Wanted by the Alphas(52)

Shannon has a sinking feeling. Whatever the ferryman and his fellow denizens of this place request of Lucien and Kirk will not be pleasant. Or legal. Or beneficial to the world at large.

She wants to shout out, “No! I am not worth it. Don’t do it! What they will ask you to do will potentially be far worse!”

But no voice issues from her throat. In alarm, she observes her hands and feet. They are fading even faster than possible.

“Yes, I agree,” Lucien says without hesitation.

“Yes, I agree,” Kirk echoes him.

No.

But her thought is too weak, as if even her mind is going.

“Very well.” There is a smile in the ferryman’s voice. “On behalf of Pangaea, I accept your barter. Now in order to restore life to her, you must bring her to the Tree. Climb on board.”

Lucien scoops Shannon up in his arms, and they all clamber onto the barge. Surprisingly, or perhaps not surprisingly in this place, the barge does not bob and the water does not splash with their added weight. They all settle onto the floor of the barge – with Lucien and Kirk supporting Shannon between them – and the ferryman poles them off.

“Hurry,” Kirk says, but the ferryman ignores him.

Time passes strangely in this place. Shannon sees strange trees – some of which are alive with moving branches. Beings which are crosses between animals – stags with men’s penises and hairy legs, goats with pigs’ tails, giant butterflies with faces of cherubs – stare at them as they pass from behind the trees and shrubs. Some follow them down the banks of the stream, jabbering excitedly in their language.

“I think we’d be right at home here,” Jared says to Kirk.

“No. These are not shapeshifters.”

“They are more dangerous than shapeshifters. They crave our live source, our vitality, our energy. Do not engage any of them,” Lucien warns.

“You speak as if you’ve travelled this place many times,” Kirk observes.

“Not many times. But I knew of it since I was a child. My sister and I were curious, and so we conducted our own forays into this place without my father’s knowledge. Sometimes, we barely escaped with our lives.”

Kirk smiles. “Yeah, I know the feeling of childhood curiosity. It happens to us shifters too, but in a different way.”

There is so much she doesn’t know about the two men in her life, Shannon thinks.

Time passes, and soon, the ferryman stops poling the barge.

“The Tree,” he says.

Shannon averts her head. Her vision is becoming a blur. She sees a majestic tree on the bank, which towers over everything else. The tree’s hoary branches are swaying on their own like arms with spindly hands to no wind she can feel on her skin. Or perhaps her skin is already incorporeal.

“Tell us what we must do,” Lucien says tersely.

“The Tree stands on hallowed ground. There is a cross section of ley lines and nodes under its roots. But its magick has to be activated by you.”

“How?”

“Love binds the three of you and her brother as well. Therefore, the most potent magick which can be harnessed is sex magick.”

Shannon stirs at this.

“How?” Kirk says, echoing her faint thoughts.

“How do you think?” Lucien says. His mouth is set in a grim line. “Help me with her. Jared, can you walk?”

“Yes.”

Together, they climb out of the barge and lay Shannon on the ground beneath the tree. The grass here is sparse, and the earth is a shifting surface of sand, rock, slate, and granite – all interchanging geologic features on a strange bed. Shannon can feel the power emanate from the tree, the ground, everything around her like a primal surge – a sustained blast of energy. She is almost buffeted by its sheer, raw force.

Lucien gently strokes the hair from her forehead.

“Shannon, listen to me,” he says. “I’m going to make love to you, and if it isn’t enough, Kirk will join in to add his power. You will not be hurt. It’s the only way to make you better. You understand?”

She nods. Or thinks she nods, but can’t be sure because she can’t feel her neck.

How am I going to experience this lovemaking then? she wonders. This is all so strange. So worrying. So wondrous. So terrifying.

They are all naked, and so there are no clothes to shed.

“Kneel at her head and hold her hands,” Lucien instructs Jared.

Jared does so. He pulls up her arms so they are outstretched. He kneels, and she can see his anxious face peering down at her.

“You’ll be OK, Shannon.”

“I shouldn’t have made you come,” she says weakly.

“No. It was meant to be like this.”

Lucien straddles her. His cock is already erect. He parts her legs, although she can hardly feel them.