Chapter 5
Lifting the Styrofoam cup filled with watered-down Diet Mountain Dew from the night before, Tamsyn bit the tip of the straw as she watched Shifters from all over the world funnel in from every direction.
She didn’t even notice that her favorite soda was flat and lukewarm as she took a sip because not only was she in awe, but she was also pretty much as confused as she’d ever been in all her life.
“Well, you better stop thinking about that rumbling, sexy voice from your dream, and pay attention to what’s right in front of your cute little nose, my girl,” Bridgette scoffed. “You know as well as I do that they’ll be lookin’ to you for direction, not some starry-eyed…”
“I am not…”
“Oh, yeah, you are,” Bridgette cut her off with a hiss. “You are thinkin’ about the three little words you think you heard while you were…”
“Okay, okay, okay, I’ll stop thinkin’ about it if you shut the hell up. You’re makin’ my ass twitch.”
“I’ll make more than your ass twitch if you don’t…”
“Consider yourself on ignore,” Tamsyn growled, slamming her mental blocks into place and exhaling the breath she hadn’t realized she was holding.
Scanning the largest field at the back of the Ryder Pounce Farm, she couldn’t believe her eyes.
From every corner, groups of Shifters converged— Packs of Wolves, Prides of Lions, Clans of Dragons, Streaks of Tigers, and Lone Shifters of all Races together in one place, united for a single cause.
Colorful clothing, shifting forms, and distinct accents mingled with the low hum of conversations, giving the entire field a vibrating sense of energy.
In the short time she’d been arguing with Bridgette, the crowd had almost doubled. It was mindboggling to say the least, and overwhelming in all the best ways in reality.
“Never in my wildest dreams did I think…”
“Did you think people would come when you asked for help?” Luke chuckled.
“Well, yeah.” Pushing the straw from between her teeth, Tamsyn turned just enough to look the big Black Bear in the eye.
“Girl, you could say ‘jump’ and most people would ask how high.”
“Yeah, right. You are…
“Oh, puhlease,” Luke scoffed, a smirk on his lips and a twinkle in her eye. “I am not delusional.”
“Hey, that was my line,” she tried and failed to deflect the compliment she knew was coming her way.
“Yeah, it was, and sadly, you are delusional. You have no idea how many people love and adore you. They would literally cross oceans to come when you ask.”
“As if.”
“Yeah,” Luke adamantly nodded. Placing one hand on her shoulder, he turned her back toward the clearing and pointed toward the crowd. “That pretty picture right there makes my point. Not to mention, one of the most renowned Dragon Elders of all time is here.”
“I seriously hate it when you’re right,” she ground out through gritted teeth.
“But you love me.”
“Only when you’re sleepin’.”
“Hey,” Luke snickered. “I’ll take what I can get.”
“Oh, and speaking of Carrick…” She leaned forward and looked around Luke. “Where did you leave him?”
“I promise I did not leave him anywhere,” Luke deadpanned. “Like I would do that.”
“You have been known to get all interested in Bonnie’s cookies or Amethyst’s honey buns and forget what day it is. So, I mean…”
“You mean, you saw the food table gettin’ set up and figured I left one of the most famous Dragon Guardsmen of all time in dirt to get my hands on the goodies?”
“Yep.”
“Well, I didn’t,” Luke sniffed, pretending to be upset before bursting out laughing and pulling a honey bun wrapped in a napkin from behind his back. Holding up, he asked, “You wanna bite?”
Unable to keep from laughing, Tamsyn chuckled, though tension lingered in her eyes. "No, you go on and enjoy right after you tell me where Carrisk is," she pressed, impatience curling inside her even as she tried to sound lighthearted.
“Oh, okay, if you insist.” Winking, Luke went on, “He said he had something to do but would be back in plenty of time to help with the evacuation.”
“Something to do in Defiance, North Carolina, on Mt. Serenity?”
“Yep.”
“Don’t you think that’s weird?”
Shrugging as he ate half the oversized confection in one bite, Luke chewed quickly then answered as soon as he swallowed, “You know I try not to think about what’s weird and not weird around here. It’s just a good way to get a headache.”
“Or lose your mind.”
“See? That’s what I’m talkin’ ‘bout.”
Shaking her head, she silently chuckled.
She truly did love that old Black Bear like a brother and would’ve been lost without him.
Goddess knew she would never have thought to reach out to the Others under the Council’s jurisdiction without him.
When he’d suggested it, she’d almost ignored him, but the little voice in the back of her mind- the one that wasn’t Bridgette- told her to hear him out, and it had been one of the best things she’d ever done.
The proof was staring her right in the face.
Tamsyn couldn’t deny what she saw. The pasture behind the Grand Hall of the Ryder Pounce was packed. She’d never seen it so full– not even when your mom and dad were still in Defiance and the residents were setting up for the yearly Fall Festival.
There were so many more Supes than she’d ever imagined. From far and wide, they dropped everything and came running as soon as they’d gotten her email asking for help. Many only replied, ‘on the way’ with no other questions asked. It was unbelievable.
Some were from as far away as Ireland, Scotland, and even New Zealand.
Others were from her very own backyard–people she’d known her whole life, but because they were from different Paranormal Races, their relationships had been little more than, ‘hi, how’s your family,’ when they saw each other in Crowley- the largest, and pretty much only, town within two hundred miles.
But Mt. Serenity was different. There weren’t many on the mountain she didn’t think of as Family. She would do anything and everything to keep them safe. It didn’t matter if they had fur or scales or a little bit of both; everybody in Defiance was related. They damned sure took care of each other.
Magic—ancient and as powerful as Chaos—filled the air.
The Earth's Ether pulsed with life, vitality, and a reassuring camaraderie that eased the tension in her shoulders. Mother Nature was adding her Blessing to those who’d come to help.
This was a wonderful feeling, no matter what kind of hellacious storm had them in its sights.
The only other thing Tamsyn desperately wished for was a clear look at the man haunting her dreams and his name. The not knowing gnawed at her, making her restless and irritable, and only the Great Goddess knew how much longer she could survive on sleepless nights and a haze of caffeine.
“Oh, my, Lordy,” Bridgette breathed. “Just take a gander at those tall, broad-shouldered boys over there. They’ll make you forget about your dreams. They are oh so very real, and from the Isle of Skye- the honest to the Goddess birthplace of Shifterkin.”
“Or so the stories say.”
“Those stories are one-hundred-percent true, Sweetpea. You can take it to the bank.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” she teased, knowing it was the best way to get the Bobcat Queen with whom she shared her soul going. “Besides, I thought everybody in the Motherland, as you’re so fond of calling it, was old and wizened. Those boys are anything but old and…”
“Nope, nothing old about them,” Bridgette purred. “They know how to grow ‘em right in the Goddess’s country. Even the ladies are beyond gorgeous.”
“And could walk a runway in their jeans and T-shirt. Seriously, they don’t have an ounce of body fat. Do they eat over there? Anybody fry a pork chop, mash a potato, throw some good, thick white gravy on a biscuit?”
“Girl, you need to stop that talk right this minute. You’ve gotta body like a back road that all the boys want to explore. Face it, you are curvy and gorgeous with a capital G, just like everyone on the Isle of Skye. Those girls got nuthin’ on you, and I know what I’m talkin' about.”
Ignoring Bridgette’s words and trying not to laugh at her musings, Tamsyn said, “Yeah, well, those boys deserve our undying gratitude, not you ogling their muscles and panting like you’re in heat.”
“What’s wrong with a little ogling? It’s not like they can hear or see me,” the Bobcat Queen grumbled. “You never let me have any fun anymore. I’m always stuck up in here with nothing to keep me busy but Netflix. Thank the Universe and the Great Goddess for hooking us all up with the internet.”
“I’ve been meanin’ to talk to you about that. I think you need…”
“And I think you need to stop right there,” Bridgette warned with a hiss.
“You can take away my catnip. You can tell me I can’t have any more of Jed’s brambleberry wine.
Hell, you can even tell me to stop chasing mice on the rare occasions you let me out, but you cannot, and again I say, cannot, take away my Netflix. ”
“But I wasn’t gonna…”
“Oh, yeah, you were,” Bridgette snapped. “Don’t forget I’m up here with my toe beans in your brain. I know what you’re thinkin’, and you can bet your bottom dollar that shit is not gonna happen.”
“Your toe beans? Seriously? That’s the best you…”
“Oh, hush, and listen up. Maybe I am in heat. It’s not like you ever…”
“Stop right there.” It was Tamsyn’s turn to hiss.
She couldn’t believe Bridgette was about to talk about her love life–or lack thereof–when she was getting ready to greet some of the most important and influential Shifters in the whole world–those who had come to help, along with all the inhabitants of Defiance.
It was a total mindfuck in all the best ways but required every ounce of concentration Tamsyn had. Hell, she’d already had to go toe-to-toe with the Legendary Carrick. Well, maybe it was only in her mind that he was anything but cordial…