Lost Without Them (14 page)

“I’m a little old for that, Dastan,” Keegan snarled.

“Apparently not. You ran off like a child; perhaps you should be punished like one. An invisibility cloak? Are you insane?”

Keegan’s chin went up a notch as the one she called Dastan began to climb the steps. Sam took a step forward, but Keegan held her hand up, stopping him. “I have my reasons, Dastan. I swear, but we have bigger problems than my disappearance.”

“Yeah,” Sam drawled. “Let’s begin with telling me who the hell these two are!”

“Dastan,” the other wolf said. “Perhaps we should give Keegan a few minutes to explain things.” He nodded his head to Sam, and Dastan took a step back.

“Fine,” Dastan snarled. “You explain things to him, then to me.”

Keegan sighed and looked pleadingly at Sam and Cody. Sam wanted to run to her, put himself between her and those two men, but until he knew who they were and what they meant to her, he would keep his mouth shut.

“Sam. Cody,” Keegan said softly and waved a hand toward the two men. “This is Dastan and Dmitry. My guardians.”

“Your what?” Sam growled, his eyes narrowing at the two men. “I think someone better start explaining. Now.”

* * * *

Sam sat in the leather chair by the window overlooking the deck. He wasn’t sure how long he could stay still. Already he wanted to jump up and pace, but he was trying to be patient. He glanced over at Cody, who’d gone pale as he sank into the leather sofa. Cody didn’t seem to be handling this any better.

“I know this is a lot to take in,” Keegan said.

Sam turned to look at her. She was so beautiful, but now that she had her memory back, there was a strength and confidence about her that hadn’t been there before.

“That’s an understatement,” Cody mumbled.

“So these two,” Sam said as he waved a finger between Dastan and Dmitry. “They’re your bodyguards.”

“In a sense. They’re not just my guardians, they’re…” She looked to Dastan for help.

“Oh, so now you want my help?” he asked.

Keegan rolled her eyes. “Please don’t be an ass, Dastan. Not now.”

Dastan sighed but relented. “Dmitry and I guard her entire family. But we’re more than guardians. We’re tutors. We have taught Keegan…” He looked at Keegan with a questioning expression. “How far are you going with this, Keegan?”

Keegan shrugged. “All of it.”

“They’re mortal.”

“Mortal?” Sam and Cody said in unison.

“It’s against the rules, and you know it,” Dastan argued.

“They’ve already seen you shift, Dastan.”

“Just do it, Dastan, or I will,” Dmitry snapped from his position by the fireplace.

Just in the few seconds they’d been talking, Sam had already determined that Dmitry was the strong, silent one, Dastan the emotional one.

“Fine,” Dastan said as a purely devilish grin tugged at his lips. “We’re the ones who’ve tutored Keegan in her magic skills. Unfortunately, it appears we’ve taught her a little too well.”

“So you’re werewolves who can do magic,” Sam said slowly.

Dastan’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not a werewolf.”

Keegan sighed and rolled her eyes. “Excuse Dastan. He hates being called a werewolf. He’s a shape-shifter. It’s a very distant cousin to the werewolf. What you saw attack me is what you would call a werewolf, but we call them were-shifters because they can shift at will and don’t have to wait on the full moon.”

“Wait,” Dmitry snapped as he straightened from his relaxed position. “Did I just hear you say you were attacked by were-shifters?”

Keegan nodded.

“Were-shifters don’t exist anymore,” Dmitry said.

“Unfortunately, that would be incorrect.”

All five faces turned to look at the man who’d just spoken. He stood a good six feet five with long black hair and eyes a deep sapphire blue.

“Who the hell are you?” Sam demanded.

“Vincent,” Keegan said with a smile. She walked over and gave the newcomer a hug of welcome.

“Hello, little one. I thought you might need some help.”

“Are you kidding?” she said drily. “At the moment, I can use all the help I can get.”

“What do you mean we’re incorrect?” Dmitry asked.

Vincent gave him a nod of acknowledgement. “It means you’re wrong.”

Dmitry growled low in his throat. “You’re a real barrel of laughs, Vincent.”

Vincent smiled.

“Excuse me!” Sam snapped as he came to his feet. “In plain English and in as few words as possible. What the hell is going on?”

Vincent gave Keegan a pat on the shoulder. “The one?” he asked.

“Yes. Both of them.”

Vincent grinned. “Ah, your mother is going to be so pleased. Can I tell her?”

Keegan smacked his shoulder with the back of her hand as he walked past. Sam was ready to explode. He was shocked that Cody had remained silent through most of the last few minutes, although he too looked like he might lose it at any moment.

“Here’s the skinny,” Vincent said as he walked over to Sam. “I’m Vincent. I’m a witch, and I’m over two hundred years old.”

Sam raised an eyebrow. “And you don’t look a day over thirty-five.”

Vincent smiled. “Amazing, isn’t it?”

“Hmm,” Sam growled.

“Keegan,” Vincent said as he nodded his head to her, “is about the same age as me.”

Sam quickly glanced toward Keegan. She was watching both of them closely, fear darkening her eyes. She was afraid of how he and Cody would take all this.

Sam turned back to Vincent. “Go on.”

“She’s also the daughter of the woman who is the head of the governing body of our world. In other words, she’s been raised to be the next head of the council.”

Sam’s jaw tightened. “And your world consists of what?”

“Pretty much all the things that you consider to be a fairy tale. We have witches, vampires, shifters—”

“Vampires?” Cody asked.

“Yes,” Vincent said with a nod. “Vampires.”

Sam sighed and squeezed the bridge of his nose. “I think I’m getting a headache.”

“We’re not done,” Vincent said, and Sam’s gut tensed.

There’s more? God help me.

“Trust me,” Vincent said in a soft voice. “My wife is mortal. Although I’ve never been on the receiving end of this information, I have seen firsthand just how…surprising it can be.”

Sam nodded, and Vincent continued. “What attacked Keegan were were-shifters. They were banished from our world a long time ago. I thought they’d all been eradicated, but apparently some survived. They want revenge against the woman who banished them. Keegan’s mother.”

“What?” Keegan said in surprise. “That’s not what I was told.”

Vincent turned to Keegan. “Who told you about the were-shifters, Keegan? Your mother?”

Keegan nodded sadly.

“The were-shifters tried to kill your father as well as several other prominent figures close to the council. Your mother thought it would be best to get rid of them. She told the council they were banished, but in truth, she went behind the council and ordered their execution.”

“So she had them all wiped out?” Keegan whispered. “Just like that? All of them?”

Vincent put his hand on Keegan’s shoulder. “Keegan, your mother…”

“Is ruthless,” Dastan finished for Vincent.

Vincent glanced toward the ceiling with a sigh. “Thank you, Dastan.”

“I’m just sayin’ what we both know you’re thinkin’.”

Sam and Cody shared an amused glance. Dastan was starting to grow on Sam.

“So my mother has been lying to me all this time?” Keegan asked.

Vincent nodded. “Your mother has lied to a lot of people, Keegan. About a lot of things. Your mother isn’t bad; she’s just…misguided.”

Keegan scowled. “That doesn’t help.”

“Does any of this really surprise you, Keegan?” Dmitry asked softly.

Keegan sighed and turned to look at Cody, then Sam. There was pleading in her eyes. Pleading that they understand, that they not turn away from her.

“No, unfortunately, it doesn’t.” She looked back at Vincent. “How did you know about all this?”

“The same way you did. I saw your attack in my dreams just as you saw the battle to come. Your mother did listen to at least some of what you tried to tell her.”

Keegan nodded.

“She told me what you’d told her when she showed up demanding I help her.” Vincent strolled to the other seat across from Sam and sat down, stretching his long legs out casually before him.

Keegan crossed her arms over her chest. “Demanding, huh?”

“Your mother doesn’t know how to ask nicely or sometimes even civilly,” Vincent replied, his lips twitching with barely contained humor.

“Please tell me you didn’t make it easy for her,” Dastan said.

Vincent’s grin widened, and Dastan chuckled. “Oh, what I would’ve given to have been there.”

“Were-shifters, as I’m sure you’re now aware, are more powerful than your average witch or shifter. The only way to get the upper hand is with black magic.”

“Which is why you’re here,” Keegan said with a nod of understanding.

“Who else knows black magic as well as I do?” Vincent drawled.

“Black magic?” Sam asked, unsure he wanted to know the answer.

“Black magic is a forbidden magic. Very few witches know how to use it or are even powerful enough to control it. Which is why it’s forbidden,” Keegan explained. “Vincent is proficient at it, much to my mother’s disdain, although truthfully I think it has more to do with jealousy than anything else. My mother isn’t strong enough to control the black side of magic.”

“If it’s forbidden, how did you become so good at it?” Cody asked.

“When I was a child, black magic was used much more than it is now. I was schooled in it so that I could protect myself against it. I have also schooled my nephews in it, although they are not as proficient as I am. I’m your best shot, little one.”

Keegan chuckled and leaned closer to Sam and Cody to whisper with amusement, “He’s not at all arrogant.”

“I can hear you, Keegan,” Vincent said with a grin.

“I know,” Keegan sang.

Sam couldn’t help himself. Despite all the ridiculous nonsense he’d heard in the last ten minutes, a chuckle shook his chest. Cody snickered and dropped his head in his hand. Keegan gave him a small smile of relief. Sam smiled back briefly before Keegan turned back to Vincent.

“Does my mother know about all this?” she asked. “That you’ve found me and I was attacked by were-shifters?”

Vincent leaned to the side and set his elbow on the arm of the chair. He rested his chin on his thumb as his eyes narrowed just a little. “She knows I’ve found you. Does she know about the attack? God, no.”

“She should be here for this,” Keegan argued. “Isn’t it her fault?”

“Her presence would only make things worse. Besides, you know your mother doesn’t traverse the parallel. She believes it’s beneath her.”

“Even to help her daughter?” Sam asked in surprise.

“Right now, Keegan’s mother doesn’t know she’s in danger. She knows that I’ve found her, but nothing more.”

“I don’t want to kill them, Vincent. It seems somehow wrong after what was done to them.”

“Even though they tried to kill your father?” Dastan asked softly.

Keegan sighed as confusion wrinkled her brow. “Why did they try to kill him?”

Vincent shrugged. “No one knows, or the reason was buried. They probably waited a long time for you to leave our protected dimension.”

Keegan shook her head as her brow creased in confusion. “But I’ve left the dimension before. Why now?”

Vincent pointed to his neck, indicating the locket she wore around hers. She pulled it out so that she could see it. “I don’t understand.”

“What’s on the back?” Vincent asked.

“Bortunata,” Sam said, remembering the strange word he’d seen that night in the hospital.

Keegan frowned. “That’s a protection spell.”

“Your father gave you that locket,” Dastan said. “I had forgotten about that spell.”

“If you had remembered, you could’ve honed in on that one instead of the invisibility one and found her much quicker,” Vincent said.

“Is that how you found me?” she asked.

“Yes. I was the one who weaved the spell. As long as you have that on, they shouldn’t have been able to find you, but my guess is one of them found it and used it to track you, despite the invisibility. Or maybe he didn’t realize he’d honed in on that one. He just knew he’d found you, and you were in his world. We may never know for sure how he did it. But the important question is: do they still know you’re here?”

“What do they want with me? I had nothing to do with what my mother did.”

“They don’t want you dead,” Vincent said. “They want to make you one of them. In their mind, it’s the perfect revenge against your mother.”

“She was scratched,” Cody said in alarm.

Keegan shook her head. “It takes a bite. A scratch won’t do anything.”

Sam stared at Vincent with suspicion. “How do you know all that? About what they want?”

Vincent started to say something, but Keegan spoke first. “Vincent has a little psychic ability. He can pick up on images and emotions that most of us miss.”

Vincent turned to Keegan. “Although it would appear our little Keegan has that ability too. Otherwise, how would you have known they were the ones after such a short amount of time?”

Sam looked to Keegan in surprise. Her face had turned the most adorable shade of red. He’d heard them say something earlier about them being the ones, but at the time, he hadn’t made the connection. Not until now.

For days now, he’d had a feeling of oneness with her. A feeling of contentment he hadn’t felt with any other woman. He knew Cody felt the same. They both believed they’d found the one woman who could love them equally. To think she might feel the same had Sam’s heart skipping.

She turned toward Vincent and snarled. “Thank you, Vincent.”

Vincent grinned wickedly. “You haven’t told them?”

“Told us what, Keegan?” Cody asked.

Sam watched the indecision play through Keegan’s eyes. She was worried. He could see it in every movement of her body.

“I’m not sure what you’re worried about,” Sam said softly. “Whatever you have to say can’t be any worse than what we’ve already heard.”