Jacob's Ladder (String of Fate) (14 page)

He had volunteered to look out for the selkies and their task. He would see that through. He was a protector through and through. A true Alpha male.

And here she was, a damsel in distress. That magical thunderclap had taken almost all she had, but she’d been smart. She had kept a tiny bit of reserve so she wouldn’t be completely unconscious and vulnerable after the fact. She still felt like a wet dishrag though, and she needed more than a few minutes to rest. But there was no time. Things were moving fast on the dark mountain. Tom needed her help and any minute now there would be more enemy than friend on this side of the stone circle.

She felt okay about her part in the night’s action though. She had done what only she could to end the threat from the water. That was why she’d been sent here, after all. Tom might think that he was supposed to have done it, and he might be really angry that she’d been in danger when he woke up, but Tante Sophia had been very specific in her instructions. She had also advised Jacki not to mention all the details to Tom. The women in her family knew how to stick together.

A tiny smile lifted the corners of her mouth for a moment, but her smile faded in the next instant as the sounds of battle erupted very close to her hiding place. Geir dropped the bandage he’d been working with and shifted his weight as if preparing to leave. He was readiness itself when the sound of gunfire came from almost directly above them. She looked up only to realize that Beau had climbed the tree she leaned against, perching above in a sort of improvised sniper’s nest.

He was picking off enemies while they were still some distance from the tree, but he seemed to be firing faster and faster, as more and more enemies came into his sights. She worried for his safety. It wouldn’t be long before they figured out where those deadly shots were coming from. It was almost time for her to commit her final act this night. Something the men wouldn’t be happy about, but something she was determined to do.

And then Beau tumbled from the tree, bleeding heavily from a leg wound. Jacki watched in horror as he thudded to the ground, just outside her circle of bushes. She tried to move forward, but Geir blocked her path.

“He needs help,” she tried to reason with the sensei.

“I’ll get him. You stay here and keep your head down,” Geir promised, his mouth a grim line as he moved silently through the bushes, leaving her once again.

Jacki worried for Geir almost as much as she worried for Beau. She had known Beau for a while now, and she had admired him from afar for all that time. He had kept his distance until this trip and while his demeanor had been grumpy at best, she thought his bad temper might be because he cared. At least a little. For whatever reason, he was keeping himself aloof, but the more she was around him, the more she thought maybe there was something special about the big, angry cat.

She had sworn to herself that when this was over, she was going to confront him to see what he would do. She would either fight with him, or jump his bones. It could go either way, but no matter what happened, it would relieve the incredible tension between them. Only, if he died here tonight, she would never get the chance to discover what he might have been to her. She might lose him before she’d ever discovered what fate had in store for them.

And Master Geir. What was it about him that made her—an experienced selkie magic user—blush? It shouldn’t be possible, but all Geir had to do was shift in front of her and she felt an almost overwhelming feeling of femininity overcome her. It was an incredibly odd feeling for her and one that made her stop to question why she was so attracted and affected by two powerful men? Were they both special? Or was one somehow interfering with her perception of the other? Was one of them her mate? Or—even more shocking—were they both?

She only knew she couldn’t let either one of them die without finding the answer to her questions. Geir was still unharmed, but it felt like it was only a matter of time before he’d be out there, in the middle of everything. She didn’t know him well, but she knew he was a man of action. So was Tom. So was Beau, for that matter. None of them would want to be sidelined, but two of her three men were not in control of their fates at the moment. Geir was in danger as well and it hurt her heart to think of him going into battle without her or Beau or even Tom to back him up. He could be hurt! He could be killed.

Jacki vowed with the very last of her strength, she would not let that happen. She brought her hands together, rubbing the palms in a circular motion she used to help draw her personal magic forth. Geir wasn’t going to like what she had planned, but she had set the spell in motion and it would be too late to stop her by the time he realized what she had done.

Geir came into the circle of bushes for the second time, carrying an injured man. He put Beau down on the other side of her, already tearing at the cloth of his pants that covered the profusely bleeding leg wound. It was obvious Geir knew first aid. He would be there to help the other two when she completed her spell.

“Where’s my gun?” Beau croaked out. He was still somewhat conscious though she doubted that would last long.

Geir reached for something behind him and then dropped a huge sniper rifle near Beau’s hand. Beau took possession of the giant gun with clear relief.

“Thanks.” Beau checked over the rifle while Geir saw to his wound. Neither of them paid any attention to Jacki as she began forming her spell. This would take whatever reserves she had left, but it would be worth it to keep them all safe.

Finally, as the magic was set to release and a static charge built up inside the circle, Geir looked up from his work on Beau’s leg. Beau was looking at her too, and neither man looked happy.

“What are you doing?” Geir demanded. He tried to stand but the electric tingle of magic wouldn’t let him move. Not until the spell had been cast. It was a powerful one and it held him in place.

“I’m going to raise a shield. It’ll be a bubble of protection around this spot,” she told them.

“You can’t,” Geir protested, as she expected. “My duty is out there. I need to protect the Nyx.”

“No.” Jacki felt a tear trickle down her cheek, but ignored it. “I won’t let you get hurt too. You’re mine to protect tonight and I’m going to do it. I know you’re not happy, but I know this is the right thing to do.” She gathered her power for the final ramp up before releasing the spell. She had to make this good or Geir would break it. She couldn’t let that happen. She had to protect him. “Forgive me, Master Geir, and trust me that this is the right thing to do. I feel it in my bones. In my heart and in my soul.”

Geir looked taken aback by her statement, but she didn’t stop to ponder his reaction. She let loose the spell and felt the power spin out from her in a vortex of protection. She let go of all the power she had been drawing to her. Power from the earth. Power from the nearby water. Power from within her very soul. All of it she dispersed into a dome shape, following the circle of the bushes and tree, using their living, green energy as well.

She saw the flare of the dome for a moment or two before she felt the magic pour out of her into it. Powering it. Keeping it strong against the enemy and hidden from evil. The foot soldiers would pass right by it, never knowing it—or they—were hidden within. Only an enemy mage might be able to sense its presence, but by tying it to the earth, the water, and the growing things all around them, she had made it the next best thing to impenetrable.

For now, it would do. And she had her aunt’s foretelling that she and the tigers would survive this. Jacki collapsed as the power drained out of her, only dimly aware of the arms that reached out to catch her and ease her trip to the earth. She looked up into icy blue eyes. Geir.

“What have you done?” Geir asked, able to move now that the power had landed where it she had intended.

She had very little strength left, but she had to try to make him understand.

“I did what I was sent here to do—as have you. So my Tante Sophia said. She foresaw all of this.”

“Did she see how it was going to end?” Beau asked.

“No. But she did say that if I used all my skill and strength, myself and two tigers would survive to fight another day. Since you two are the only two tigers here…” She left off speaking, her energy failing rapidly. “Geir, look after Beau and my brother. I’ll be okay after I sleep. Don’t worry.”

He held her close to his chest and the look in his baby blues nearly melted her heart. She read anger, as she had expected, but also concern, care and something that looked a lot like…love?

That was the last thing she remembered for several hours, and it was a pleasant, if perplexing memory to take with her into unconsciousness.

The Golden Jackal observed all on the field of battle. He had taken a sniper position up high in one of the many trees in this thick forest. It was one that afforded him a better view of the battlefield than perhaps, anyone else. He saw the selkie priestess—for surely with that kind of power, Jacki Kinkaid had to be a servant of the Lady—rid the waters of the evil spell that had turned simple water creatures into the stuff of nightmares. He had seen the tiger-shifter sniper fall from his perch and had obliged by taking out the enemy soldier who had shot Beau in the leg.

Seth had provided cover fire, though nobody on the ground was truly aware of his position. But that was okay. The jackal preferred to work in the shadows. He didn’t need recognition or accolades. He had his reward in a job well done—and an enemy slaughtered.

But there were too many of them. As soon as he and the other snipers shot one down, there were two more to take his place. Something was driving the foot soldiers. Something relentless. Something that didn’t care about sending its men to die. Something evil.

Seth watched it all and did what he could to stem the tide. He helped his new allies on the ground where he could. He kept an eye on the rest of his small squad—Ben and the two Rojas brothers. They were all acting as snipers, since they had particular skill with long range weapons. And Ben was human. He might be a hell of a soldier, but he couldn’t shapeshift, which was a distinct disadvantage in this battle.

Even as Seth thought this, he saw what remained of the fox Pack converge on several attackers, taking them down neat and clean. He hadn’t thought foxes could be quite so vicious, but they were protecting their home as well as the fabled
pantera noir
queen.

She might not be the same species, but the Nyx held a special place among shifters of all kinds. Her sacrifice, it was said, allowed for a sacred communication with those on the other side of the veil. Her abilities were Goddess-blessed and Goddess-endowed. All those who followed the Mother of All were bound to help the Nyx as she helped them talk with those who had been taken to the other side too soon, or with words left unspoken.

It was every good shifter’s honor to help protect the Nyx. Even Seth had to admit to a feeling of sentimentality when it came to Ria. It didn’t hurt that she looked like everyone’s little sister either. Her appearance inspired an impulse in most shifters who had any protective instincts at all, to help her, protect her, and keep her safe.

That wasn’t a bad attribute for a monarch who had lived most of her life on the run. Perhaps it was something she cultivated, Seth mused, even as he picked off another enemy soldier. These woods would need one hell of a cleansing after this battle. All right under the humans’ noses. Thank goodness they were far enough out in the country—and up on the mountain ridge—that no nosy humans might get caught up in the middle of all of this. Seth suspected magic at work, to hide the sounds of battle, regardless.

Seth could see part of the stone circle from his vantage point. He noted with approval the fact that the injured were being brought there—the most heavily defended point on the ridge. They would make their final stand there, and while it might not be the safest place in the world, it was the safest place for anyone who had been fighting this battle. For without doubt, the enemy would murder everyone not on their side if they managed to win the day.

Seth was dead set against that outcome. He might be a mercenary, but when it came to good versus evil, he was pretty firmly on the good side, though others might not always see it that way. Still, whatever Seth had done in the past, he had always worked on the side of Light—even if he was playing the long game and not interested in immediate outcomes. Some might say he was arguing semantics, but Seth had contemplated his positions each time he’d sold his skills to a high bidder. He had never accepted any job that would cross over his personal boundaries, and never would.

It was high time the jackal threw in his lot officially with the good guys. Which was why he was here on this mountain ridge. He had declared himself on the right side of this battle—much to the surprise of many in the covert community. He’d lost a bit of his mystery, but that couldn’t be helped. No longer could he tread the fine line between good and evil. The day for reckoning was too close now. It was time to come out of the shadows…at least a little. Even if it went against his longstanding habits.

Seth approved of the way the Royal Guard—some of the best fighters he’d ever seen, and that was saying a lot—formed a circle of protection within the standing stones, around their queen and the wounded. Ria stood ready, but seemed to be doing something near the altar stone, just out of Seth’s line of sight. He could feel magic gathering though—whether it was good or bad, he wasn’t quite sure, but it was massive, whatever it was.