Chapter Eduard #2
The hippocamp stood in the corner of the room, his gaze locked on the two men on the bed. He glanced at Eduard and nodded before sending one more longing look toward Sawyer and Draco.
Saeward visibly shuddered before closing his eyes and turning toward the doorway. Eduard went into the other room and waited, wondering what had their newest guardian so spooked.
“Everything okay?” Eduard asked quietly once Saeward appeared.
“He wishes for me to leave with you.”
Eduard wasn’t quite sure he understood. “Yes. It is important for his guardians to remain close.”
“But you are more than his guardians. You are his mates.”
“Yes,” Eduard agreed. “We are both.”
Saeward shivered again. “Am I intended to be both as well?”
Eduard almost answered in the affirmative without thought, but he paused and reconsidered his answer.
“That is up to you and Sawyer. I’m sure this is all overwhelming, and I will be happy to answer any questions you have.
But we want to set a ward around the cabin until assistance arrives.
It will be stronger if we have your help. ”
“If it keeps him safe, I will do it.”
“Thank you,” Eduard said softly.
He could see the confusion on Saeward’s face, the fear he couldn’t hide. It worried Eduard, but he had to set that aside for a while longer.
Saeward followed him outside and Henry directed them into a circle. He joined hands with each of them then raised his head, looking to the sky as the wind began to swirl around them.
“Let none who mean us harm cross this circle,” Henry requested. “Any who mean us harm who are within shall be taken outside its borders.”
Power surged and Eduard could see the glow of magic appear in a circle surrounding the cabin. It stretched all the way to the water’s edge in front and in a wide path surrounding the sides. Henry repeated his words again, and on the third time, they all instinctively joined in.
Magic surged again, a protective magic wall forming around the cabin. Eduard had no doubt nothing was getting through it that Henry didn’t want to let in.
Henry released their hands and turned to Andvari. “Go relieve Draco. We need him out here for a bit.”
“He won’t be happy about that,” Eduard murmured.
“No, he won’t. But I’m not happy those assholes are still lying there on the beach and he can torch them. So he needs to get out here and do his part.”
Andvari met Eduard’s gaze above Henry’s head then turned to do as he asked. Their seer was afraid, and that fear was manifesting itself in anger. Saeward cleared his throat before glancing awkwardly away.
“I’m sorry I left them there,” he said. “I should have—”
Henry blinked, the angry haze clearing a bit, and then looked up at Saeward. “You did exactly what you were supposed to do. You kept him safe. Clean up doesn’t happen until he’s safe, okay? Always. His safety is first. No matter what. We’re his guardians; that’s what we do.”
Saeward nodded.
Henry patted his arm gently. “Once Draco gets rid of them, I’d like it if you tell us what you know about what happened. Sawyer’s not really up for talking right now, and I think it’s important that we understand what we can before we start heading back. Can you do that?”
Saeward blushed a little but nodded again.
Draco came out of the house, giving Henry a dirty look that was met with an equally dirty one from Henry. “Don’t start with me,” Henry threatened. “I’m in a really bad mood.”
“I can tell,” Draco huffed. “I want to go back inside.”
“I know you do. Eduard, will you help him take care of the bodies?”
“Of course,” Eduard said.
He’d only seen this side of Henry once before, clipped and angry and ready for violence, before they’d met Sawyer, when they’d been staying with his pack.
He and Andvari had both been called to Henry, had dreamed of him in what they now understood was a message from the mother goddess herself.
They’d found Henry with his pack, in the huge family home Henry shared with his fathers and siblings.
Knowing what they knew now, it made sense. Seers had been hunted for years, and Henry was one of the most powerful Eduard had ever met. He’d been sheltered by his pack, both his alpha father and honorary, hellhound uncle doing everything in their power to keep him protected from the outside world.
Henry was recovering from his most recent vision, which involved him hanging his head over a toilet and vomiting for hours, followed by a migraine that lasted for a full day.
He’d been past the worst of the symptoms, just struggling through the residual weakness that followed after a powerful vision.
He’d been describing the location of the house, trying to help Eduard figure out where he could find this mysterious plot of land they needed to buy, when Henry’s older brother Ben had walked into the room.
Ben had only arrived home the night before. He was in his first year of medical school and had arrived home for his week-long fall break loaded down with books. He’d immediately gone into Henry’s room to help, obviously accustomed to what happened to Henry after a vision.
Eduard had sensed that something was off with the young man but had chalked it up to his being a bear shifter. He’d only heard rumors of how an alpha werewolf came to be the parent to a menagerie of shifter kids plus a powerful seer, but it wasn’t a subject Henry seemed willing to discuss.
The next morning, Ben wasn’t around so Eduard resumed his place by Henry’s side, jotting down notes and doing internet searches with the limited clues they’d found. When Ben walked in again, he was obviously upset.
“What happened?” Henry sat up, his face twinging in pain as he moved too quickly.
Ben had shrugged one big shoulder. His head was hanging down and his shoulders were slumped. He looked defeated.
And Henry got pissed.
“What did he say?”
Ben’s voice was the barest whisper. “That I was obviously too needy to be in the program.”
Henry had jumped off the couch and ran to his brother. He wrapped Ben up in a hug, his head barely reaching Ben’s chest. He’d glared over at Eduard, begging with his eyes for Eduard to do something.
It was the first time he’d felt a flutter of something other for Henry, and he’d wanted more than anything to fix whatever was broken.
He kept quiet, though, at least until Henry was able to comfort his brother. “He’s an asshole. We’ll figure something out. Why don’t you go talk to Papa about it? He can use that teacher wisdom of his and maybe help you come up with a work-around.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll get Nana to make us a blueberry pie for dinner.”
That got a small smile out of Ben and he turned and ambled out of the room. Once he was out of earshot, Henry spun around and grabbed the laptop out of Eduard’s hand.
He sat back down on the couch, his fingers flying over the keyboard. Eduard looked at the screen, seeing an internet search for a man’s name. In minutes, Henry had an address.
“I’m leaving. If you’re coming, you need to come now.”
“Let me get Andvari and my keys.”
“Fine. Meet me back here in five minutes or I’m leaving without you.”
It was the strangest sensation. Henry was a pain in the ass most of the time, but Eduard would never describe him as hard, mean, or even ruthless.
He was kind and had an easy smile, and even when he and Andvari were driving each other to the brink of insanity, Henry never took it out on the rest of his family.
He was the one who everyone came to for warmth and laughter.
But now all of those words could easily be used to describe their young seer.
Eduard found Andvari in the guest house they were staying in for the duration of their time with the Jerrick pack.
He didn’t give the vampire details, simply told him that they were leaving.
Andvari grabbed his weapons and followed Eduard back to the main house.
Henry and his younger brother, Ollie, were standing by the front door.
Ollie was red faced and clearly furious. Henry had a very determined look on his face.
“What’s going on?” Andvari asked.
“I’ll tell you in the car,” Henry barked. “Let’s go.”
The brothers took the back seat and Eduard drove. Henry rattled off the address for Eduard and he plugged it into his phone’s GPS before they headed out.
Once they were a few minutes out, Ollie broke. “I’m going to kill him. I’ll yank every hair from his head, pull out his fingernails, and then I’ll… I’ll…”
“I’m going to curse him so his dick stays hard and he has blue balls forever. Then I’ll give him something that makes it rot.”
“Will someone please tell me what’s going on?” Andvari asked.
Henry took a deep breath. “Our brother Ben is in med school. This jerkwad douche nozzle in his class keeps spraying some fucking cheap ass body spray all over himself during class. Ben’s asked him to cut it out, but the guy is such a prick he started doing it more.
Ben’s really sensitive to stuff like that and he’s not great at confrontation so this is really messing him up.
I told him he should mention it to the teacher, see if he could ban people from doing shit like that in class.
The teacher basically told him to fuck off and that he clearly wasn’t cut out for med school. ”
Eduard flinched. The entire family adored Ben. They’d bragged about him going to medical school the moment he and Andvari had arrived. Their pack was so proud of him. From what Eduard had learned, the praise was well deserved.
“No one messes with Ben,” Ollie growled.
“No one messes with Pack,” Henry snarled.
“And what, exactly, are you planning to do?” Andvari asked.
Neither brother answered.
Eduard had a feeling things would get ugly, but he had to agree that the professor sounded like an ass. “Henry, do you have your phone?”
“Yeah.”
“Look on the school’s website and get me the name of the dean.”
“Why?”
Eduard looked at him through the rearview mirror and arched a brow.