Twisted Fate: Of Love And Darkness Part 10

William lifted the pancakes onto a large platter and then shoved it into Gavin's stomach. "Take these to the table. While you're there, why don't you fill in your new recruits?"

Gavin glanced over his shoulder. "There're more?" For once, he wasn't unhappy about the notion of being surrounded by more Light Ones.

The latest group was comprised of eight Light Ones from the Deep South. They greeted everyone with a collective, "Hey y'all," and then devoured breakfast with the relish of men who hadn't eaten in days. William couldn't keep up. Three of the youngest shifters were a.s.signed to dishwashing duty so he had no other responsibility but to stand over the griddle and make food.

"d.a.m.n animals eat like it's their last meal," he muttered under his breath.

"We need a bigger place," Quentin commented as he s.n.a.t.c.hed a slice of bacon off Jack's plate. Quentin had become c.o.c.kier than the rest, because he was so obviously William's favorite, and William earned everyone's respect just by nature of being a Fate. Not only a Fate, but Sydney's Fate. Their Chala's Fate.

"I think I have a solution to that problem."

All gazes shifted to the hallway, where Sydney stood with her blond hair pulled back into a ponytail, wearing a black sweater and black yoga pants. Gavin felt the familiar twinge in his groin and wondered if she'd be up for another round. How many times had they done it last night? Did it really matter? He still wanted her again. He was pretty sure his need would only increase with the pa.s.sage of time and frequency, and he found he wasn't the least bit upset about the notion.

She blushed prettily and Gavin knew she wondered if everyone suspected what transpired last night. His gaze cut to the kitchen, where William was whipping up another batch of pancake batter, and he wondered again why the Fate was still hanging around. Maybe it was because of the imminent threat of the Rakshasa from Detroit. Did Fates have that kind of control over their own, er, fate?

As far as he understood it, a Fate was a.s.signed to a Chala until such time as the Chala found a mate, and then the Fate left and was a.s.signed to a new Chala, once that one came of age. Although, considering the lack of Chala to protect these days, maybe the head Fate had decided to give William some leeway. What else did he have to do with his time?

"It's the Chala, y'all!" The shout came from the cl.u.s.ter of new shifters. They rose as a unit and rushed to crowd around Sydney, pawing at her and cooing and making suggestions, some that were bawdy even by Gavin's standards.

"What the h.e.l.l?" He strode across the room and bodily tossed shifters out of his path. When he reached Sydney, he was momentarily bowled over by her beauty. When had she become so beautiful? When had she not been beautiful? When could he get her naked again?

She smiled as if she understood the train of his thoughts and said, "Thank you," as demurely as a s.e.x kitten.

Gavin shook his head. "Why are they still fawning over you? You're my mate." He stabbed his chest with his thumb. "We consummated it last night. I ingested your blood, I healed you, we had s.e.x"-he ticked off the points with his fingers as he listed them out loud-"so why are they still acting as if they have a shot in h.e.l.l of getting into your pants?" He eyed those pants with obvious appreciation.

"I see great s.e.x hasn't made you any less crude," Sydney commented calmly, and d.a.m.ned if he didn't like the way she a.s.sumed the s.e.x had been great. Of course, he'd been very vocal in his praise last night, so he supposed she had a right.

"And to answer your question, I have no idea," she said as she breezed past him and glided into the kitchen.

Glided? Great s.e.x had f.u.c.ked up his brain, that's for certain. Gavin shook his head again and followed her. Sydney pulled the empty coffee carafe off the burner, put it into the sink, and filled it with water. Gavin offered his half-full mug and she took a sip before handing it back to him.

"William, do you have any idea why all these shifters appear to still believe I am not yet mated?" she asked as she measured coffee grounds into the filter and then turned on the coffee maker.

"Possibly," he hedged and then handed Gavin another plate loaded with pancakes and asked, "What is this idea for a larger place?"

Gavin took the platter into the dining room, keeping his ears tuned to the conversation in the kitchen.

"Your aunt's place, up north. The house itself is pretty big, plus the pole barn is heated, and with all the muscle around here, I don't think it would be very difficult to convert it into a sort of barracks. Plus, she lives on, like, seventy acres, so we could all train without anyone questioning what we're doing."

Gavin returned to the kitchen. "Is this the kind of stuff you think about while I'm banging your brains out?"

William wrinkled his nose and Sydney rolled her eyes. "We had s.e.x frequently enough last night to fill my quota for a while. Keep it up and I'll cut you off for a month."

Gavin snorted. "Liar."

"It's not a bad idea," William commented.

Gavin threw him a startled look. "Cutting me off is a lousy idea."

William and Sydney both gave him get real looks and he realized the rest of the world did not currently revolve around his s.e.x life. At all, he thought, when he spotted one of the newest shifters eyeing Sydney's a.s.s. Gavin growled, deep in his throat, and the guy quickly averted his gaze.

"How long do you think we have before they attack?" Sydney asked him.

He wondered when she'd become so d.a.m.n confident and self-a.s.sured. Was it the s.e.x? Or had it been his rea.s.surances last night that he was the baddest-a.s.s shifter around, and so long as she was his mate, she had nothing to worry about?

He liked the fact that she believed him, because he was plenty worried enough for both of them. He may be a bada.s.s, but if the Rakshasa gathered enough numbers, well, numbers almost always won, in his book. Gloria and Hernandez had been proof positive of that.

"A little time. First, they have to figure out where we are, which they'll have done by the end of the weekend, if they don't know already. They could have followed us last night. I wasn't paying enough attention to be sure. I was more focused on getting the kid back here so he could get medical aid." That was a lie. He'd been in a near-panic, needing to see for himself that Sydney was okay. When he realized why the Rakshasa tortured the poor kid, all he could think about was protecting Sydney.

"After they figure out where we're holed up, they'll watch us for a little while, so they know exactly what they're up against. Since our motley group is currently pretty d.a.m.n pathetic, if we stay here, I'd say they'll attack by next weekend. If we move, it'll definitely buy us time." He shrugged.

Sydney turned to William. "Call your aunt."

William was a thousand-year-old Fate. If he'd had any aunts when he was human, they'd died a very, very long time ago. His aunt wasn't, of course, really his aunt. Her name was Hilde, and she was a fellow Fate who pitched in every now and then to help out when needed. Considering the lack of Chala to protect, she had little else to do with her immortal time.

She didn't even hesitate to agree to help this time, especially when William mentioned it was Sydney's life at stake. Hilde, like William, had a soft spot for the sweet, young Chala.

"What is it with you?" Gavin asked. "The whole d.a.m.n world adores you like you're the frigging Pied Piper. I don't get it."

Sydney frowned. "Somebody has to counteract your incredibly charming personality." Her voice positively dripped with sarcasm.

"I've already contacted my boss and told her I have to go out of town for a family emergency," William said, interrupting the conversation before it turned into an argument.

"Oh my G.o.d," Sydney blurted. "I totally forgot about my job. I have five events this month. I can't leave now."

Gavin gave her an incredulous look. "They're G.o.dd.a.m.ned parties, Sydney. It won't be the end of the world if you can't work there anymore."

"What do you mean, anymore? We're just taking a small hiatus." Her head swiveled around to look at William. "Right?"

He gave her a sympathetic look. "Sweetie, this isn't a hiatus. This is the real deal. We likely aren't coming back here. It's far too dangerous. Now that the Rakshasa are aware of your presence, they will continue to search for you until either they are killed or you are. I'm sorry, Sydney." He reached out and ran his hand over her hair.

Sydney batted his hand away, the reality of the situation obviously hitting her harder than she expected. Gavin grabbed her and, despite her feeble attempts to get away, pulled her into his arms and pushed her face into his shoulder, holding her tightly while she sniffled and struggled to get out of his grasp.

"Why are you still here?" he demanded of the Fate, as he glared at William over Sydney's shoulder.

William's gaze shifted to the side before he spoke. "Well, we normally have about forty-eight hours to gather our things and say good-bye." And then he frowned. "But I don't feel the same as I have in the past."

"What does that mean? " Gavin asked. Sydney stopped struggling to get out of his arms. He knew she was listening intently to William's words.

"Normally, the connection I have with my charges sort of goes away when they take a mate," William said haltingly. He lifted his gaze and looked Gavin full in the eyes. "But I still feel the connection with Sydney."

Sydney glanced at Gavin. "Does this mean we aren't really mated?"

Gavin tightened his grip on her waist and shook his head. "No. It means you get the bonus package." He changed the subject, reminding Sydney that she needed to let her employer know she would no longer be managing their events.

While the distraction reminded her of her current predicament, it also had the added effect of shifting her focus away from the fact that if she were truly Gavin's mate, William would be packing his bags and heading to wherever Fates go once their charges have been released from their protection. Instead, William packed his bags to go with them to Hilde's home in northern Michigan. Even as the Fate's presence made Gavin nervous about his connection with Sydney, it was also rea.s.suring, because William had a great deal of knowledge they would undoubtedly need in the next few weeks.

Sydney decided it was lucky that most of the occupants of the house had their own vehicles. Even more convenient, the shifters from the Deep South arrived in a parade of pickup trucks, so there was plenty of room to pack clothes, linens, toiletries, and, so it turned out, half the kitchen as well.

"Hilde lives alone." William's tone was defensive when he handed Gavin a box full of various kitchen utensils. "And someone has to feed all you hungry animals."

The final argument was whether Sydney would drive her own car, which of course Gavin nixed. "I'm not letting you out of my sight," he declared, his eyes glowing faintly.

"Okay, that's just ridiculous. You can't possibly keep me within your eyesight every single moment of every single day."

"Watch me," he challenged.

In the end, it was easier to let him have his way than to stand there, wasting precious time arguing about it. Gavin was reasonably certain the Rakshasa had not yet figured out where she lived, because he'd sent Hugo and two other seasoned shifters out to scout the neighborhood, and they reported back that they'd unearthed no Rakshasa, nor any Rakshasa scents. Leaving sooner rather than later bought them much-needed time.

"Besides," Gavin said in a blatant attempt at placating her, "if you leave your car here, they will a.s.sume that either you are still in town, or wherever you went, you took a plane to get there. It could buy us even more time."

Time, she knew, was what they needed more than anything else. As the caravan merged onto the freeway and headed north, she and Gavin a.n.a.lyzed each of the shifters who had so far joined their ranks, and the a.n.a.lysis wasn't pretty. A handful, like Hugo and Ignacio, were old enough to have seen and survived enough battles that they could be worthy adversaries. But for every seasoned shifter, there were five young enough to have not yet experienced their first battle.

"How are there Light Ones who are so young, if there are no more Chala in the world?" Sydney wanted to know.

"Female Light Ones are infertile, unless they are born as Chala. But male Light Ones and Chala can mate with humans, too, like your great-great-great-grandmother did. But the gene that creates Light Ones and Chala is recessive, as I understand it, so the likelihood of producing a shifter instead of a human is slim. Plus, if the parents are far enough removed that they don't even know they have a shifter gene in their blood, the kid could grow up and not even know what he is, at least until he outlives everyone else around him and still doesn't look any older than twenty-five."

Sydney watched the scenery fly by outside the pa.s.senger side window. "It's really necessary for you and me to have children, isn't it?" she asked quietly.

Gavin slid a sideways glance in her direction. "At some point, yes. This battle will undoubtedly result in casualties on our side, no matter how well trained we are. The Light One population is so low right now compared to the Rakshasa, every one we lose makes a big impact."

"How come the Rakshasa don't have the same problem?"

Gavin hesitated, which told her whatever he intended to say, it was not the entire story. Considering her abysmal lack of knowledge about him or even her own kind, she had no choice but to accept whatever he told her, half the story or not.

"Female Rakshasa don't have the infertility problem that Light Ones do. Or maybe Rakshasa have unprotected s.e.x more frequently." He shrugged. "As far as I can tell, male Light Ones used to tend to hold out, hoping to meet a Chala, instead of mating with the first available hot chick who came along. By the time they realized the error of their ways, it was too late. There were almost no Chala left, leaving the male Light Ones with only humans to mate with, and like I said, it's a recessive gene. Result? Not a whole lot of Light Ones in the world."

Sydney blew out a breath. "It's really stressful feeling as if the future of your kind lies on your shoulders."

Gavin reached over and twined his fingers with hers. "I'll do my d.a.m.nedest to ensure you aren't stressed during the process of creating that future."

His tone was flip, but Sydney heard the underlying steel beneath the words. Her heart gave an unexpected flutter, although she forced a laugh, so he would not suspect she understood what he wasn't saying.

He would protect her, he would take care of her.

He cared for her.

Hilde's house was located approximately four hours north of Detroit. Gavin instructed everyone to drive straight there, without making a single pit stop. The fact that they were in vehicles and left no discernible scents in any towns save the one they left and the one they arrived in, would, he knew, also buy them time.

They arrived at Hilde's place during the early afternoon. Since they had only a few hours of daylight left and a great deal to do, Gavin and William immediately set about issuing orders and putting everyone to work. The trucks were unloaded and sent into the nearest town to load up with lumber and sheet rock and other necessary supplies to convert the pole barn into a barracks. The remaining shifters were set to work emptying the pole barn of a hundred years' worth of mostly useless junk.

Hilde lived in an old farmhouse situated on a fan-shaped piece of land with about thirty feet of sandy frontage on a crystal-clear lake, and opened up to densely wooded property behind the house. Her house was surrounded by state land, which meant she had few neighbors to contend with.

The farmhouse had been added on to over the years, turning it into a ma.s.sive wooden structure with white plank siding and a large wraparound porch. Despite the size and the number of bedrooms inside the house, it was not large enough to accommodate what had become nearly fifty Light Ones by this point. The pole barn located about thirty yards behind the house was the perfect solution.

Behind the pole barn was a half-acre clearing that Hilde normally used to grow a garden. Gavin paced around the perimeter and declared it perfect to use as a training ground.

He had no doubt the Rakshasa would find them eventually, but the longer he could put off the inevitable, the better. He needed to train his men, he needed to prepare, but mostly, he needed more time with Sydney.

He was reasonably certain that every shifter in his strange little army would fight to the death to protect their Chala, so he wasn't as worried about Sydney's death as he was his own. He told the truth when he told her he once was the Rakshasa's leader, and therefore knew how they worked. They were a cunning and highly skilled set of warriors. And they would go after the center of the machine-the cog that kept it all together and kept everything running smoothly.

They would go after him.

Luckily, no one else knew this about the enemy. Everyone else a.s.sumed Sydney was the target, and they would protect her appropriately. Which was exactly the way Gavin wanted it.

Much later that evening, after everyone was settled in and many were already sleeping, Gavin sought out William and convinced him to take a walk outside, just the two of them.

"I told you, you aren't my type, Rakshasa," William commented as they slipped out the kitchen door and wandered along the shoveled path between the house and the pole barn. No one else was outside at the moment, which was just the way Gavin wanted it.

"Thank the Fates for small favors," he replied. After a few moments of silent walking, William inquired as to why they were wandering about in sub-zero temperatures.

"Sydney is my mate now," Gavin started, haltingly. "But if I die, she won't feel any, um, urges to want to kill herself, will she?"

"Worried, Rakshasa? I thought you were the best there is."

"There is always the possibility of death when you go into battle. You know this as well as I do."

"True."

"So answer the d.a.m.n question. Will she feel the urge to kill herself?"

William contemplated his answer for a few moments. "She has developed feelings for you, against my better judgment."

"That isn't what I asked." Although it was nice to know.

"Sydney is special." It sounded as if he was choosing his words with care. "She would be heartbroken if you die, but no, she would not feel the urge to kill herself. Not in the way a Light One does when his Chala dies."

Gavin let out a breath he did not even realize he was holding. "That's a relief." It would be even better if she changed her mind about the whole childbearing thing before the Rakshasa found them. It would be nice to know he'd left her with his seed growing in her belly. One step at a time, though.

William hesitated, and then said, "Gavin, there is something you should know."

"What?"

"Sydney isn't your mate."

Gavin rolled his eyes. "Haven't we been over this? Do you want to watch next time?" He made a show of looking at his wrist, even though he didn't wear a watch. "If you want, come into our bedroom in about twenty minutes. I plan to be buried inside her by that time."

"I don't understand what she sees in you," William said in disgust. "You are the crudest man I have ever met. And it doesn't matter how many times or how many different ways you have s.e.x with her. It doesn't matter if you ingest her blood again. It doesn't matter if you get her with child. She will never be your mate. Not officially. Not as a Chala."

Gavin stopped walking. William continued several more paces before he realized Gavin was no longer at his side. William stopped and turned around. The devastated look on Gavin's face very nearly made him wish he'd never admitted the truth to the man. But he needed to know. He needed to know, so he could let Sydney go, so she could mate with another.

"But . . . But . . ."

William shook his head sadly. "You are a cursed Rakshasa, Gavin. You are not a Light One, even if you do feel like a Light One. And Rakshasa do not mate with the Chala."

"That's why you haven't left."

William watched realization dawn on the other man's face. "Yes."