Chapter 29
Taryn
Paris is beautiful.
We’ve been here for two weeks now. We decided not to do another ritual immediately after the news broke about what we did in California.
Two noticeable miracles close together has the entire world buzzing now.
Some people are predicting the second coming of their religious icon.
That’s true in a way, just not the one most people worship.
I feel like everything in Paris is impressive and I’d like to believe a few things impressed Victor too.
It’s hard to tell, sometimes, except when we’re in the bedroom.
Paris has brought out a little frenzy in him in the best way.
I got tied to an antique four post bed last night and he didn’t stop until he’d reminded me that every hole was his.
But things are finally calm. The news is talking about politics, wars, and the economy instead of miracles. Hopefully that means I can perform the Ritual of Grandeur and we can go home soon.
“Bad news,” Victor announces as he walks inside and closes the door.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, looking over at him.
We’re staying at an amazing suite we rented in Paris. It has everything we could need. We’ve left it most days to see the sights so it’s basically been a vacation.
“I thought some guy was tailing me last night, and today I’m sure someone was. Different guy,” he growls. “That means someone is onto us.”
“Oh goddess,” I mutter, something I’ve sort of started saying a lot recently. “What do we need to do?”
“Nothing yet,” he says. “I’ll go back out tonight. Don’t open the door for anyone but me. If you’re in danger, I’ll sense it.”
“You will?” I ask, my eyes widening slightly.
“Yes, it’s part of the bond,” he growls. “I’m going to see if I can get one of them to follow me and if I can, I’ll find out what the fuck is going on.”
“How?” I ask hesitantly.
“I have my ways.” He walks over and sits down. “We may need to do the ritual somewhere else.”
“Okay, that’s fine,” I say, scooting over and snuggling close to him. “Please be careful. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
“I’ll be fine,” he rumbles. “Don’t worry about me.”
It’s not as comforting as he probably means it to be, but it’s all I get. I stay close to him until it’s time for him to go hunting, as he calls it. He slips out the door and vanishes into the night.
I’m all alone in Paris, for the moment, at least. If someone is following Victor, then that’s probably my fault. I pace the suite nervously for a while, then have a drink. Then two. I pace some more. I don’t think I’ve ever felt this anxious.
Something could happen to Victor. What would I do if I lost him? I don’t think I’d last very long if I’m the last druid and I don’t have a wolf to protect me. I also get the feeling I would find life without Victor lacking.
“No, he’ll be fine, he’ll be fine,” I mutter. “Please, goddess. Mother Fate? Mother Nature? Please.”
Finally, there’s a thud at the door. I exhale a pent up sigh and take a step closer, expecting it to swing open. But it doesn’t. There’s another thud and it’s louder. Then the next one tears the door open and I see several men holding what looks like a battering ram.
Suddenly, I wish we had gotten one of the suites in the city with more floors and private elevators. Like the one we had in Covington.
“Who the fuck are you?” I ask, looking around for some kind of weapon. Victor is the weapon. He doesn’t need any, so I dash toward the kitchen.
“Give us the book!” a man demands, stomping into the room.
They’re all olive-skinned and look identical. Same brown eyes. Same brown hair. They’re wearing some sort of leather armor that is covered by copper scales. Once they drop the battering ram, they pull copper swords from their waist.
Suddenly, everything around me freezes. I notice it mainly because I get to the kitchen and everything is still. The men aren’t chasing me. I peek around the corner and see them frozen, angry faces, swords drawn. They really want the book.
A few feet from them a sliver of light appears in midair and then parts like a zipper, showing nothingness until a man steps through. A very large man. The gold in his eyes makes me wonder if he’s a wolf shifter, but then I remember what Victor told me about the Witch Hunters.
“Are you Finn?” I call out.
“Yeah,” he responds in a deep, resonant voice, striding over to the men. “Who the hell are these guys? They’re not in the timeline at all.”
“I don’t know anything about that; they just broke down my door. They are after the book,” I say hurriedly, cautiously stepping into the room.
“Everyone’s after the fucking book. We’ve got most of that handled,” he snarls. “These guys… I don’t like this. Where is Victor?”
“He said some guys were following him, so he was trying to bait them,” I say. “Looks like I was the bait.”
“I’ll be right back,” he says, leaving the room.
A few seconds later, he returns with Victor rushing past him. He pauses for a half-second to snarl at the men in weird armor before hugging me.
“I shouldn’t have left. Fuck! I thought they would follow me,” he growls angrily. “I sensed it, but clearly I was too far away.”
“I still want to know who the hell they are,” Finn says.
“They’re fucking dead!” Victor roars, pulling away.
He moves faster than I realize he can, hands becoming claws as he tears into them. He cleaves them into pieces that stay hanging in the air like a threat of how much blood is going to be covering our suite when time is unfrozen.
“I wish you had left one of them alive,” Finn sighs.
“You could have stopped me. You can do time tricks,” Victor growls, cleaning his hands.
“It’s not as easy as you think. I have to borrow a lot of Mother Fate’s power and she doesn’t have any to spare without Mother Nature to keep things balanced.
But they’re dead. I guess it doesn’t matter where they’re from right now,” Finn shakes his head.
“I’ll talk with Mother Fate. Keep doing the rituals.
Please. It’s only a matter of time now before Mother Nature returns. ”
Finn steps back through the seam and Victor covers my eyes when time unfreezes. I hear the horrid sound of the bodies hitting the floor but don’t see it. He keeps his hand over my eyes and guides me out of the suite. Clearly, we’re not staying here anymore. We need somewhere with security.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you mate. That will never happen again. I will not leave your side until we finish these damn rituals,” he growls angrily.
I try to process it on the way to the SUV. We’re heading to the airport. I understand why. We should be in Covington where it’s safer. I listen to him call Silver Pack while he drives. They’ll be patrolling the streets too.
Once we’re on the plane and Paris is behind us, I snuggle close to him.
“You know, they say when you’re about to die, your life flashes before your eyes. Mine didn’t. I just knew I had to run away from them long enough for you to get there,” I admit, wincing a little. “I would have died believing you were coming.”
“Instead, I had to be bailed out by Mother Fate’s emissary. Again,” he says bitterly. “It’s my job to protect my mate, not his.”
“At least it’s nice knowing someone is looking out for us, right? I mean, literally… Mother Fate herself has an emissary who can manipulate time watching over us. Like a… cosmic guardian angel or something,” I say, and can’t help laughing a little.
“It’s comforting in a small way,” he admits. “She’s clearly paying attention to us now.”
“Who do you think those people were?” I ask. “Finn said they weren’t in the timeline, or something.”
“No fucking clue, but I don’t have a good feeling about it. Did you see that armor?” he sighs. “But they’re dead so they won’t be a problem anymore. We just need to finish these three rituals and be done with it.”
“Yeah, I think I’ve been getting carried away. We won’t create any miracles with the last three if we can help it. We’ll do them, Mother Nature will return, and she can figure out how to fix the rest of the world,” I say. “She’s more cut out for it than I am.”
It feels like the adventure is over. Paris was fun, but this is no vacation.
These rituals will restore balance and that means all wolves will find mates, instead of just Victor, Donovan, and the ones Mother Fate remembers.
Maybe some humans too. It seems like we could use a little more cupid in the world.
And the world will heal. I don’t even know what that will look like.
It will likely be more than just clean oceans and a pretty California.
She’s an actual goddess. I guess her Cosmic Twin heard my prayer right before those men came storming into our suite.
I certainly feel a little better knowing a goddess is on our side.
But if those men weren’t in the timeline, I can’t help wondering what else isn’t.