Pursued: Silver Falls University 4, page 14
This time, though, I didn’t fade into unconsciousness. I was completely present, and I watched as he let out a low rumble at Dakota and Tore’s presence before turning his attention to Effie. At first I really didn’t understand what he planned to do, but when his fingers brushed over our mark on her, I felt it. The mark she left on us surged with power, and in a wave I was pulled into Effie’s mind, feeling disoriented and like I was watching a movie.
One that featured Effie standing in a dim room, shivering with a blanket wrapped around her. The walls were hazy, and despite her clearly not feeling well, I didn’t feel anything off with her magic. In fact, it felt vibrant and healthy…I think she just was sick. That boggled me a bit, and as Coffin approached her in wolf form, she curled up against him.
What I didn’t expect was how Coffin planned to keep her entertained and present until she felt like waking up.
The room darkened further, and like a projector, images began to play out in front of us. I moved forward to watch them, Effie’s eyes growing more alert.
“What is this?” I asked it out loud, but I knew from Effie’s lack of reaction that only Coffin could hear me.
“Memories.” It was a simple word for anything but.
I watched as the sun rose over a spacious landscape of mountains with an ocean in the background, wolves waking from their slumber in the caves nearby. I assumed it was from Coffin’s point of view, as he stepped out and was immediately surrounded by small pups, their parents watching nearby. It was obvious, at least to me, that he was the alpha of this pack, which didn’t surprise me very much.
What surprised me was that he could talk.
“We need to go down to the village today,” he said to the others, his language not one I recognized but somehow understood in this dream. “The humans have decided on an agreement.”
“What type of wolf were you?” I asked.
“We were wolves with true magic, an offshoot of the original lykos. However, the agreement that happens next is the reason that bittens exist—at least from where I came from in the world.” His voice echoed, and I realized Effie could hear when she nodded, looking captivated.
Where he came from in the world. I drew upon the faint knowledge I had from my geography classes, deciding that the projected memory was taking place in South America somewhere; I wanted to say Peru. I sat down and watched the agreement with the humans play out. They wanted to know if a bite from the wolves would turn them into wolves as well, scenes of the wolves and humans experimenting flashing by. Before long, Coffin had been watching a merger of the two communities as they used their resources to grow and become stronger, able to communicate in both human language and wolf.
“The next part isn’t nearly as peaceful,” Coffin warned, and before I could suggest not showing her, the scene exploded in chaos.
In the middle of the night, another group of humans attacked them, and Effie buried her head in Coffin’s fur as the children and adults were slaughtered, their powers meager defense against modern weapons. Although in this case ‘modern’ consisted of swords and the like, making it clear that the town hadn’t been prepared for battle in any sense.
“Why are you showing her this?” Anger boiled beneath my skin.
I could practically hear Coffin’s wince. “I can’t leave out this part.”
“Skim!” I snarled.
“Fine, fine,” he grumbled, and then his voice grew louder, speaking to her. “Sorry, little wolf. That part is over, I promise.”
And it was. What followed next wasn’t particularly better though, and I began to realize that he was jumping around to avoid the violence. But I didn’t miss the massacred cities in the background. I didn’t miss the blood on his fur, even if what he was doing at the time seemed innocent enough. He had been far more than just a normal killer.
“How old are you, Coffin?” Effie asked softly.
“Far older than the first memory, but that’s the first time I remember participating in a formal culture. Before that, I roamed on my own and went by a different name. I was worshiped as a god by many.”
A god? The wolf inside of me had been a god…that shouldn’t have surprised me, if we were being honest. His entitlement fit the part.
Effie nodded as he continued to play his memories, and I decided to test something. Leaving him with our mate, I pulled back from the moment. All the way back. When my eyes snapped open I let out a sigh of relief because I could feel Coffin’s approval, letting me know that he was still with our mate inside her head—connected through our magic.
Looking around, I realized we had moved next to her on the bed, her form tucked against us. No one else was in the room at the moment, but I could feel them close by.
Almost right on cue, Ryder walked in and looked at her with concern. “How’s she doing? They told me Coffin is with her? The doctor will be here in an hour at most.”
“Good,” I said softly. “There’s nothing wrong with her magic; she’s just legitimately sick.”
Ryder frowned but seemed to accept the notion, as he walked back out. Letting out a sigh, I sank into the bed and looked around, trying to see the place from Effie’s point of view.
I wasn’t positive how I’d lived before I met Effie and my memories were removed, but I suspected it wasn’t much better than how I’d lived with my pack. I hadn’t minded our conditions all that much, though, because the atmosphere and culture had been community-based. Even at Christmas, the pack had worked together to make sure each pup got a gift, so the ‘lack’ of extra never bothered me.
I had never lived a life like this though.
This level of opulence was beyond me, though I had to admit this place was far more comfortable than any of the others. I could tell Effie was more than a bit in love with it, and I started to wonder if maybe this was the place for us.
I’d never given thought to living internationally, but I could see it. It would also give us the opportunity to travel more, which I had a feeling she would enjoy.
The only thing I would worry about was the closeness to Caedmon’s father and even Ryder’s grandfather in comparison to Wisconsin. It was just one more thing to consider. What I did know? None of the houses in Wisconsin were ‘the one.’ None of them had this type of feel, and if this is what Effie wanted, it’s what we would give her.
I was lost in thought for some time before the bedroom door opened and Ryder walked in with a woman in her seventies, her eyes immediately taking stock of the room. I wasn’t sure if Ryder had briefed her on our situation or if she was just that good, but she didn’t bat an eyelash about Tore and I both in bed with Effie. Tore had joined us some time ago, along with Caedmon and Dakota, who sat talking quietly near the windows. Dakota was probably calming Caedmon the fuck down.
“Hi there,” the woman said with a small smile. “I’m Dr. Hills. I heard we have a sick bitten wolf?”
“Yeah,” I admitted. “We don’t think it’s her magic; she seems to just be sick.” I sat up and moved just enough for the doctor to get to her, still sitting on the edge of the bed. Tore didn’t move—stubborn bastard.
She nodded in understanding. “Start of the school year, right? Ryder told me that you’re students at a university. If this is her first year, then it’s probably from exposure to all the germs there.”
That made way too much sense.
After taking her vitals, Dr. Hills took down a few notes and asked, “Do we know if she’s on any medicine?”
“None,” Dakota answered.
“Nothing?” She arched a brow. “Are you positive?”
I knew what she was asking. She probably figured we didn’t know or would have forgotten about it. “No, nothing.”
Not even birth control.
I shook my thoughts from that, not allowing myself to dwell on it. I knew exactly how I felt about that entire situation, and it probably wasn’t healthy, but I also didn’t feel guilty about it.
“I’m going to give her what I would consider the shifter version of Tylenol.” Her lips quirked up as if she was amused at the thought. “Her heart rate and everything else are relatively normal; I would just have her take this, and tell her to take it easy for the next few days. If I had to guess, this is the worst of it. She’s probably been feeling bad the past few days and didn’t fully realize it.”
Considering she’d been unlocking new magic, I could completely believe that.
After getting what we needed from her car downstairs, Dr. Hills was off. I checked in on Coffin, who seemed relatively content. He was also half asleep, which was weird on its own, but I assumed that meant the movie was done. I didn’t fully understand who was in charge right now—the lines felt blurred—but I could also feel him willingly sinking into the background since Effie was relaxed.
Maybe there was a chance we could learn to work together.
“What’s our plan for tomorrow?” I asked quietly after managing to wake Effie up just long enough to have her swallow the medicine. Everyone gathered back in the room, Ryder having returned from seeing Dr. Hills off. I had a feeling that all of us were going to be sleeping in here, so it didn’t surprise me that he held a stack of blankets.
“Mona mentioned that the pendant would lead Effie where she needs to go,” Caedmon reminded us.
“ I don’t think it’s said shit yet,” Dakota pointed out.
“Let’s wait till she wakes up and go from there,” Tore suggested.
“It wouldn’t hurt to stay a little longer,” Ryder said in thought before adding, “Effie loves London—she was asking about it all night.”
“If she wants to move to London…”
“We move to London,” Dakota finished for me.
Damn right we would. Anything to make our mate happy.
15
EFFIE HARLOW
I didn’t want to wake up. That was the first thought that came to mind as someone said my name softly, urging me to do exactly that.
There were a million reasons I didn’t want to wake up, but the main one was Coffin. He was still with me, and my wolf had curled up with him as I wandered in and out of consciousness, not truly present. Not like I’d been when he’d shown me his past, the life he’d come from. It’d been both really cool and a little sad, the sadness only because I could feel the loneliness through the memories.
There were memories where it seemed that everyone except him had families, whether it be a partner and children, or even brotherhoods. He always seemed alone. A leader of the pack but ultimately alone.
Not anymore.
While I knew that Coffin was more magic than anything else now, I promised to always try to include him on stuff. I think that was what Julian wanted as well, even if he didn’t always get along with his wolf counterpart. I’d felt their connection as they worked to find me in my own head, although it hadn’t taken much since I’d been searching for them anyway. To say I needed comfort when I was feeling like crap was an understatement.
I wasn’t positive what had changed, but I’d been feeling amazing following my dinner with Ryder, and then on the way home, I’d started to feel achy. Before I knew it, my eyes had been closing, my natural assumption that I was exhausted from my encounter with the Fengari Stone and the exchange of magic between Ryder and me. Apparently, though, I was just sick, because my magic seemed energized and fine.
Me, on the other hand? Not so much. My eyes were heavy and I felt feverish, although far less than before. I really didn’t understand why I needed to wake up, though. That was total nonsense.
“I know, lil bit,” Tore chuckled, but there was tension behind it. “But you need to take more medicine, and you’ve been sleeping for fourteen hours—”
“And twelve minutes,” Caedmon murmured from nearby. I nearly smiled, but I was far too tired.
“We need you to wake up,” Julian said, “before Tore and Caedmon lose their minds.”
“That doesn’t sound good.” I yawned, flipping my pillow to the cool side and laying back down.
“I’m going to get her some breakfast,” Ryder rumbled, the sound of his voice making my toes curl.
“Already got it,” Dakota said as he entered the room. I would have said I wasn’t hungry, but right at that moment my stomach decided to growl. My wolf glared at me like I was somehow a traitor to our sleep plans. She didn’t want to wake up either, especially since sleep meant being with Coffin.
“Fine,” I sighed. I sat up, blinking and looking around at my mates’ worried faces before taking in our environment. It appeared to be late morning, and all of the windows were open, allowing a cool breeze to roll over my skin.
“Thank the Goddess,” Caedmon grumbled, all of the guys visibly relaxing that I was not only up but wasn’t going to fight them on eating. I began to eat some of the fresh fruit and pastries from the platter Dakota placed in front of me on the bed, but my brain was elsewhere, still not completely used to the easy access to food I now had. I guess I kept expecting to not eat, so my stomach demanded food in fear of that.
That was the explanation in my mind, at least.
I was only half paying attention to what they were saying, my focus mostly on how I was feeling. Still achy for sure, but mostly I was tired and a bit foggy. I briefly remembered the things that’d been going on around me last night, although most of them were focused around Coffin.
There was a doctor, though; I remembered that. She’d said something about medicine, and then everything had gone out again until I groggily woke up to take medicine and then fell back asleep. I did sleep significantly better after that.
I was suddenly pulled from my thoughts by a ringing noise. The room went silent, and I looked up to see Ryder staring down at his phone in concern. It wasn’t making the tone of someone calling him; I was beginning to recognize that one. This one was different.
“I’ll be right back,” Ryder said distractedly. “Eat and rest; I’m sure it’s nothing.”
“That doesn’t make me feel any better,” I murmured, as Julian made a sound of agreement.
“I’m going with him,” Dakota said, dropping a kiss on my lips before following Ryder out the room. Caedmon walked over and tilted my chin up, and the light brush of his lips on mine had me letting out a happy sigh before he left the room as well.
I could tell Tore wanted to go with them, his eyes on the door, but he also hadn’t gotten up to leave.
“Tore? If you want to go, I promise we’ll be totally fine. I’m just going to eat breakfast and then get ready.”
“No.” He shook his head. “It’s fine.” But then the ringing sounded again, this time sounding like a house alarm, and Tore cursed, getting off the bed and jogging out the door.
“Think it’s anything serious?” I asked Julian, taking a bite of a muffin. I probably should have been more worried but I trusted my mates, and more than any of that, I wasn’t positive I had enough energy to get super worked up right now.
Julian looked out the window in thought. “This time of day? I wouldn’t think so, but that’s for Ryder’s security to worry about. You focus on eating, and then we’ll shower.”
I groaned. “A shower sounds amazing.”
He chuckled softly, checking my temperature as I sipped some tea. Only 100.9. When I was finally done eating, he helped me get out of bed. I felt so gross, having been both freezing and so incredibly hot while running a fever, so when he turned on the hot water to the shower, I didn’t think twice about pulling my clothes off and stepping inside.
“I love that.” Julian’s throat produced a noise that had my body breaking out into shivers.
“Love what?” I asked softly as he joined me, running his hands over my body as we stood underneath the rain head.
“How comfortable you are around me,” he said, brushing his nose against mine. “I love it.”
“And I love you,” I teased, knowing that he was right. Never in a million years would I have thought I’d be in this position with Julian when I first met him. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
“I love you isn’t enough to describe how I feel about you,” he admitted, running his hand over my waist and down to my ass. I shivered and reached up to kiss him, but he groaned.
“Nope, we can’t start that—you’re sick and I have no self control. Turn around for me, preciosa.”
“I feel better,” I said softly. Still, I did what he said, Julian grumbling about me not feeling perfect as he grabbed shampoo and lathered it in my hair. I sank into him as he massaged the soap into my hair, getting each and every strand, which was an accomplishment since I had so freaking much of it.
When he was done, he conditioned my hair and washed my body. I nearly fell asleep standing up—until the shower turned off and he wrapped me in a towel, a scowl slipping onto my face at the loss of the soothing warmth. I swayed on my feet, dizzy as I stepped out of the shower, but Julian was right there to catch me. He sat me down on the vanity, saying, “Stay right here. I’m going to get your clothes.”
I had no issue with that—I wasn’t positive I could stand up even if I wanted to.
A minute or so later he walked in with clothes and held my hand as I got dressed, looking over me with concern. When he led me back to bed, the sheets had been changed and my other mates had returned, talking quietly as they looked over some footage. Tore immediately pulled me against him, running his hands through my hair before braiding it.
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
“Much better,” I admitted, leaning back into him. “What’s going on, Ryder?”
His burnt gaze met mine, his concern apparent. “Security breach. Someone tried to break into the garage.”
I blinked in surprise. “Wait, really? Like someone random?”
“We don’t know; security didn’t get them before they left. I have a feeling they thought we wouldn’t be here since I sent one of the house attendants out in my car to grab something.”
“Oh,” I whispered.“Maybe they did think someone was here, though. Maybe they thought only you were gone.”
