CHAPTER TEN
This time, Duncan’s throat clearing was more pronounced as she stared after Josh. He was fully wolf and trotting away, his tail up as if he owned the universe. Strutting, she thought. Showing off for his girl—for her. A warm, fuzzy feeling filled her heart, but Duncan was waiting. She turned to the fey mage.
“Now that you’ve effectively gotten rid of him, what did you want to say to me?” she challenged.
“Am I that transparent?” Duncan’s eyes twinkled with amusement, but she wasn’t fooled. He’d deliberately gotten her alone so they could talk. He wasn’t fooling anybody. Including Josh.
“I will help you with your animal friends as we talk, if that’s all right with you. I have a fondness for the critters of this realm,” he told her.
“Really?” Somehow, she hadn’t pegged Duncan le Fey for an animal lover, but she was happy to be wrong.
He helped her finish scooping out extra feed and treats. Much to her surprise, Duncan was an immediate hit with the citizens of her barn. They liked him and came to him eagerly for nose rubs and pats on the back.
She noticed him watching her out of the corner of his eye, but she didn’t call him on it until she was done with her animal friends. When they finished up—a task that took less than five minutes all told, since she’d done most of the work before Duncan had shown up—she faced him squarely.
“What? Do I have soot on my nose?” As she said it, she remembered the nasty smoke Felicia had been throwing and hoped to heaven she didn’t have any residue of that gross stuff on her anywhere. Or on her farm.
“No, I was just watching you move to see if any of those singe marks on your clothing signify deeper injuries.”
Oh. That was nice of him. She started walking with him, a little thrown by his concern. She hadn’t seen him often in recent years, so she wasn’t used to his concern. Anyone’s concern, really. Aside from her animals. Living alone on the farm had affected her more than she realized.
“No. I’m okay. Nothing a shower and some calendula ointment won’t cure,” she said as they walked toward the house.
“Well, then.” They arrived at the door, and he motioned politely for her precede him into the house. “I saw the way you and Joshua were looking at each other, and the level of power required to defeat those two high-level Venifucus mages had to be greater than anything I’ve observed in either one of you alone.”
They were standing in her kitchen, having come in the back door. She wasn’t sure she liked being questioned this way in her own home.
“Your point?” she prompted, growing impatient with the whole thing. It had already been a tough day. This was just taking it that one step too far.
Duncan sighed and pulled out one of the kitchen chairs for her. She sat, almost unconsciously. She was so tired. She wished he’d just say what he was after so they could get on with things before she collapsed in a heap.
“I just want you to be sure you know what you’re getting into with him. I don’t want to see you hurt. He’s…a bit…wild for you, Deena.” Duncan looked somewhat uncomfortable with his own words.
As well he should be! How dare he disparage Josh?
“All I’m saying is, are you sure your grandmother would approve?” Duncan asked.
The crafty old bugger. She got the feeling he’d been trying to provoke her, but that last bit about her grandmother…
“You know as well as I do that Grandmother would be pleased to see me involved with a shifter. The fact that he’s got a lot of fey blood in him is probably a bonus. But the most important thing is that he’s the right man for me. And I won’t say anything more on the subject to you right now. It’s only fair that any declarations I have to make be made to Josh first, not to you.”
Duncan regarded her steadily for a long moment, then slapped one hand down on the kitchen table as he smiled. She almost jumped at the sound, but Duncan was still smiling.
“As I thought. I just had to say it, Deena. Forgive me for being an old busybody, but I do like your grandmother—and you—and I don’t want to see you hurt in any way.”
“Josh would never hurt me,” she said, knowing in her heart the truth of her words.
With that out of the way, they started discussing the best way to go about reconstructing her wards. They wouldn’t be the same. No, the plan was to make them better than they had been before. Stronger and constructed of more flavors of energy, utilizing all three of their brands of magic. The very fact that Duncan was including Josh in his calculations was significant, and appeased the sense of outrage she’d had a few moments before when Duncan had called Josh wild and questioned their involvement.
When Josh walked in a few minutes later, he was dressed again in his T-shirt and jeans and his hair was slicked back. He must’ve dunked his head under the water spigot again. She couldn’t blame him. It had been a hell of a day so far, and it wasn’t over yet. She could do with a reviving splash of water herself.
She went to the sink and grabbed a clean dishtowel, wetting it down and using it to rub at her face. Within moments, she felt a little more awake and alert. Good. She’d need that for the magic they were about to do next.
“There’s a rental car parked up near your mailbox,” Josh told her. “From the scent, I’d say it was Felicia’s ride. I followed her trail down from the car. She must’ve ditched the rental up there by the road and come in on foot while we were distracted with Reggie.”
“I figured it had to be something like that,” Deena replied. “How do we get rid of her car?”
“I’ll handle it,” Duncan told them. “I can drop it at an airport in the next state and make it look as if Felicia returned it herself. As for the dirt bike I saw out by the barn…”
“I’d like to hang onto it if it’s clear of Reggie’s magic and won’t bring down more trouble on our heads,” Josh replied before Deena could answer.
“Any magic either of your attackers had left when their energies were reclaimed by the Mother of All have dissipated by now, but I’ll check the bike over in detail before I leave. Then, of course, there are mundane ways to alter serial numbers—” Duncan started to say, but Josh cut him off with a friendly wave of his hand.
“I know how to make it untraceable by human standards,” Josh revealed. “I was just concerned about some kind of magical trace.”
Duncan nodded slowly. “Well, as I said, I’ll check, but I think it’s probably clean now that Reginald’s magic has been permanently removed.”
Josh nodded with apparent satisfaction. Deena wasn’t sure what he wanted the bike for, but living frugally as she did, it seemed a shame to toss it. They couldn’t very well return it to Reggie’s next of kin, so the only other alternative—throwing it away—seemed too wasteful.
Plus, she had to consider that Josh had been dropped off on her doorstep with no means of transportation. Maybe he felt trapped on the farm with no wheels. She didn’t think that was the case, but she also knew that grown men usually liked to have some independent method of transportation at their disposal. And motorcycles of any kind were probably the ultimate guy toy.
While it was true that Josh could always go wolf and cover a lot of distance on his own four paws, that wasn’t the most practical means of getting around. For one thing, he’d be naked when he shifted back to human form. Of course, she didn’t mind seeing him naked, and he didn’t seem to have the same inhibitions as most other beings. Still, a fellow could get arrested by human cops for being naked in the middle of town.
“Planning your getaway already?” Duncan challenged Josh’s motive for keeping the bike in a way Deena never would have.
“Nothing of the sort,” Josh answered in a firm voice. “It’s just always good to take advantage of opportunities, and having a new vehicle on the farm that’s able to handle cross-country terrain seems like a good one. I’ve taken a look at Deena’s truck and that thing is lucky it’s still running. It could never handle even a mile on grass in its current state and the bike gives us flexibility if we ever need to make a run for it.”
Deena’s heart melted a little bit more. He’d been thinking of her safety. That’s why he wanted the bike. As a means of escape, should they ever need it. He was taking care of her again, and it made her want to reach out and kiss him breathless. If Duncan hadn’t been standing there, she would have done just that. As it was…they still had work to do and a fey warrior all but tapping his foot in impatience to get on with it.
Duncan nodded at Josh’s explanation and let the subject drop.
“Normally, I’d wait to raise wards until you were rested and at peak strength, but this cannot wait, and with three of us working the spells, we should be able to do something worthwhile…and hard to break,” Duncan said, eyeing her with a concerned expression.
“Three of us?” Josh repeated. “You know I’m just a novice when it comes to magic, Duncan.”
“A novice couldn’t have done what you just did to a Venifucus mage,” Duncan countered. “You may not know all the methods and spells yet, but you’ll get there. What counts, when all is said and done, is power and intent. You’ve got those in spades.”
“Glad you think so,” Josh muttered, just at audible level.
She wanted to go to him, but Duncan’s presence inhibited her. Josh didn’t seem to be inhibited, though. He walked right up to her at the kitchen sink and took the damp towel out of her hands. Invading her personal space in a way she rather liked, he took over dabbing at her face, which made her think maybe there were smudges of dirt or smoke that she hadn’t known about.
But when he followed up the gentle cleansing with a kiss to her forehead and a loose embrace, she wanted nothing more than to melt into him and stay there forever. This tender side of Josh was dangerously attractive, and somewhat surprising.
“We’d better get started,” Duncan said in a voice that was just a little too loud as he rose from his chair at the kitchen table. “I have places to go and people to question, and I suspect you two need to rest and recover a bit, which you can’t do until the wards are back up and your territory is better protected.”
Josh nodded and stepped back. Deena was sad to lose his comforting warmth, but she agreed with Duncan. They had to get those wards up and running before she could rest easy in her own home.
Josh was fascinated by the spells Duncan taught him and the creation of the wards around Deena’s farm. Thankfully, the skill seemed to come easily to him, and Duncan was a great teacher. Deena followed Duncan’s lead, too, which surprised Josh at first, but then again, he figured one person couldn’t be expert on all aspects of magic. Plus, Duncan was one hundred percent fey and very, very old, though he didn’t look it. He’d probably forgotten more about magic and spells than Josh or Deena would ever know.
It took a couple of hours, and by the time Duncan pronounced himself satisfied with the layers of protection they’d erected around the farm, Josh was dragging. Deena looked tired, too, and Josh put his arm around her waist to support her as they turned to walk back to the house.
Setting the wards had involved walking the perimeter of the farm, with a long stop in the stone circle. Each time they stopped to layer a spell, the magic poured out of him—and Deena—and he could almost feel it sinking into the land. It felt good and pure, but there was also no question, it drained him.
Duncan had looked at him a little oddly the first time they called the magic and those pure white sparks appeared. As near as Josh could figure, Deena and he were somehow tuned to work together now, and when they added their magic to the mix, it came out unified, with that white light show he’d seen first in the circle of stones during the full moon ritual.
It had grown stronger since then, which was a little disconcerting, but Josh figured it was a good thing. The more power to keep their enemies at bay, the better.
Duncan left soon after, and Josh was glad. He wanted nothing more than to collapse in a bed and not think about magic or bad guys or anything other than holding Deena in his arms.
“I’m glad that’s done,” Deena said as they walked through the house, heading for the guest room by unspoken agreement. “I’m going to shower, then I want sleep.”
“I hear you,” Josh agreed. “You take the shower first,” he offered as they stepped into the generous-sized guest room.
He was glad of his habitual neatness because he’d changed the sheets and made the bed before starting breakfast that morning—which reminded him. They’d never gotten to eat. She must’ve cleared the kitchen of their uneaten breakfast while he was out scouting the perimeter in his wolf form, and they’d been so busy since, there hadn’t been time to do much more than gulp down water and eat a few crackers she’d had in her jacket pocket.
While Deena showered, Josh set up a moveable feast. He set up trays with thick homemade bread, creamy farm-fresh cheese, fruit from the trees out back, and a variety of beverages, with ice in tumblers, and brought them into the guest room, placing them on the small table by the window.
He’d planned to join Deena in the shower. For one thing, he’d wanted to be sure she didn’t have any serious injuries that she’d been hiding all this time. For another, he’d wanted to hold her body close and maybe convince her that sleep was overrated. But she was out of the shower before he could make a move toward the bathroom door.
The smile that lit her face when she saw the food trays was his reward, though. Wrapped in a soft terrycloth robe that had been hanging on the back of the bathroom door for her guests, she made a beeline for the table and had barely sat down before she started eating.
Satisfaction filled him. The wolf rumbled happily in his heart. It liked providing for its mate.