Chapter Eighteen
Neith
“It’s not much further. The Chief's house is on the edge of the village, it’s the biggest house in town, but it needs to be since all of the meetings are held there and the monthly feasts as well. The whole town attends both,” Griff explains.
“That’s pretty awesome actually,” I reply with a sniff. My nose may have fallen off by this point because it’s so fucking cold, but I’m too scared to actually check, so I continue talking. “There must be a real sense of community. Like the meals at the compound.”
Griff nods, and I see his lips tilt up into a smile before I bury my head again, this time I manage to get close enough to get my cold nose on his neck, and he jumps.
“Shit, your nose is cold. Yeah, it’s pretty similar actually. It’s like one big family. It’s great, but it did get a bit much for me, having everyone know my business all the time, it’s like small-town living amplified by ten. It’s not necessarily bad, but I never planned to live here forever.”
I nod, “That makes sense. I don’t think I would like to live like that permanently. The compound was a bit like that but not quite as extreme as you’re describing, and I even found that too much sometimes.”
“Yeah, I think the compound has the right balance to be fair,” Griff replies thoughtfully.
It doesn’t take us too much longer, and we land in front of a big stone house. It’s gorgeous, and kind of reminds me of House, it’s built in a similar kind of stone. It’s massive, but as Griff said, it needs to be to accommodate the clan.
“We’ll just follow your lead, man,” Coen says to Griff, back in human form.
Griff nods.
“I’ll leave you to it. Come and find me later?” Lachlan asks Griff.
“Definitely, we’ll head to the house after this so we can say hello to everyone,” Griff replies.
Lachlan smirks, “Plus, Ma will come and find you if you head straight to your cabin, and she’ll bring Dad along with her and probably a whole host of other people.”
“That too,” Griff grins.
Lachlan turns his attention to me, “I’m looking forward to getting to know you better later. I’ve got some stories I can tell you about this one.”
“Fuck you,” Griff grumbles, as he steers me away from his brother and toward the door.
I lean around Griff as he carries on walking me, “We’ll talk later!”
Lachlan bursts out laughing, “You got it!”
Griff is shaking his head, but he has a smile playing around the edge of his lips.
“I like him, he’s awesome,” River grins.
“Do you think we can convince him to show us some baby pictures?” Doc asks with a smirk.
“You probably won’t even have to ask,” Griff mutters, making me smile.
I can’t help but grin at the disgruntled yet resigned look that Griff has on his face. He knows that we’re going to get shown baby pictures.
They can't be that bad.
I mean really, what baby pictures are bad? They’re all just cute and adorable.
The heavy wooden door opens before anyone can say anything else, and a woman with kind eyes and dark auburn hair smiles at us all, “Chief is waiting for you. We’re happy to see you, Griff.”
Griff smiles, “Thanks, Anabelle.”
He quickly introduces us all as we head through the halls of the house.
Calling it simply a house doesn’t quite seem grand enough for it, but a mansion seems too pretentious for the warm and inviting space, so I’m going to settle on calling it a house.
Because you know that’s the important thing right now.
It turns out that Anabelle is the Chief’s wife, and I have to say that I’m a whole lot less nervous about meeting the Chief and asking for a favor than I was.
She’s so lovely that he can’t be anything but lovely too.
Surely?
We’re shown to the back corner of the house, at least that’s where I think I am, my sense of direction is utterly diabolical unless I have my ability switched on, and it's iffy at best.
The door is open, and we’re ushered inside and greeted by a smiling dark-haired man with laugh lines around his eyes and a big bushy beard. He looks to be around forty-ish, but as with all supernaturals, looks can be deceiving, and I would imagine that he’s actually a lot older.
“I’m just going to go and start dinner,” Anabelle says as she waits by the door.
The Chief chuckles, “Don’t worry about it, word has already spread, I think the plan is to light the fires and cook over the pits.”
Anabelle grins, “Perfect.”
“I’ll be out to help in a moment,” the Chief replies.
“We will too,” Coen adds with a smile.
She smiles and then closes the door gently behind her.
I turn back to the Chief. There are only two chairs in here, and the Chief rounds his desk and perches on the edge as he smiles at us.
“Griff, it’s good to see you,” he says warmly.
“You too,” Griff replies. He once again introduces us all.
The Chief’s eyes linger on me, and then he smirks at Griff, “Oh, your ma is going to love this.”
We all burst out laughing.
“That’s pretty much the only thing that we have been told since we arrived,” I say with a big smile.
His smile widens, “You’ll be fine, lass. She’s one of our most loved clan members.” His attention turns back to Griff, “So, what is it that you wanted to talk to me about?”
“First, we’ve been told that we need to make some really strong wards,” Griff starts.
“I presume that this has something to do with you winning the Choosing?” the Chief asks.
I can’t help but look surprised when he mentions the Choosing.
Almost everyone that we have come across hasn’t mentioned the Choosing. Apart from those who know us best. They all seem to remember.
Ty already told us that there is no pattern and seemingly no reason for who remembers the Choosing and who doesn’t. It doesn’t seem to have anything to do with power level or status or anything really. If it were then, I would have expected the Chief to know.
“The Choosing?” Baz asks, with his eyebrows drawn down slightly. “They’re still doing that? I didn’t hear of one being called while I was in,” he pauses and then rephrases, “while I was away.”
I nod and quickly explain, “Yeah, they still do it, although it doesn’t happen as often since the gates closed.”
“And you guys won one?” Baz asks, looking impressed. River nods with a huge, proud smile, and Baz continues, “I remember I always wanted to do one.”
“You do?” Van asks with surprise.
Baz nods, his eyebrows drawn down slightly. “Yeah.”
Doc claps him on his shoulder, “Careful. It doesn’t surprise me that you felt that way. You’re one of us, and we were all more excited than we were worried about participating in the Choosing.”
Griff clears his throat and then gets us back on track, which is an especially good idea since we don’t particularly want the Chief to be aware of our current situation with Baz. That’s got nothing to do with the Chief. We don’t want anyone to be aware of that to be fair, that’s a family thing.
“Yes, it does have something to do with the Choosing, actually. Ransom has worked on some amazing ones, but he’s missing an ingredient.
After a lot of research and some magical help, it turns out that the ingredient that Ransom needs in order to stop the other ingredients from clashing is the purple plant that grows here with the little star-shaped leaves.
The Rionnag Purpaidh. We were wondering if it would be possible to have some? ”
The Chief pauses for a moment before he answers, “Under any other circumstances, I would say no. However, this is not a normal circumstance, and you are a high-ranking member of the clan.”
He is? Even though he’s never here. Huh, I’m going to file that comment away for later inspection, and/or questioning.
The Chief studies Griff, as we all remain silent and hopeful. This is the only chance that we have of making the wards as strong as Ransom wants them to be.
If there was another way, then Ransom would have found it.
“You know that the plant you’re describing is extremely rare and powerful. I will need your oath that it will be used by Ransom to make the wards and for nothing else,” the Chief finally says.
“Of course, Michael,” Griff replies.
Huh, I wondered what his name was, but I didn’t think it was Michael, though. Although, to be fair, I don’t know what I thought it could be. Michael just wasn’t on my list.
The Voices snicker.
That’s fair.
My brain is on one today and keeps going off on mini escapades that don’t really make much sense even to me, and I’m the one who is thinking the thoughts that are misbehaving.
Wow. Just wow.
Michael, or Chief, I think I might keep calling him Chief, or maybe not, who fucking knows? Anyway, he smiles.
“Excellent, I will send a few people out tomorrow to get it. It’s quite a trek, and they will have to check a couple of places as the flowers don’t always grow in the same places,” the Chief replies.
“That’s okay. We were planning to stay for a little bit anyway,” Van replies.
Chief pushes off from the desk and claps, “Excellent, let's go and see what everyone has set up then.”
We all start to head toward the door, with Michael following us, when Griff pauses and rubs his hand on the back of his neck.
Michael asks, “Is there something else?”
Griff pauses for a moment and then says, “Actually, yeah, there is. Before I met Neith, I had a vision that she was in danger.”
“He managed to warn me, in real time,” I add when Griff pauses.
It seems like a lifetime ago that I heard that sexy as fuck voice telling me to run, but in reality, it wasn’t actually that long ago.
So much has happened.
I mean, imagine what would have happened if my stubborn ass had decided to argue with the voice in my head, I mean, I argue with the Voices all the time. Even back then, I did, and they never spoke back. I have been known to be stubborn enough that it's to my own detriment.
Michael straightens, the easy smile dropping from his face, “What do you mean exactly? Did he call you? Drive past and see you a few moments after the vision? How exactly did he warn you?”
Okay, that was a lot of questions at once. I tense slightly, I think this might be a little bit of a big deal.
At least that’s the vibe I’m picking up.
“I heard his voice in my head telling me to run. I would have been eaten by a shifter if he hadn’t been able to warn me,” I explain, making sure that I don’t give anything away about the hybrids, that’s an active case and not something that the wider public ever needs to know about.
“Plus, I think I heard his voice again when someone got a bit handsy at the bar where I worked.”
Griff’s eyes widen slightly, “Wait, you heard me threaten to kill the fucker for touching you?”
I smirk and nod.
“Have you heard him since?” Michael asks, getting us back on track and stopping whatever it was that Griff was about to say, although all of the others are trying to hide smirks.
I shake my head, “No, I haven’t.”
At least I’m reasonably sure that I haven’t. I mean, I would obviously know if the voice were Griff, and not the usual Voices, I did before.
“Have you had any more visions of her in danger?” Chief asks.
Griff frowns slightly, but surprises me when he nods, “Yeah, there was an incident involving the kelpies, I had a vision that she was in danger and where she was.”
“Huh, it never occurred to me to wonder about how you found me,” I mutter. I guess that’s another mystery solved, even if I didn’t realize it was a mystery in the first place.
“Is there anything else that has been different than the norm?” The Chief asks.
“I don’t think so,” Griff replies.
“You’re all together, right?” Michael asks.
“Erm, yes,” Griff asks, as confused as I am that the Chief is asking about our relationship status. “Oh, my magic has been playing up and has gotten stronger, although that might have more to do with the Choosing and less to do with anything else.”
Michael looks between the two of us for a moment, the wheels in his head clearly turning.
“Let me just check something. I want to be certain before I suggest what I think could be the reason,” Michael says as he moves over to his bookshelves and searches through them.