Demon Day (5 page)

The unsaid was that this shifter had
hurt me, and it was clear a transgression so great would not go
unpunished in Breandan’s eyes. If the situation was reversed, I no
had no doubt I would do the same thing in a heartbeat … if it meant
his protection.

“
This does not bode well,”
Conall said his voice dark and mad. “He was clearly a sentry
watching for intruders. We will need to make reparation to the
Pride he hails from.”

“
Another time,” Breandan
said.

My trembling stopped and I forced
myself to unclamp my hand from around Breandan’s waist and stand.
My wings slammed out behind me and my tail cracked from side to
side. What had happened that morning had made me moody, and short
of temper throughout the day, but this latest experience left me
jittery. I plucked leaves from the mess of inky-black that was my
hair, and caught Breandan’s scent before he touched me. Sunlight,
earth, and rain. He came up behind me and his hands gently rested
on my shoulders, squeezed, and then slid down my bared back to pass
over my wings. They twitched and fluttered at his touch and I
dragged in a shaky breath.

Gods, to fall for someone so hard
surely you were bound to break apart. Unravel at the seams because
you are undone by how they make you feel.

He continued, lazily wandering to my
waist then lower, gripping my hips. I shifted, but instead of
backing off he pulled me into him. My heart thumped doubly hard and
I sighed when his hands left my hips to gently feel my neck
again.

“
I’m fine,” I rasped and
thumped him lightly on the back of his thigh with my
tail.

His fingertips brushed my hair back
from my neck then he pressed a kiss to my pulse point. He let me
go. “I believe you, but I want you to relax. You’re too
tense.”

I slanted a pained look over my
shoulder at him. Not sure if admitting he was the main cause of my
erratic heartbeat would be sensible. Gods knew what he would
do.

“
I want this over with,” I
mumbled. “I want Devlin dead and I want the book back. No shifter
with grabby hands is going to distract me from that. The bruises
will heal, eventually.”

He sighed and muttered, “This is not
going to end well.”

My brows came together and I twisted
round to look him in the face – unsure of what he meant. He glanced
at Conall, truly unhappy, and his lips pressed into a thin line.
Breandan was unbelievably skilled at controlling his expression to
hide his reaction to things, and I had to watch him closely to see
if he was mad, pissed, or upset. Judging by how his jaw worked I
was going for mad.

“
What?” I asked, because it
became apparent he had realized something before I had. “What are
you not saying? I tried and failed to keep the impatience from my
tone. “Why have we stopped?”

I looked to Conall; the mighty warrior
strong enough to massacre a small army of his kind. He said nothing
at first and I knew it would be a mistake to push him … no one
pushed him.

Irritated and grumpy I waited – hand
on hip – for my bother to tell us which direction to take. He and
Breandan sent each other a series of coded looks and signaled to
each other with their hands.

My gaze darted back to the rigid body
of the dead shifter, blood pooling beneath his twisted form, and I
shuddered at how effortlessly they had ended his life.

“
If you two wanted you
could grind me into a pulp,” I said thoughtfully. “You’re both
warriors yet here you are babysitting me. I’m slowing you down
aren’t I?”

They stilled. Abandoning whatever
silent conversation they were having and turned to face me.
Conall’s face was perplexed. Breandan’s was smooth, emotionless,
telling me he was experiencing an intense feeling he did not want
me to see.

“
Rae,” Conall said slowly.
“Do you still not understand who you are?”

“
I’m a fairy Priestess.” I
said it shyly, knowing he was after more but not wanting to
insinuate I was more important than I was. How embarrassing that
would be!

My brother shot a look at Breandan who
inclined his head then came to stand before me. His heat muddled my
brain, made me weak in the knees. I peeked at his face and saw a
small smile of the corner of his lips.

“
Who am I to you?” he
asked.

“
Uh, my boyfriend,” I said
with conviction, and cleared my throat since my voice was still
raspy. “I mean, my steady.” I was proud of myself for I had never
said those words before, but when I looked up the smile gathering
at the edges of my mouth dropped into a scowl.

Breandan looked horrified. “You are my
life mate,” he corrected, “and you belong to me.” Conall made a
small noise of protest, but apart from a tightening of the jaw,
Breandan did not acknowledge it. “I am your protector. I am faster,
stronger, and more resilient to physical injury. More than this, we
are bonded, so our connection is fundamental to whom we are. You
cannot overpower me and I cannot overcome you, because you too are
stronger, faster, and more resilient to physical injury than
I.”

I frowned, screwing up my face. “That
makes no sense.”

He seemed to be struggling with
something. He leaned forward compelling me to do the same. Just shy
of our lips touching he paused and hovered there, easing back when
I carried on, mindlessly seeking the touch of his skin on mine.
Sliding our hands together, he squeezed my fingers and held me
still. I could barely breathe and lost brain function to sensation.
A tingle ran down my body to the ends of my hair. It collided with
a similar disturbance radiating from him. Seeing that I had picked
up on this oddity he swayed forward, and my own vibration lessened,
became weaker. Felling too submissive I pushed back and felt my
vibration grow as his shrank back.

“
What one lacks, the other
grows to fill,” I murmured.

I was determined not to appear freaked
out by what Breandan and I meant to each other anymore, so I smiled
then ducked my head down so my hair covered my face as I balked
inwardly.

Breandan’s head bobbed from side to
side in thought before he nodded. “That is how you stand in
relation to me. What you do not seem to realize is that others not
connected to you by blood, or magic are far less powerful. Many of
our kind cannot touch the Source, though they know it is there, and
they can feel it. Magic is to us as air is to breathe–”

“
And water to drink,” I
finished catching up mentally. Bloody fairies and their bloody
jumpy thought patterns.

A finger slid under my chin to tip my
head up. Breandan’s gaze darted to Conall who looked away, face
stony.

The kiss he pressed to my lips was
chaste, soothing, and ended with a wicked nip. Leaning back he
hungrily drank me in with his eyes. I trembled.

Conall, however, had a frown of
disapproval stamped across his features. In honesty, he was
starting to get on my nerves with all the scowling and edgy
looks.

“
What?” I asked my voice
still thick with lust. I cleared my throat lifted my chin then
lowered it again when I figured I probably should be trying for
meekness not defiance. “Conall, what is it?”

His expression named him thoroughly
not impressed. “I think I need to discuss something with you.” No
other explanation was forthcoming.

In the heat of my mortification I
snapped, “We’re busy.”

“
Yes. That is why I need to
talk to you. There are certain customs that need
observing.”

“
I have every intention of
showing Rae some of our more pleasurable customs,” Breandan said
evenly, but the look he leveled at me had me all but
panting.

I inhaled deeply and as I exhaled I
said, “I’m ready for a lesson on customs now.”

Breandan cocked an eyebrow. “You wish
to learn?”

“
Uh, yeah, if you’re the
one teaching.”

Conall hissed and strode forward to
grab my arm and yank me back. “It is understandable your natures
would get the better of you, but Breandan has been raised by the
laws of our people, and I know he does not wish to continue
dishonoring you so blatantly.”

My fairy-boy winced as if Conall had
stuck him a blow. Lowering his head, he broke our mutual
get-over-here-and-touch-me stare, and avoided meeting my
gaze.

“
Forgive me,” he said
softly. “Your Elder is right; I shame myself and the beauty of our
bond by behaving so.”

My back straightened. Instead of
telling Conall to take a hike, my fairy stood there with his eyes
on the bloody floor like he would keel over dead if he looked at
me.

Conall cleared his throat. “You say
you are a fairy a Priestess, and you are wrong. You are the fairy
Priestess, there can only be one of you. And though you think the
powers you have seen are common place many of our kind are simple
folk who will never touch the Source, or be able to move as fast,
or be as strong. In time, you will learn our ways. Who we are as a
people.”

“
They’re normal,” I said
feeling a pang of jealousy. “They all get to live normal lives to
look to you to keep them safe.”

“
They will look to you,”
Conall said solemnly. “As we all will.”

If my spine got any stiffer it would
snap in half. The pressure and responsibility just kept building,
and I was sick of it. I did not want any of this. Hearing it laid
out in black and white didn’t make it more real for me, or prepare
me for what was expected of me. If anything it felt more like a
dream, no, a nightmare from which I could not wake.

A swell of peace I was sure was not my
own calmed me. I sighed. Breandan would not be here if this was a
nightmare.

“
All of that does not
change the fact the two of you could wipe the floor with me.” I
gave them both pointed looks, daring them to deny it. They knew it
was true. Sure, I could fight, but I had seen the way they moved,
and there was no way my Disciple training could match
it.

Breandan snorted, his head lifting.
“You have not been taught to use your body as it was designed. We
shall teach you how to harness your power, and no one shall be able
to challenge you.” He grinned, dazzling me. “Oh, no one, but
me.”

“
Not even the High Lord,”
Conall murmured. “For the first time we have a Priestess not bound
to him.”

“
All will be well,”
Breandan snapped and shot the older fairy a look of malevolence.
“Rae can control herself and she does not need you to smother
her.”

I stared at him, wide eyed at the
harshness of his tone. Conall did not look too perturbed or
offended, simply disinterested.

I narrowed my eyes. I was not the most
perceptive of people, but I was not blind either. The undercurrents
these two failed so miserably to hide, flowed deep, and would have
swept up even the strongest of the disinterested. I knew they had
to be feeling the strain of the day before too, after all so much
had changed. Breandan had broken away from his brother and was
considered an outcast. Conall had butchered several of his kind to
give me retribution for Lex’s life. We all had much to shoulder and
deal with. I guess I could understand if they were both feeling
wound up and were taking it out on each other, but gods did they
have to be so rude?

Grumping to myself about bad manners,
I moved away and heard them follow me. When I could no longer smell
the shifter, I plopped down on the ground figuring the spot was as
good as any.

“
Let’s get on with it,” I
grumped. “Clearly you’re warming up to a lecture and the sooner we
do it the sooner we can get moving again.”

We did not have all the time in the
world. Devlin would have to stop too, but the fairy High Lord was
powerful and tricky. He probably knew I would be slowing his
adversaries down, and would use the time to take as far a lead as
possible.

Breandan sank down behind me and I
studied his face since the corner of his mouth looked suspiciously
curved, like he was fighting a smile. I watched out for them since
his smiles were so rare and stunning. His laughter was rarer, but
when he did express amusement it was more than worth the
wait.

Conall stepped lightly to seat himself
cross-legged in front of me.

Over the silence was the sound of
crickets, and a strong wind that blew through the tall grass,
bringing me the earthy scents and smallest sounds of life on the
Pride.

I waited patiently for Conall to
begin, idly wondering why Breandan was not touching me and why he
seemed painfully aware of how much distance there was between
us.

“
Our birth mother was
Sorcha,” my brother began. “Priestess and mate of Nyall the High
Lord of all fairykind.”

Already I had to interrupt him. “Don’t
we have a family name? I mean, I was given the name Wilder because
the Priest who found me thought I was a wild thing.”

My heart squeezed when I thought of
the Priests, for then I thought of Temple, and everything I had
left behind. I felt like a leaf that was once part of a great oak,
captured by the wind and carried away into the unknown. I knew I
was destined to go far, but I missed being unseen amongst others
like me. I frowned. Was that the problem? That there was no other
like me yet I kept seeing myself as ordinary. Unable to understand
that I could not think or act as others did because I was supposed
to be the one others followed?