By the Embers Dies the Fire Read online

  Elain stared out over the backyard. “Wait…” She turned to look at Lacey. “Your mate has been dead…”

  Lacey evenly met her gaze. “Yes?”

  Elain didn’t look away first. Lacey finally did, letting out a sigh of her own. “Jocko and I are too old for pups anyway. It’s a sign from the Goddess. He got a vasectomy decades ago so it’s not a worry any longer.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  Lacey shrugged. “It is what it is. Some of us are tied to this land. By the embers dies the fire, right? I’m technically retired now. It’s nice having a good thing to focus on for a change. A spark, a bright, shining spark of life that will take our Clan into the next era and carry on.”

  “Colleen.”

  “Of course Colleen. Not just her, but the others. Connor, Joss, Ellie, Elise, BettLynn, Luke and George.” She smiled. “Mai’s little one. And Lina’s.”

  “But Lina’s not—”

  Lacey looked at her. “Yet. Soon.”

  “Ah.” A thought occurred to Elain. “You know what I did, don’t you? With Mai’s baby?” On the heels of that, another thought, and a question she didn’t want to ask. “I’m not going to have a problem with you with that baby, am I?”

  The old Seer shrugged. “Once a soul is reborn, it’s a fresh start. I hold no grudges against an innocent child. Again, you’re a far stronger and better woman than I am, to give him a new chance.” Lacey sighed. “By the embers dies the fire, and by the embers a fire is rekindled.” She met Elain’s gaze. “How that fire is kindled and tended is the key.”

  Elain suspected that was a point made to drive something home inside her.

  And she got it.

  Boy, did she.

  She’d have to get through the next few days and weeks with her men, though, before devoting more brain cells to thinking about that.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Upon the return of the others, a search for Brighton was immediately launched, starting at the rock pile. After Brodey assured himself that Elain and the babies were safe, he edicted her to stay there at Lacey’s with the kids until he said otherwise.

  An edict she was, for once, happy to follow.

  The story, as it’d been told to Brodey and the others, was that after Elain took the kids and left Brighton, she didn’t witness what followed.

  Loopholing her ass off, of course, but she’d take the win.

  It didn’t hurt that Gigi, Callie, and Lacey filled in the story gaps where Elain couldn’t because of the whole inability to lie to her mates thing.

  Which, in this case, was proving extremely inconvenient.

  On the one hand, she could publicly act upset that Brighton was currently missing and would soon likely be presumed dead, since no one would be able to figure out what happened to him and the large pool of blood, along with cockatrice blood, was an obvious sign that Brighton wasn’t healthy.

  On the other hand, Elain inwardly seethed that the crazy motherfucking bastard had caused her mates this additional worry and grief, and nearly killed her and her kids, her little brother, and another baby she loved very much.

  Brighton had been opening a portal between Earth and some unknown realm, where it appeared Aliah was still homicidally alive and well and wanting to extract some vengeance of her own. Then there was the little matter of them not knowing exactly what might have come through that portal to Earth in the past.

  Oh, and Brighton had invited cockatrice onto their Clan land. To kill them, yes, but still.

  Goddess only knew what else Brighton had done that they hadn’t had time to figure out yet. Like having the cockatrice spell book.

  All she wanted to do right now was get drunk and not think about all of this for a few minutes. She hated that until her life had changed when she met her men, she’d never actively sought to get drunk before.

  Other than the night her mom had dropped the bomb on her that she was a shifter. And then returning from her field trip with Marston to visit her dad’s brothers and the Lyall cousin.

  Usually, Elain prided herself on being a very in-control kind of person.

  If it made her a shitty mother and even shittier mate for wanting to check out of reality for a little while, then so be it.

  In the confusion of the sudden return to the Clan territory, Lina, Mai, and Kitty had all been left behind without a vehicle and were awaiting someone to come back for them. Both Lina and Mai called, and Elain assured them she was fine, the babies were fine—although she did fib and say she’d rushed Colleen home to where she belonged when the shit hit the fan.

  Not a lie.

  Fortunately for Elain, neither of her friends could comfortably poof back there by themselves to be with her yet, and she wasn’t about to poof them there. Elain used the excuse that besides Brodey’s edict, there were enough people running around the Clan compound, and they still didn’t know what was going on, it was better to have as few people at risk as possible.

  Ain and Cail wanted to fly up immediately, but Elain asked them to wait until Brodey spoke to them about that. Since Brodey was currently on his second wild wolf chase of the day—and again one he didn’t even realize he was engaged in—it would be a while until he was back in cell phone range.

  Lacey took charge. The woman prepared what appeared to be impossible amounts of food, but everyone who stopped by Lacey’s house that day and into the long, endless night—all the dozens of shifters who rotated in and out, standing guard, helping search, reporting back—found more than enough food waiting to fill their bellies and even take some out to others still in the woods.

  Elain’s father had brought her mom back to Lacey’s, and Lacey had him put her down in her bed before he ran out to gather their luggage. She was asleep now, thanks to the help of good painkillers. Outside Lacey’s house, it’d become an armed encampment. They were using her place for staging. Not so much as a field mouse would be able to sneak through, much less a cockatrice.

  That cockatrice wouldn’t be an issue, at least not there at Lacey’s, and not tonight, was something Elain couldn’t admit. Well, she could admit it, but not how she knew it.

  Lina and Mai returned and took BettLynn and the Beasts from Callie and were immediately shuttled off to the airport by Ortega’s men, the women under orders from their men, to get them safely back to Florida immediately. Before they left, they’d packed up all of Elain and Brodey’s things, as well as Carla and Liam’s things, and other shifters brought them to Lacey’s.

  No one wanted them leaving there. They could protect it, and would protect it.

  Elain sat on Lacey’s couch with the TV on, Ellie falling asleep in her arms after Elain gave her a bottle of formula.

  “I guess she’s totally on the bottle now,” Elain said, not thinking about it first, so used to bottle-feeding Connor. She’d still been pumping extra breast milk and supplementing it with formula.

  “I took the liberty earlier,” Lacey said. “Sorry, but you were a little…understandably distracted. I used some of Joss’ formula before I realized it was different kind than what you feed her and Connor. She might have a little bit of an upset tummy tomorrow from the sudden change, but I would suggest switching her over permanently to formula at this point. She’ll be on solid food soon enough. Formula won’t hurt her.”

  “Thanks.”

  Elain wasn’t even paying attention to the TV. It was some crime drama, all loose ends neatly tied up in less than sixty minutes, not counting commercial breaks.

  No questions left unanswered, unless it was supposed to be part of a two-parter, or a mid-season finale meant to hook viewers into tuning in again the next time.

  Contrived.

  The ending already filmed and known by those who were in the know, part of the actual process of making the show.

  Actors, directors, writers, producers.

  On the porch, through the front window, Elain could see two large wolf shifters whose names she couldn’t recall right off the top of her head, but whom she kn
ew had been given orders to keep them safe, or die trying.

  Literally.

  And they would, too. Hell, she was their Seer, and Lacey was their former Seer but a lot like a grandmother to many of the younger generations of their Clan.

  All the times Elain had silently—or not so—cursed Baba Yaga and her scheming. The plans no one would tell her or Lina or Mai about.

  The secrecy.

  Yeah, now she got it.

  Some of it, at least.

  Who the fuck would want to know the truth about this? Sure, she could tell her guys about it, but why the hell would she want to?

  Break their hearts? Get them angry?

  Being believed wasn’t a worry. She knew they’d believe her. They’d have no choice, ironically.

  Why would she want to break their hearts like that?

  Code of the Ancients meant you kept your mates happy. Or tried, at least, not to make them unhappy.

  Right?

  She looked down into Ellie’s beautiful face. She looked so much like Ain, had his grey eyes.

  Elain’s men loved Ellie, desperately, with every beat of their hearts and every breath in their lungs. And Connor. Of that she had no doubt.

  None whatsoever.

  What if Brighton had a mate? What if he’d had kids?

  What if Elain had met Brighton a couple of years ago, before he’d had a chance to fly irretrievably off the rails? Maybe she could have intervened…

  Somehow.

  Or maybe this was how it was supposed to be, by design or by Fate or dumb goddamned luck. What they’d learn from the spell book he’d had could possibly point them on the right trail to stopping the nuclear vision from coming to pass. That was the bigger picture, right?

  The needs of the many? Saving countless lives?

  Preventing an apocalypse?

  What was that compared to the life of one batshit crazy man?

  Elain suspected that, during the course of events over the next days and weeks, that she’d have to steer things toward the direction of Brighton being a hero, trying to take down this nest on his own as a matter of pride and wanting to keep his brothers safely away since they were new fathers, while she steered everyone away from the thought that Brighton was actually…

  Nuts.

  Tetched.

  Elain had taken care of feeding Connor and Joss, changing them, and putting them back to bed in the late night hours, and still Lacey’s house was a quiet hive of activity. It was almost three a.m. when Brodey and her father returned.

  Brodey looked inconsolable. When Elain pulled him in for a long hug, she felt in his pulse, in the very way he breathed, how beyond upset he was. Angry for not being there to protect not just her and Ellie and Connor and the other babies, but to protect Mom and Brighton as well. Despite Brighton being nearly two years older than Brodey, Brodey had felt responsible for him because of the promise made to their parents to look out for him.

  Liam hugged Elain, too, once she’d finally released Brodey. “Yer all right then, love?” he softly asked.

  “Yeah, Dad. I’m okay. Just…shaken.”

  “Yer mum?”

  “She’s been asleep ever since. Probably for the best. Joss is fine.”

  He let out a heavy sigh. “Ye think I’d be used to strange things happenin’ now, but here in Clan territory, ye just don’t expect—”

  “I know, Dad,” she finally said. “I know. It’s okay. No one did.” The irony didn’t escape her that her father was actually younger than Brodey, yet he’d had more than his fair share of heartache in his life.

  Lacey walked over. “Liam, go on in with Carla,” she said. “I’ll nap on the couch.

  “Sorry we’re puttin’ ye out like this, Lacey.”

  “Nonsense,” she said. “Go on. I’m fine.”

  “Thank ye.” He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and headed down the hall.

  Lacey turned her focus on Elain and Brodey. “You two need to get some sleep.”

  “We’re going out again in the morning to search,” Brodey said.

  “That’s fine, but you will sleep first, pup,” Lacey said. “I’ll make sure someone wakes you up when it’s time.”

  He nodded and wearily headed down the hall toward the guest room. Elain followed him, glancing over her shoulder.

  Lacey gave her a curt, grim nod before turning away.

  Jasper only lifted his head in acknowledgement before lying down again.

  Once they were in bed, Brodey’s arms wrapped tightly around Elain and his chin pressing against the top of her head, he let out a long, sad sigh.

  “Do you see anything, babe?” he finally asked.

  She’d already anticipated something like this and had selected a safe answer without any loopholes needed. “I don’t think we’re ever going to know the full truth,” she said. “But Mom’s fine, I’m fine, and most importantly, the babies are fine.”

  He raised his head and glanced at the travel cribs pushed along the other wall. It made for tight quarters with the full-sized bed. “Where’s Colleen?”

  “I took her…home. Right after it happened. She’s safe. I thought it for the best.”

  “Oh. Okay. Were her…” He didn’t finish.

  “Her guardians were relieved she’s safe, and asked me to express their hopes that this is resolved quickly and safely without any other casualties, and to express their gratitude and condolences.”

  Her men already knew that Elain wouldn’t reveal anything about Colleen’s situation other than that, and the fact that Ortega had taken personal responsibility for guaranteeing her safety.

  Ain only knew Colleen’s father as Martin.

  He spoke a moment later. “He’s dead, isn’t he? Brighton.”

  She hadn’t wanted to discuss the finality tonight. “Yes. I’m sorry.”

  “No chance you’re…wrong?”

  “I don’t think so, sweetie. I’m so, so sorry.”

  “Did you…see it?”

  She looked up into his face. In the dim light from the nightlight in the room, she studied his eyes. They were dark, nearly black, both from his emotions and the lack of light. She cupped his face in her hands and kissed him.

  “Please don’t ask me to talk about that.”

  Elain really didn’t want to fall back to Seer Says on this. She didn’t want to have to loophole any more than necessary.

  And she didn’t want to be backed into a corner of flat-out refusing to describe exactly how Brighton died, or his final resting place.

  Brodey closed his eyes and touched his forehead to hers as his tears started. Wrapping her arms around him, she held him as he cried, keenly feeling his pain to the depths of her soul, her own guilt and grief nearly crushing her.

  Before dawn, Brodey finally cried himself to sleep. Maybe in that way she was lucky that she’d been raised an only child. Except now there was Joss for her to look after and love. A little brother she’d be more a mother to than a sister.

  Maybe that was worse, in some ways. More dangerous to her heart.

  Elain closed her eyes and tried to sleep as dark images chased her through her dreams. She didn’t know if it was visions or simply nightmares spawned by the days’ events, but when she opened her eyes in Baba Yaga’s kitchen, she turned around and found the Immortal sitting on her couch in front of a dark TV screen.

  Elain walked around and sat in a chair across the coffee table from her.

  The other woman wore her matron visage. “I’m sorry.”

  “Did you know? Did you have a hand in this?”

  “No, and no. Only in retrospect do some things make sense.” She studied her hands.

  “I heard Aliah screaming from the portal, didn’t I?”

  “I think so, yes.”

  “So she’s not really dead after all?”

  “Dead is a relative term. She probably thinks she’s in hell when the truth is, she’s at the origins of the species. Ground zero, as it were. The realm their Dark One sire
emerged from. Someplace off-Earth.”

  “Ryan told me there are other realms, where sometimes time flows differently than in this one.”

  “Yes.”

  “And that’s one of them?”

  “Yes.”

  It almost shocked Elain that she was getting such straightforward answers from the woman tonight. She wasn’t used to it yet.

  “Do you think she actually helped create her own race?”

  “No, that realm flows more slowly than this one, but still forward, not backward.”

  “Do you see anything about her in the future?”

  “I don’t know. I’ve seen the nuclear vision, but I don’t see specifically what players are involved or a definitive timeline. I only see that it’s a cockatrice-initiated event. You learned more about it than I was able to discover.”

  Elain wanted to take advantage of this honesty and openness while she could. “We know who sets it off, but not her identity. And we figured out approximately where it goes off.”

  “Then you absolutely know more than I do.”

  “We didn’t understand why the vision starts in New Madrid if the bomb doesn’t detonate there, but we think it’s because of who detonates it. It’s detonated from there, where the vision starts.”

  Baba Yaga studied her hands for a moment. “This was very unfortunate today. Very tragic. Please do not take my next comment the wrong way.”

  “Starting like that usually ensures that I do.”

  “You proved yourself in a way today that should show you, despite the nature of the events, that you are capable. You saved your daughter. You saved Colleen from a possible future revelation that could harm or kill her. And you trusted your instincts.”

  “I followed Lacey’s instincts.”

  “True, but once you realized there was a problem, you trusted your own instincts.”

  “Jasper helped.”

  “But more of your instincts.”

  “What the hell is Jasper? Or who the hell is he?”

  “I didn’t bring him forth, if that’s your question.” Now they were slipping back into vague territory and Elain didn’t like it.