25. Chapter 25
Chapter 25
Alyssa
“ S o, we’re not worried about Dean then?” I asked for what felt like the hundredth time.
Tank and I may have got distracted this morning for a few hours, but I hadn’t known my grumpy mate had wandered off on his own. It also meant I was feeling a little less chastised about doing it myself.
Although now that I was experiencing the worry of not knowing where he was for myself, the guilt of putting the guys through that was hitting me pretty hard, too.
This was one life lesson I was not enjoying experiencing.
“No. He does this all the time,” Maddox told me as he ducked under the blade of the practice sword Ryder swung at his head.
“It’s not exactly the same though,” I pointed out.
I could feel Fizzle glaring at me because I wasn’t concentrating on what I was supposed to be doing, which was training, of course. But I was going with a strict ignore-it-and-it-would-go-away attitude with the whole thing.
When a blast of air slammed into my back and floored me on the training sand, I realised my error.
“Rude,” I grumbled, dusting the sand off my front as I climbed to my feet.
“Rude is asking someone to help you train and then ignoring them,” Fizzle snapped. “You have regressed to the same uselessness you had as a three-year-old. Did you not practise at all in the human realm?”
“No, Fizzle, I didn’t practise my magic in a magicless world. I was busy trying to pretend like I could fit in,” I snapped back at him, knowing he didn’t deserve it.
He was right. I was the one being rude right now. The problem was that I had a missing mate and no one else seemed to be bothered about it.
My muscles screamed at me as I stretched my arms out and then turned back to my grumpy instructor. I’d missed the familiar ache more than I’d realised. There was something nice about knowing you’d used your body and achieved something. There were some other very specific aches that fell into that category as well, and I was definitely feeling those right now, too.
I wanted to be annoyed at Dean, and maybe deep down I was, but the worry was just clouding it over. The thing was, it was hard to be pissed with him for doing exactly the same thing I just did. I couldn’t even make the excuse that he was in more danger than I would be. Well, maybe he was a little. But he had his wolf, and even if he didn’t know how to use his magic, he’d probably be able to summon something in a life or death situation.
The magic he and Tank had been throwing around at his first shift was insane. It was nearly as strong as what I’d been able to use before I first left this place. I’d even go as far to say that it was stronger than any fae could access any more.
Basically, he could look after himself, and I was starting to think I didn’t have a right to worry about him when I was so prone to running off by myself as well.
A hand touching my shoulder had me nearly jumping out of my skin. I should have known Ryder would come to reassure me, though. This was what he did.
“So we might not want to admit it, but we’re all a tiny bit worried about Dean. He’s one of those must-feel-my-feelings-in-private men, unfortunately. He does this sort of stuff all the time. You two have a lot in common like that.” He gave me a wry smile, and I resisted the urge to defend myself. Mostly because he was right. “He won’t actually do anything stupid, though. As much as it might seem like it to look at him. And he won’t go too far. He’ll be back soon. You can shout at him, he’ll shout at you and then you can tumble into bed and figure out why you’re not actually angry with each other.”
As he spoke, he slowly lowered his head, his lips brushing against my neck before he whispered. “Your scent is driving my wolf crazy right now.”
Another blast of air had the two of us falling back onto the sand this time, and Ryder cackled as Fizzle ranted about societal norms and why we were all beneath him.
Again, he kind of had a point, but it wouldn’t do anyone any good to agree with him aloud.
Damn, sitting here on my ass in the sand, it was hitting me pretty hard that being pissed at Dean was not only unproductive but eye opening in the extreme.
Ryder sat up, giggling in the sand, and nudged me with his shoulder. I could hear Maddox and Tank laughing behind us.
The bond inside me hummed with happiness and it wasn’t just coming from the men here. Dean had obviously worked out whatever was bugging him, or rather, his annoyance with me.
I flopped back into the sand, glancing over my head at the two men behind me.
This was what family was like. It was a connection; having someone to lean into when the weight got too much. It was these men, standing here, not judging me for my past.
We were bonded mates, and I hadn’t been giving that the respect it deserved.
“We’re a very emotionally dysfunctional group,” I murmured, more to myself than anyone in particular.
They heard me well enough, though, including Fizzle, who I could already tell was gearing up, ready to explode into another tirade.
“Fizzle, can we take a break while I sort something out with the guys? I’d hate to waste your time.” I asked, thinking it would smooth over some of his anger.
It did not help at all.
“My time was wasted the second I took this post as your guardian, useless two-legged creature!” Fizzle huffed, spreading his wings and leaping into the air.
“What the fuck?” Maddox growled. “The furry fuck is going too far.”
Maddox stormed into the training ring, staring up into the sky as he paced the length.
“I don’t think you can reach him from down here,” Ryder quipped.
“Ignore Fizzle. That was him basically giving me a hug.”
“He doesn’t get to talk to you like that,” Maddox growled. “He needs to wind it back before he wakes up to find himself plucked, stuffed, and ready for the fucking oven.”
It was sweet, in an overly aggressive, murderous kind of way.
“Come sit with us,” I called out to Maddox and then turned around to look at Tank so he’d know I meant him as well.
They came with no argument and settled in on the sand. It was nice to sit in the sunlight and take a moment together, even if I was about to ruin it by trying to be all deep and shit.
“I owe you an apology,” I started. When Maddox tried to say something, I raised my hand to stop him. “No, I appreciate the sentiment, but I do. Last night, I should have spoken to you about what I wanted to do. I should have trusted you enough to know that I could tell you what I needed to do and that you’d let me do it.”
“There’s no way we’d have let you do it,” Maddox cut in.
I opened my mouth to continue, but stuttered and coughed instead. “What?”
“There’s no way we’d have let you walk out into that forest alone, without a plan, with no back-up and essentially with no weapons,” Maddox elaborated.
Okay, now this was just getting insulting.
“I am a weapon, Maddox. I know how to protect myself in this world. You’ve even seen me do it!”
Maddox raised his hands in surrender this time, and for some reason, that pissed me off even more. I was just about to enter into a Fizzle level tirade when Tank cut in by wrapping an arm around my shoulders.
“Maddox isn’t using his words very well right now.” He gave Maddox a look like he was a naughty child and it made me snigger from the sheer shock of it. “What he’s trying to say is that we would have been concerned enough about you to not want you to do that on your own. Whatever life throws at us, we face it together. So, no, we wouldn’t have let you go into the forest on your own, but only because we’re a family, Lys. We stick together. Always.”
I leaned into him, soaking up the comfort of my mate. Tank gave the best hugs and since we’d bonded, they’d only got better.
“So, moving forward, we hold hands more, we talk about our feelings and we have each other’s backs,” Ryder said, nodding as he did.
“You know you’ve always been weird, right?” Maddox quipped, and Ryder just shrugged it off.
Tank laughed at the pair of them. It was nice to see them all getting along. I just wished Dean was here with us. It didn’t feel right without him.
“Soooo… when are we going to ask Fizzle for his help?” Ryder asked, changing the subject. “That’s the plan, right? We ask him for his help and get our magical freak on?”
“I… sometimes I don’t know what to do with you,” I said, shaking my head. This man. He always had a way to make you smile.
“I am a man of many mysteries. Some might say an enigma,” Ryder quipped.
“Everyone else just says idiot,” Maddox added.
“I would be inclined to agree.” Fizzle landed on the sand at my side, and I caught the way he passive aggressively flicked some sand in my direction as he did. “It’s about time you came to me for help. I’ve been waiting for you to grow some sense. I’m starting to think I should have tutored you better growing up, Alyssandra. Plus, I’m not entirely sure these mates of yours are worthy of you.”
Even though he’d insulted me at the same time, the sentiment was appreciated. I knew he loved me deep down. This was just his weird way of showing it.
Fizzle paced the sand in a circle at our centre, giving us the stink eye as he did. It took me back to the old days and was weirdly comforting in a way.
“We need to talk…” I started.
“About your magic,” Fizzle butted in. “And the magic your mates are trying to hide. I suspect the only reason they’re fairly good at it is because they have no idea how to use it.”
I rolled my eyes, resisting the urge to just sink back into the sand and let the world pass me by for a while.
Of course, Fizzle knew. He seemed to know everything. It helped that he was working with a prophecy he didn’t feel the need to share with everyone else. Basically, the big fat cheater was lording it over us when he already knew how this was all about to go down.
“Yeah, yeah, you’re amazing and the rest of us don’t deserve the air we breathe. Can I take it we can move straight past the part where we ask you for help and you tell us what the training plan is?” I asked, lifted an eyebrow in question as I spoke.
Fizzle clacked his beak in annoyance and I knew he was mentally debating walking away and letting us stew for a bit. He was that much of a brat when he didn’t get to do things the way he wanted. When he shook out his feathers and sat down, I knew he was going to just get down to business.
“Fine. You’re no fun.” If he could pout, he would have.
Thank Nymeria for that one saving grace!
“You should also tell him about last night,” Tank added. “He needs to be fully apprised of the situation if he’s going to help us to the best of his ability.”
This was something we hadn’t discussed, and I glanced at Tank out of the side of my eye, trying to figure out if I was annoyed about him pushing the issue. I could refuse, of course, but then I’d have a pissed off petulant owl gryphon to deal with and no one wanted that.
“Fine.” I sighed, getting up off the sand and dusting myself down. My body was itching to move. It was because I had a lot to unpack and I still wasn’t entirely sure what to make of the whole situation. It made me want to pace as I figured out if what had happened was a good or bad thing.
The guys followed me up, grabbing their weapons where they’d left them and returning them to the stands at the edge of the sands.
Fizzle was practically vibrating, hating that he was having to wait. I wasn’t trying to be a bitch about the whole thing. It was just hard to figure out how to put into words that you’d met a dryad in the forest.
Okay, maybe it wasn’t that hard.
“I met a dryad out in the forest last night,” I blurted out.
The look on Fizzle’s face was amusing, to say the least. For all we knew, the prophecy had been so accurate that he knew every single thing that was about to happen. Whether that was a good thing or a bad thing, we’d only know in time. But for now there was at least some satisfaction in knowing that we weren’t the only ones in the dark, about some things anyway.
Of course, Fizzle had to go and ruin my very brief moment of satisfaction.
“It’s happening then. They’re gathering.” He spread his wings and flew to one of the nearest fence posts enclosing the ring we’d been sitting in.
He’d always hated being talked to when he was on the ground.
“What’s happening?” Maddox asked carefully, stepping closer to where Fizzle was now perched.
I could see the flash of annoyance on Maddox’s face. His lion would be pushing him to protect their mate and this situation could easily devolve into a fight. I had a feeling Fizzle wouldn’t answer that question. This was too close to whatever he was keeping close to his chest. The pieces were moving, and he didn’t want us to know the game we were playing, let alone the board we were on.
Fizzle looked at Maddox, and then pointedly turned away from him to ignore him. The way that Maddox held himself back and didn’t launch at him was actually pretty impressive. I’d always known it would be Fizzle’s attitude that got him killed, but today apparently wasn’t that day.
“Do you have any views about what’s happening in the forest? I know you can feel my magic out there. Out of everyone in Nymeria, you’re the most familiar with it after me.” I watched him closely as I asked because I was starting to think his reactions were the only way I was going to get any answers at this rate.
He locked eyes with me, and I could almost see the cogs moving in his head. “This isn’t fun for me, you know? I don’t take pleasure in hiding these things from you.”
I hadn’t expected that response, and now that I was suddenly seeing things from his point of view; I felt bad. Not once had I thought about how this was for him.
“I’m sorry, Fizzle. I should have thought about that, but I couldn’t see past my own frustrations.”
He sighed, gliding from the fence post to my shoulder and perching himself there. “I know. I know you can do this, and I will help you however much I can. And I will greatly enjoy torturing your mates until they have some kind of usable magic.”
“Yeah, bring it, little man,” Ryder quipped.
Fizzle’s claws dug into my shoulder as he slowly turned to look at where the three of them had gathered, checking out the other weapons available.
Oh, they had no idea of the world of pain they were about to enter into.