Devotion (38 page)

"I was ordered not to talk to ya," Trevor said. "Told we couldn't trust ya for nothin'. Didn't know what was goin' on, but like I said, I don't want to get in the middle of your poly-tics. But when Ms. Alexis here came out to protect us, willin' to give her life for us, I knew they was wrong. You can be trusted."

"So you do know something?" I asked. "About a little girl?"

"I got a message just yesterday, from another Were. He's ain't a wolf, but not from 'round here neither, and I was closest. Location-wise, you know? He said you was lookin' for a girl, and he thinks he found her. He wanted me to get the message to ya." He knelt on a knee in front of me and dropped his head. "I'm sorry I didn't trust ya, Ms. Alexis."

I barely heard the apology as I tried to squelch the excitement pulsing like lightning through my veins. How did we know he was telling the truth? Or that this other Were was?

"Who is it?" Tristan demanded, also skeptical. "How do you know you can trust this stranger?"

"I got curious and sent a couple of my wolves out. He's aw-right. Amadis, for sure."

"And you said he's close?"

"In the Everglades. I'd go with ya, even bring some of my pack after what ya just did, but I don't need no shit from no one."

"We understand," I said. "Can you tell us where, exactly, in the Everglades?"

I latched onto his thoughts and saw the location in his mind.

He pulled a paper towel off the roll sitting on the counter that separated the living room and little kitchen, and fished a pen out of a drawer. "I'll draw ya a map."

I almost stopped him, saying we'd figure it out ourselves because I didn't want to delay one second longer. But then I realized it could be a test–if the map he drew was the same as what I saw in his mind, we could trust him and his story. We took his map, and once again headed for the bikes. We didn't need to bring them anymore trouble.

"He's telling the truth," I said, keeping my voice low as Tristan and Owen mounted the motorcycles. "We're going right away, right? Now?"

Tristan shook his head. "We need to go home first."

"What?
Why?
"

"Many reasons, which I'll tell you later. Right now, we need to get out of here." He fired up the loud engine, then stood so I could get on.

I stuffed the map into my pocket, swiped my dagger's hilt to make it disappear and swung myself onto the bike. Owen cloaked and shielded us before we took off into the darkening evening. By the time we whipped onto I-75, full night had come on, and the highway was much less crowded than it had been earlier. I didn't feel the fear at all now, so my mind kept drifting, wanting to search for the girl right away, and Owen had to keep mentally yelling at me to stay focused so he could see through my thoughts.

"Why couldn't we go right away?" I asked Tristan as soon as we stood in our own garage. After removing our cloaks, Owen had gone on home. "We were halfway there already."

"Because we don't know what we're going up against," he said. "If it's Amadis, they must have had help over the years, so it's probably more than one person, and we have to be careful how we handle it. If it is, by chance, Daemoni, then you're looking at a battle much bigger than what we just finished. I need a chance to regroup and make a plan."

I crossed my arms and stared at him. He stared back at me.

"Are you making a plan?" I asked impatiently.

The corners of his mouth twitched and eventually tugged up into a smile.

"You've certainly become all full of yourself today." He pulled me into his embrace and held me tightly against him. "Please give me a moment to feel you safely in my arms before we throw ourselves into the pits again."

I wrapped my arms around his waist and leaned my head against his chest. "I suppose we can spare a moment."

"How about a night?"

"The whole
night
?"

"You really don't want to be out there in the middle of the night."

I snorted. "After what we just went through, you think I'm afraid of the dark?"

"Not the dark. The swamps. The homes of gators, anacondas …"

"As in big snakes?"

"As in ginormous snakes."

I shuddered, but said, "I can handle it."

He heard the hesitation in my voice and knew he almost had me convinced. "A few hours sleep will give our bodies time to completely heal, and Owen especially needs it."

Ugh
. He knew how to get to me.

"Okay, fine. We leave first thing in the morning."

"Perfect." He took my hand and we headed into the house. To find Dorian in bed and Mom and Charlotte at the kitchen table. And they weren't alone.

Wearing a charcoal gray pants suit and her dark hair pulled into a twist at the nape of her neck, Julia looked almost like a Norman visiting friends during a business trip. But the vampire's only business here would be to take Tristan. My hackles rose. I stepped in front of Tristan.

"What the hell are you doing in my house?" I demanded, though I already knew the answer.

"Rina was worried. I told her I'd check on you and Sophia," Julia answered smoothly.

"And we're supposed to believe that? Believe
you
?"

"
Alexis!
" Mom thought
.
"
Calm down. She's not here for Tristan. Rina seems to think we need a babysitter.
"

She followed you?
I asked. Mom barely moved her head in a nod.

"That's my official business," Julia said. "But while I'm here, it's only prudent of me to tell you that your actions are making your situation worse."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tristan asked.

"Today's events mean nothing to you? The Amadis who fought for you–their lives mean nothing?" So she had already received word of the battle at the Were encampment.

"Of course they do! And if you knew as much as you think you do, you'd know that
we
protected
them
," I seethed through clenched teeth.

"Which is no better. You risk their lives by going there in the first place. Then you risk your own–their only hope for a future–because of the danger you brought down on them. Either way you look at it, your actions can't be trusted."

"Well, our
actions
," I said, "led us to what we're looking for. A girl who everyone says doesn't exist. Don't talk to
me
about trust!"

Mom, Charlotte and Julia stared at us for a long moment. Then the questions started flying, and Tristan and I shared what little information we gleaned, before discussing our plans for tomorrow. I absolutely insisted on going, and everyone except Tristan protested, but I shut them down by pointing out what I had done today. Mom couldn't risk going, and Char was sworn to protect her. They would stay with Dorian. So it came down to only Tristan, Owen and me again. Perfect.

As the three of us prepared to leave the next morning, Julia
popped
into our living room, dressed in leathers like us.

"I'm going with you," she announced.

"What?" I demanded.
The hell she is!

"I did a little of my own investigating last night and confirmed what I suspected. Nobody knows anything about this witch or this girl," Julia said. "We have no idea what kind of danger you're headed for. You're risking your lives again, and since I can't stop you, I can protect you."

I had all kinds of things to say about that, but Tristan squeezed my hand, keeping them from flying out of my mouth.

I don't trust her, Tristan.

"
Me neither. But she won't leave and it's the best solution. Do you want her here with your mother and Dorian? At least she'll be with us, where we can watch her.
"

"Charlotte is here," Julia continued. "Your mother and son have a warlock and a Lykora, and they'll be safe in this house. Rina said you need me more. I can't break her orders, regardless of what you think or want."

Regardless of the fact Rina's out of her mind and has no clue what orders she's giving.
I wanted to say it aloud, but didn't. Tristan made a good point. I'd rather Julia be with us than here. Who knew what she could pull while we were gone? Who knew what we might come back to if we left her here?

"Fine," I muttered. "Let's just go."

Tristan had explained to me that if you had a place on a map to concentrate on, you could flash there, even if you'd never been there before. However, without street names or landmarks, such as in the wilderness, and no coordinates, you might not appear in the exact spot you wanted, possibly as much as a few miles off. So flashing into the middle of the Everglades? Risky, even without considering that we could appear in a snake or alligator pit.

To avoid the chance of us appearing several miles apart, one of us would have to take the lead for the others to follow. I should have been the lead, since I'd seen the place more specifically in Trevor's mind than a map provided, but none of us, especially me, felt confident in my abilities to lead a flash. So we all lay a hand on Tristan, and without Julia knowing, I shared Trevor's image with Tristan, and we flashed.

We appeared hip-deep in the middle of a swamp. Well, I was hip-deep. Everyone else was more like thigh-deep. The muck at the bottom sucked at my boots as we waded through the reeds to the bank, watching for gators and snakes. As I neared the grassy bank, I saw something out of the corner of my eye. Something big and white disappearing into the water about forty yards away. I shivered as my imagination ran wild with visions of enormous anacondas and alligators. Standing on solid ground, I lamented the desecration of my new leather gear, but, to my amazement, it had already dried and returned to perfect condition.

"I've been waiting for you, princess," said a familiar voice with an Australian accent coming through the brush. A bulky figure topped by a bald head emerged from a clump of trees.

"
Jax?
" I asked, though the answer was obvious. That must have been him, in crocodile form, I'd seen slithering off a few moments ago. He apparently had clothes nearby this time, because now, thank God, he was dressed. "What are you doing here?"

"I think I found the girl you're looking for."

"You? Here? But how–?" I paused. "Oh, wait. Let me guess. A little birdie told you?"

He grinned, and the scar over his eye crinkled. "She'd spent some time here, and when she flew home, she told me all about it. Including a witch and a little girl she'd met hiding in the middle of the bloody bush–or whatever you call this place."

"So you
came
here? I thought you never leave–"

"I couldn't help it. You struck something in me, princess, and I had to do what I could to help." He shrugged. "It's been a ripper of a trip, actually. This place is a lot like Oz, but … different. An all right change. Especially these gators. They're nothing like the crocs at home."

"Glad you've been enjoying your vacay," Owen said, "but let's get back to this witch and girl."

"Sure, mate," Jax said, and he told us about how he'd been here for a couple of months, learning his way around the Everglades and searching for what his were-bird friend had told him about–the girl and the witch. He hadn't found them until his friend arrived and led him to their hideout, then he had her fly to the nearest Amadis Were to deliver a message to us. The visit from Trevor's wolves surprised him when they came to check him out and make sure the message was real. He didn't like them much, but he was friendly enough to build their trust in him.

"Well … where are they?" I demanded when he finished his story. My patience ran thin. After months of searching, we were So. Close. The girl hid somewhere in the vicinity. The girl who could be our daughter.

Jax led us through the woods, swamps and brush, Tristan and I behind him, and Owen and Julia covering our backs. Although our summer had seen less rainfall than normal, much of the ground was mushy under our feet. We waded through water and reeds, squelched and squished through mucky marshes, avoiding the sharp edges of waist-high saw grass, and crossed broad areas of solid ground with forests of cypress, pine and palm trees. Birds floated lazily overhead when we were out in the open, their shadows often making me duck after yesterday's attack. The noises of the subtropical wild–birds' squawks, the plop of something dropping into the water, whispers of waving grass–filled me with both awe and anxiety. After all, those movements were made by wild animals, including panthers, snakes and alligators.