteration of her energy flow, he went from solid to transparent. With a few steps, he walked to the young wolf and passed his hand through him.

When he stepped back, she powered him up.

He extended his hand to the young man, and they shook on it.

“Holy shit. How did you do that?”

Imara sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “I am a Death Keeper. It is what I do. It comes as easy to me as the fur form does to you. Now, who is ready to plant some trees?”

Kitty raised her hand. “I am!”

May nodded, “A few of us will stay here and prepare lunch. You have fun.”

Imara looked around and found her shovel. “Oh, we will.”

A quad was rigged with a trailer and delivered the trees to the sites. All Imara and the others had to do was trail after and dig holes.

The rush of binding the tree to the stone was powerful. She hadn’t done it in ages, but she wanted to do more. It was the strange mix of life and death that made it so heady.

They had completed the first thirty trees when she heard the quad approaching again. A glance over her shoulder made her freeze in place. She stood with her hands grimy and everything else coated in sweat.

The rider dismounted and walked over to her, tipping up her chin for a kiss. “Hiya, Imara. I thought you could use a hand.”

She went up on her toes without touching him with her grubby hands. When the kiss was over, she sank slowly to her heels. “Afternoon, Argus. You have a day off?”

“I was called because of a rogue Master Death Keeper threatening a young pack. I was on the road when you were texting me and laughing my ass off at the reports that Noro was filing.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Did he call my judgment into question?”

“He definitely did. Apparently, you rebuffed his phenomenal attractiveness. That was according to him, not in the official file.”

She blushed. “Right. Good. Well, not good but yeesh. He was persistent.”

Argus pressed his forehead to hers. “You were unreasonably attached to your chosen mate. It baffled him. I, however, had a very different reaction.”

“I am guessing you did, and as much fun as this is, not only are we not getting closer to lunch, but we are also the focus of many curious gazes.”

He chuckled and straightened. “Right. What do you want me to do?”

“Dig holes next to the small holes I made earlier, put in a tree and go to the next one.”

She flinched when his uniform shirt came sailing her way, and she tried not to look like she was looking as his footwear, socks and then pants and underwear were left on the quad.

His shift into his gryphon was like watching liquid gold filling a mold. He flew to the next site, and with two claw swipes, he had made a deep hole in the rich soil. Imara got on the quad and followed him with the pack scampering after.

As they filled the fifth hole that Argus had created, Henry looked at her with a grin. “So, that is your boyfriend?”

She blushed and kept working. “Yes.”

“You don’t share his scent.”

“We are waiting until I finish school. I need to focus to get my degree, and after that, we have all the time we need. He’s a slow-aging shifter, and my family lives into their nineties.”

“You have planned this out.”

“Of course. I have one life, and I don’t want to waste it. My teen years were skewed because of circumstances beyond my control, but now that I am all grown up, I can pick and choose what I become and what I do.”

Henry glanced at the figure of the gryphon flying above the trees, seeking the next sight. “He’s what you want to do with your life.”

“Part of it.” She grinned and looked back at Henry. “The fun part of it.”

He laughed, and they trudged off to the next gouged site. It wasn’t a bad way to spend the morning.