My Healer (Bewitched and Bewildered Book 3) (20 page)

BOOK: My Healer (Bewitched and Bewildered Book 3)
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"Love you, angel." Colton said, and tugged Penny's hair lightly. Penny waved at everyone and Byron left closing the door behind him.

Rheia clutched at her chest and bent over gasping for breath.

Colton was at side, holding her close. "Hold it in for just a few more seconds, my love, until she's in the car." Colton rubbed her back.

Rheia struggled to breathe. Only when she heard the car leave the driveway did she give in to her body's demands. She wailed, gut wrenching sobs that shook her body as she collapsed forward. Colton easily caught her and pulled her close, letting her sag against his body, taking on her weight.

"We'll get her back. I swear it to you, we'll get her back." Colton repeated over and over again.

Rheia couldn't think; all she knew was that her heart had been ripped from her chest. Even though she hadn't given birth to Penny, that tiny child was her daughter, in every way that mattered.

"I want her back, please bring her back," she begged looking up into Colton's face. The pain she saw there made her realize how unfair she was being. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it," she whispered. Colton pulled her close and rested his forehead on her shoulder. Slowly her sobs turned into a stream of silent tears.

"I'll do whatever I have to do to bring her home. I promise." Under her hands, she felt his body trembling.

"Colton, you and Rheia spend the day together. I will call you with any updates I get from Father," Aiden said, his arm wrapped firmly around Meryn.

Rheia looked up from Colton's neck to see that everyone in the foyer, including Jaxon and Noah, wore identical depressed expressions. Losing Penny had affected them all.

Colton drew a shaky breath and stepped back to face Aiden. "Will Sascha and Quinn be enough to keep her safe?"

"I'm assigning Gamma and Beta Units to the Carmichael's house. They'll rotate and stand guard in shifts."

Meryn sniffled loudly and wiped her eyes on her sleeve. "Plus she has Felix with her. He'll watch after her."

"I just want my baby back," Rheia whispered.

"Come on, my love, let's go lay down for a bit," Colton suggested, turning her towards the stairs.

"Whatever." Rheia shrugged.
 

What was the point?

"We'll be down later," she heard Colton say before he gently guided her up the stairs. She blinked and they were in their room. She shook her head. She barely remembered coming up the stairs. She blinked again and Colton was helping her into her pajamas.

She couldn't stop the tears from flowing, so she stopped trying. Colton carried her to their bed and laid her down gently. He curled up behind her, pulling her close to his body. She scooted back as far as she could, not wanting any space between them. She reached behind her and pulled his arm around her body so that she could hold on to it. There was something about his body, his hard muscles and high body temperature that made him something solid and warm to cling to.

"What if we can't get her back?"

Colton kissed the back of her neck. "Then I'll find a way to purchase the house next to the Carmichael's so that we can see her every day. She can visit with us all day long and sleep at their house, if they insist on her living with them."

"It won't be the same."

"We'll find a way, Rheia. You and I will explain to the council how much she needs us."

"It won't matter, we're not related remember? No blood ties," she said, unable to keep the bitterness from her voice.

"Hey, why does that sound like you're not talking about Penny?" Colton asked turning her around to face him.

"Because I've heard this before. Growing up, my grandmother and grandfather on my mother's side never acknowledged me as belonging to my mother. Not once. I was always 'that child'. Or they'd say, 'Why do you care what happens to her, it's not like she's yours'."

"And now you're hearing the same thing, but from the other side of the equation." Colton gently pushed her hair away from her face. Her tears had everything clinging to her skin creating a matted mess.

"And I'm not even a shifter."

"But I am." He tilted her head up with his finger and thumb. "I'll make an appointment with the council for us to plead our case. Penny's wishes have to be taken into consideration."

"I just want her home," Rheia said and buried her face in his chest.

"Me, too," he whispered.

Rheia closed her eyes with her emotions running so high she was exhausted. She let the darkness take her and prayed that this morning was nothing but a bad dream and that when she woke, Penny would be home.

*****

Rheia opened her eyes and rolled over. She was alone in bed as usual. She sat up and looked over to the nightstand. A cup of steaming coffee and a note waited for her. When she felt tears threaten to overtake her she shook her head. She needed to get her shit together and figure out a way to get her daughter back. Crying in bed wasn't going to do her a damn bit of good. Wiping her eyes, she sat up and leaned against the headboard. She picked up the cup of coffee and took a long sip. It wasn't very hot, which made it the perfect temperature to drink. She grabbed the note.

Sorry I can't be there when you wake up. Aiden needed help testing a new perimeter to keep us safe. See you when you get up. Love you always, Colton.

When she'd finished half the coffee, she walked over to the bench at the foot of the bed where Colton had draped her clothes earlier. She got dressed and picked up her coffee cup. Walking downstairs, she heard voices coming from the family room. Usually Meryn and Beth were in the office this time of the afternoon. When she walked in, she was surprised to see that Meryn, Beth, Jaxon, Noah and even Ryuu were huddled around two of the front windows.

"What's going on?" she asked.

Meryn whirled to face her, grinning ear to ear. "The men are testing the new perimeter spell Keelan cast." She turned back and practically pressed her face to the window. Rheia walked over to stand next to Meryn and looked out the window. The men were standing at the property line with their hands on their hips.

"I wish we could hear what they're saying," Beth said peeking out from around the curtain.

Smiling, Ryuu snapped his fingers and suddenly they could hear the men as if they were standing in the room next to them.
 

"Okay, Keelan you cast the spell, you test it," Aiden ordered.

They watched as Keelan back away. "Do I have to?"

"Yes," Aiden and Colton said together.

"Okay, but I don't like this," Keelan grumbled. Slowly Keelan extended his hand, a second later a purple spark exploded and Keelan dropped like a rock.
 

The women gasped and the men laughed.

"Okay, you owe me five bucks, I told you he would do it," Darian said, turning to Aiden.

"They need to leave Keelan alone," Meryn grumbled.

"Okay, seriously though men, we need to test to see how powerful it is. Knocking out Keelan doesn't really take much. So, which one of you will go next?" Aiden looked from Gavriel to Colton to Darian.

"Not it!" Gavriel and Darian called out at the same time.

"Sonofabitch! I hate electricity. I swear I'm still twitching from the time Ryuu shocked me trying to get to you Gavriel." Colton scowled at his friends.

"Please tell me he's not going to electrocute himself," Rheia said.

"He so is," Meryn chuckled.

They watched as Colton took a deep breath and reached out to the perimeter line. The second his fingertip hit the spell he went down like a sack of potatoes.

Darian, Gavriel and Aiden stood over Keelan and Colton's prone bodies. Aiden rubbed his chin. "He has always been susceptible to electricity."

"I bet I don't go down," Darian said slyly.

Aiden and Gavriel eyed the large fae. "I don't know, Keelan did say it would be pretty strong." Gavriel shook his head. "I don't think you can hack it."

Darian frowned and turned to the perimeter. He pulled his arm back and let his fist fly as if he were going to take down the perimeter spell. The second his knuckles crossed the perimeter his body shook, his eyes rolled back in his head and he landed with a loud thud.

Gavriel and Aiden looked at their fallen brothers, then the perimeter, then each other.

"Oh God, they're going to go for it!" Meryn laughed gleefully.

Beth shook her head. "They're not that stupid."

Ryuu chuckled. "Want to make a wager on that?"

"I have a higher level of immunity to electricity, I'll try it next." Gavriel said rolling up his sleeve.

Next to them Beth groaned and covered her eyes with her hands.

Seconds later the ancient vampire was on the ground next to the others.

"Please, oh please, oh please do it," Meryn begged under her breath.

Aiden stood, hands on his hips looking down at the men. He looked at the perimeter, then down at the men again.

"I'm a big ole bear; they are weak compared to my manliness. Look how muscular I am, this perimeter can't take me down." Meryn deepened her voice providing a hilarious running commentary to Aiden's thought process.

Aiden took a deep breath and reached out for the perimeter, a flash of purple flared and the Unit Commander was down. Everyone stared in disbelief at the entire Alpha Unit laid out unconscious on the ground. Finally, it was Beth's laughter that set everyone off.
 

Rheia turned to Meryn who was laughing so hard Ryuu was holding her up with an arm wrapped around her waist.

"Shouldn't we check on them?" Rheia asked.

Jaxon shook his head. "Keelan and Colton are already coming around, looks like it doesn't last long."

"I wish we'd recorded that," Meryn said wistfully.

Grinning Noah held up his phone. Meryn threw her fist in the air. "Best. Minion. Ever!"

They watched for a few more minutes until all the men were on their feet.

Aiden turned to the men. "Okay Keelan, I think we all have a pretty good idea of how strong it is. Go ahead and take it down, Gamma will be here soon for drills," Aiden said as he Gavriel and Darian walked around to the side of the house.

Colton lingered back, placing a hand on Keelan's shoulder.

"Want to see if the perimeter is as effective against Gamma?" Colton's voice sounded devilish.

"I do owe Sascha and Quinn for turning me purple," Keelan answered.

"They wouldn't," Beth whispered.

They didn't have long to wait, soon Gamma Unit was walking up the driveway. Colton placed his elbow on Keelan's shoulder and leaned against him nonchalantly.

"Look Kee, it's hippo." Colton laughed as Sascha's face turned pink.

"I'm not fat; my tiger has a lot of fur," Sascha protested.

Colton nodded. "Of course. Man I can't wait for dinner. Ryuu said he's making pot roast with carrots and potatoes, hmmm, my favorite." Colton rubbed his belly.

Sascha growled and Quinn frowned at Colton. "You know better than to tease him about food."

"And for dessert I think I heard him say we're having chocolate pie. You know how Ryuu is Kee; I bet he made enough so that each of us has our own." Colton nudged Keelan knowingly.

Sascha roared and charged at them, Quinn not too far behind. They both hit the perimeter and flew backward from the shock. Ben, Christoff and Oron stared, open-mouthed.

Colton and Keelan were laughing and giving each other high fives.

"What the hell is going on?" Aiden bellowed coming around the corner.

Colton tuned to Aiden his face a mask of innocence. "Just testing the perimeter with Gamma. I'd say it works perfectly."

Aiden looked over to the unconscious Gamma leader and rubbed his hands over his face. "Keelan, take the perimeter down now. Oron, Ben, help Sascha and Quinn to the drill field. They can join us when they wake up." He turned on his heel and walked back the way he came.

The women watched as Keelan removed a brass key from inside of a dangling brass ring. He looked up. "Okay, it's disarmed now," He called out to the other Gamma unit members.

Shaking their heads, Oron and Ben picked up their two unconscious members and they all headed to the back. When they all disappeared from sight the women turned to each other.

"Do they do this kind of thing every day?" Beth asked.

Rheia frowned. "I hope not, that kinda of jolt could cause brain damage."

They all looked at each other and sighed.

Rheia shook her head, this was her life now and she wouldn't change it for anything. The only thing that was missing was her daughter.

CHAPTER TWELVE

The rest of the afternoon was uneventful. Rheia sat with Meryn and Beth in Aiden's office as they worked with Noah and Jaxon. She stared at Penny's drawing and smiled. Her eyes wandered over each face until she noticed something odd. One face wasn't smiling back at her, in fact it looked downright terrifying. She realized she was looking at Penny's nightmare, the scary man that haunted her dreams. The dark figure was outside the house by the window looking in. Rheia shuddered and fought back the urge to paint over the dark figure. If this is was what Penny needed to do to face her fears, she couldn't undo it. She still couldn't shake the image from her mind. Her daughter was very talented.

"Ladies, gentlemen, dinner is ready," Ryuu announced from the doorway.

"Come on, Rheia, Ryuu's pot roast is amazing," Meryn said walking up behind her chair. Rheia stood and walked out with Meryn. On the way to the dining room they passed another group of men.

"Hey, Lennox, what's shaking?" Meryn asked one of the men.

Lennox turned and smiled at them before bumping fists with Noah and Jaxon. "Good evening, Lady McKenzie. We finished dinner about an hour ago. Ryuu made us chicken Alfredo. We've been hanging out in the family room playing on the X-Box since ours isn't hooked up yet. We're about to head back to the barracks to unpack some more. Lord Ambrosios really went all out for us, the new addition looks like a five star hotel."

Meryn blinked. "Who?"

Beth laughed. "Gavriel."

Meryn grinned. "Oh yeah, I knew that. Lord Ambrosios sounds so swanky. Anyway, I'm glad you like your new digs. I didn't want you guys think we were kicking you out."

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