Mate Bond(54)

Gil, horrified: "I couldn't hold on to him. Something yanked him from me. I'm so sorry."

Cade: "Eric called. His trackers are en route."

Bowman had heard his phone ring but hadn't had the strength to answer  it. Eric would know to call Bowman's second if Bowman didn't respond.

Jamie: "What do you want us to do with all this stuff?"

There was a pile of Turner's crap everywhere. "Keep going through it,"  Bowman heard himself say. "There might be something to tell us how to  get in to save Kenzie."

He was running out of belief. All he knew was that Turner had somehow  managed to trap his mate and cub, and he might never see them again.  Bowman couldn't face that-everything in him wanted to stop and howl,  unceasing, until he died.

I'm here. I love you, her voice had called in his dreams.                       
       
           



       

I love you, Kenzie, came his answer, fierce and from his gut. I love you with everything I am, everything I have.

Why the hell didn't I tell you that before?

Because he was dumb-ass stupid, that was why. Bowman had been so fixed  on the fucking mate bond, and on proving that he and Kenzie could hold  Shiftertown together without it, that he had never acknowledged what she  truly was to him.

Everything.

"I think I know why Ryan so easily went in." Cristian stood next to  Bowman, his voice way too calm. "He picked up the sword and understood  its connection to the mists. When he dropped the sword inside, it called  to him, compelling Ryan to it." He fixed Bowman with a steady gaze from  his wolf-gold eyes. "Ryan is very special. It could be that he will be  picked at the next Choosing."

Bowman swung on him. "Screw that. No way is my son going to be a Guardian."

"If the Goddess touches him, he will have no choice."

Pierce gave a Feline growl. "Yeah, but Choosings only take place when  the former Guardian dies. I'm not that old yet. You don't have anything  to worry about, Bowman."

Cristian shrugged and didn't argue. Bowman knew damn well that it  wouldn't matter what he wanted, or what Cristian wanted, or even what  Ryan wanted at a Choosing. If the Goddess decided that Ryan should take  up the sword and become the Guardian, there was nothing any of them  could do about it.

Bowman hoped Cristian was wrong-Guardians were revered, but they were  also, very politely, shunned. Pierce took it in his stride, but Ryan  wasn't cut out to be a loner.

"Besides," Bowman said out loud, "he's going to be leader, not Guardian."

"If we can find him," Cristian answered.

Bowman swung on him. "If you say that like it's a question again, I'll  take you apart. We're finding him. And Kenzie. Now stop standing around  bleating like an old woman and get on with it."

Bowman expected Cristian to respond with anger, maybe even issue a  challenge, but the older man only looked at him with understanding.

"You are right," Cristian said. "We must first find my niece and  grandnephew and cease speculating on what might be. We will find them."  He didn't touch Bowman, but his eyes held both strength and compassion.  "This I promise you."


* * *

Brigid looked pained when Kenzie used the Fae cloak to wipe the mud from  Ryan's face and hands. Ryan succumbed to the cleaning with poor grace.

"Why don't you turn to wolf?" Brigid suggested as he fussed. "Then you could lick yourself clean."

"Because, ew," Ryan said, giving Brigid a disparaging look. "Anyway,  what if the mud is poisonous? Could be, in a zombified place like this."

"You still haven't told me how you got here," Kenzie said as she wiped.

Ryan looked embarrassed. "My own fault, I guess. I thought the Sword of  the Guardian might have enough magic in it to open the way through the  mists. So I grabbed it and tried. The stupid sword flew in here like it  wanted to lance something. I let it go, and Pierce yelled at me. I  thought I'd reach in and see if it was, you know, like lying on the  ground right inside, and I got sucked in too. I mean, really fast, like  the sword did. I don't know why I ended up falling into the mud, but I  did." He looked stricken. "Oh, man, I hope the sword isn't at the bottom  of that bog. Pierce would be seriously pissed off at me."

"Sword?" Brigid asked with interest. She perked up at the mention of weapons of any kind.

"Of the Guardian," Ryan said. "Magical. They were made seven hundred  years ago by a Shifter sword smith and a Fae woman who put the spells in  it. The Shifter and the Fae were mates, believe it or not, and created  swords to make sure Shifter souls didn't linger to be enslaved by the  Fae. Fae were still trying to make Shifters their slaves, back then,  alive or dead." Ryan shrugged. "Still are."

"So I have heard," Brigid answered, disapproving. "Foolish endeavors. We no longer need Shifters."

"Some Fae are fanatics about it," Kenzie said. "And those are the ones Shifters have to deal with."

"You have my sympathy." Brigid folded her arms. "Not that any of this helps us depart this place."

"That's true." Kenzie had never dreamed she'd a) meet a Fae; or b) agree  with one so much. "Ryan, you said the sword came in here easily. From  what I understand, it's pretty self-preserving, so I'd be surprised if  it ended up in the bog. Let's look for it. Maybe it can help us get  out." She allowed her hope to rise. "Turner said he needed a talisman to  come and go through the mists, and you know, the Sword of the Guardian  is one big magical talisman."                       
       
           



       

"Yeah," Ryan said, leaping to his feet. "You're pretty smart, Mom. Sometimes."

Brigid laughed, a surprisingly beautiful sound. "Offspring have much in  common everywhere, do they not? My own daughters have said the same to  me." Her laughter died, sorrow entering her eyes. "Yes, let us search."

Brigid helped Kenzie to her feet, and they started to look through the  mud and reeds at the edge of the bog for the elusive sword.

A tingle of dread signaled Kenzie before the mists grew dense, wrapping  clammy tendrils around her. Ryan shrank to her side as the mists  thickened, then parted, revealing Turner standing not ten feet from  them.

His outline was darker than before, and from this shadow, his blue eyes  shone with cold light. He raised a tranquilizer rifle and shot first  Ryan and then Kenzie, who leapt at him to keep him from her son.

Brigid's hands automatically reached for weapons she no longer carried,  but Turner invoked the binding spell. She froze in place, bracing  herself for a third dart to come for her.

It never did. Turner lifted something that glinted in the half light and  the mists became dense. When they thinned again, Turner, the Shifter  woman, and the Shifter woman's cub were gone.





CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE




Brigid checked the perimeter of the place of their captivity, but Kenzie  and Ryan were nowhere to be found. Turner had taken them.

The darkness was nearly complete by the time Brigid returned to the  place she considered base camp-the large, flat boulder she used as a  seat, the soft pile of leaves that was her makeshift bed. Kenzie still  had the cloak, which meant Brigid would have no cover tonight. But this  place, wherever it was, was far warmer than her home in Tuil Narath-what  the Shifters called Faerie-so it scarcely mattered.

The emptiness that smote her as Brigid seated herself on the rock  surprised her. She didn't like sentimentality, and she didn't like  Shifters. Or so she'd thought before meeting Kenzie.

Kenzie had proved companionable. The Shifter woman understood, the same  way Brigid did, about love and loss, hardship and happiness. Brigid  didn't like to think about what Turner would do to her, or to Ryan, the  cub.

Turner was a madman. Brigid had assessed that as soon as she'd looked  into his cold, emotionless eyes. He cared for nothing and no one. He'd  coerced Brigid into her labors, not to help his people, but for his own  glory. To show everyone he'd been right that Shifters existed, and that  they'd been wrong to shun him. Being right was important to him, and he  was willing to hurt others to prove it.

Turner needed to be eliminated. That was the most efficient way to  restore Brigid's life, as well as the lives of the Shifter woman and cub  she'd decided to like.

The conviction rang like faint strains of music in her ears. It felt  good to have a purpose. Brigid had always planned to kill Turner when  the opportunity arose, but now she had to make it arise.

All very well, Brigid told herself, deflating a little. But she had to  figure out how. She was stuck here, unable to leave but at his choosing.  He had weapons, including the one that shocked, as well as spells and  magical talismans. She would have to take away a weapon and turn it on  him and hope she picked out the correct talisman to let her out of here.