Bear Bait (Hero Mine Book 1) Read online

  “OK,” Cade finally said.

  “OK. So you’ll let me do it?” Tally asked, her face flushed with excitement.

  “Yes.” Cade nodded. It was the right decision, but it didn’t stop guilt from bubbling up inside him.

  “I’ll go and get everything I need.” Tally backed out of the room, and then turned and ran.

  “Tally, if you think you need the support of your other coven members you should ask them to help.” His words were lost as the front door slammed shut behind the young witch.

  “I’m proud of you,” Octavia said. “It is the right thing.”

  “And what about you?” Cade asked.

  “What about me? The threat of an impending degetty attack is hard to shake off.”

  “I mean the other thing,” Cade said.

  “You turning me… Into a shifter?” Octavia asked.

  “If you ask me to, I will do it. I’m not a tyrant, I don’t want to lay down the rules for everyone.”

  “I want you to turn me. After we release Zinan. And if it will help.”

  “Deal,” Cade said, and turned back to the coffee, needing to concentrate on the mundane, and not on the danger he was about to put all of those he loved in.

  Octavia placed a hand on his back. “None of this is your fault.”

  “It sure feels as if it is.”

  “You didn’t bring any of this on us. But knowing how much responsibility you carry makes me believe you will do the right thing and get us through this.”

  “I wish I had your faith.”

  “Then maybe it is time you started believing in yourself.”

  Chapter Eighteen – Octavia

  Evening had fallen over the forest by the time Tally was ready to open the Druid Box. She had carefully cast her circle and called on the five Elements to assist her. Octavia was not prepared for the Elementals to look like ethereal beings. They were now positioned around the edge of the circle, but whether they would be able to hold the degetty back when Tally released it, Octavia didn’t know.

  “Can they touch physical things?” Octavia asked.

  “Physical things?” Cade asked. “You mean will they be able to grab hold of Zinan by the legs and pull him back if he tries to break the circle?”

  “Something like that, but I hadn’t pictured five Elemental beings wrestling with a degetty.”

  “How else do you expect them to stop him? I don’t think excuse me, good sir, would you mind staying inside the lines? would work. No matter how British we are.”

  Octavia laughed, her voice high and nervous. “I don’t care how they do it, as long as Tally and Eva are OK.”

  “We’re about to find out.” Cade inched closer to the edge of the circle, pulling Octavia with him. “Mom, you should go inside.”

  “So he can wreck the house if he gets free?” Eva asked.

  “No, because the house has some old wards on it that may be enough to buy us some time.”

  Eva looked around at Cade. “If Zinan gets free, no ward will stop him from getting to me. And I would rather it was me than Tally, or any of you.”

  “That won’t happen,” Octavia said hopefully. “Tally can do this.” She looked up at Cade. “I know I don’t know her, but I have met people like her. She’s determined and talented.”

  “And the biggest pain in the arse I’ve ever met,” Seth said, coming to join them, with Tobias in tow, drinking coffee and nursing his bandaged arm. “We need armor.”

  “I thought we needed badges,” Tobias said.

  “We need badges and suits of armor,” Seth said. “And a big-ass sword that can take a degetty’s head clean off its shoulders, no matter how powerful it is. We should put that before the Council. I bet if they put some kind of magic spell on a sword, it would do enough damage.”

  “It’s time,” Cade said.

  Tally was walking the circle one last time, calling on the Elementals to assist her. It was a step she did not usually repeat, and highlighted her nervousness. Then she returned to the center of the circle and held the Druid Box in her hands.

  Closing her eyes, she spoke briefly, and the box shimmered, a red glow emanating from it. She spoke again and the Elementals moved, a nervous energy in them, as if they were on the baseball field, waiting for the ball to be pitched.

  Before their eyes, a mist of green escaped the box with a hiss, and then standing before Tally, towering above her, was the degetty Zinan. He immediately swung his head and set his sights on Eva. Cade moved to position himself in front of his mom, just as the degetty tore at the edge of the circle.

  Tally worked fast, the words she spoke now those of the druid tongue. Quickly she repeated the spell, and Zinan turned back to her, his eyes bright green, his body tense, ready to pounce.

  “She needs more time,” Eva said, and stepped out from behind Cade, making herself known to Zinan. “Why do you hunt me?”

  Zinan took two strides toward her, but came up against the edge of the circle. He lifted his hands and tested it, but then swiveled his head back toward Tally.

  “Zinan. That is your name,” Eva continued. “Who controls you?”

  Zinan shook his head, as if he had a bee buzzing around it; when he stopped, he turned his body around to face Tally full on. The young witch was taking something from a bowl, and throwing it at Zinan’s feet. The degetty stepped back, but then hurled himself forward.

  The Elementals responded, their actions faster than anything Octavia had ever seen. In a blur they latched on to him, Earth, Air, Fire, and Water, one holding each limb, while Spirit put his ethereal self between the demon and the witch.

  Zinan calmed down. Cade had the impression the degetty could no longer see Tally, but he knew she was there. His head looked around, or was it that he was seeing the world around him for the first time? Impossible. And yet he was looking at the trees blowing in the breeze, the stars coming out one by one in the sky, and the ground beneath his feet. He no longer cared about Eva.

  “She has broken the bind Gareth put on him,” Eva said softly.

  “You are free?” Cade asked with relief.

  “I am,” Eva said softly.

  “Come on, Tally,” Octavia said. “Now take control.”

  “Maybe it would be better if she didn’t,” Tobias said. “That way the degetty will not be compelled to hurt her.”

  “She has to bind him,” Cade said. “We cannot send him back from here, he needs to go to one of the big henges, and we’ll need a Druid. The most we can hope is she can bind him to her will, or we stick him back in the Box.”

  “The Box we’re hoping to put the other degetty into,” Octavia said, the enormity of what Tally had to do becoming apparent, as Tally repeated the same phrase over and over again.

  “Coheresco memet,” Lucas’s voice rang out.

  They all looked in the direction of the voice. “Damn it,” Cade said. “Now we are in trouble.”

  Lucas strode toward the circle that contained Tally, while Cade and his brothers moved to intercept him. “I have come to help,” Lucas said, putting his arms up in surrender. “Co here s co mer met. It’s all in the pronunciation.”

  Tally looked flustered, but then repeated the words after Lucas, and there was a buzzing of electricity and Zinan went rigid, before falling to his knees.

  “Now command him,” Lucas said.

  Tally looked around at all the watching faces, her pale face white against the night.

  “Speak from the heart, Natalie. Command him,” Lucas ordered.

  Tally straightened up at the sound of her proper name. “Zinan, demon of the Underworld. I command you. And it harm none, do as ye will.”

  “What the hell!” Seth exclaimed. “We have a bound degetty, and she tells it not to harm anyone. I sure do hope other degetty are excluded from that.”

  “I accept your command,” Zinan said.

  Tally sagged visibly, her strength low, but she mustered enough energy to thank the Elementals for their help, and then
she broke the circle, leaving it with her degetty at her heels.

  “You did it,” Octavia said, throwing her arms around Tally’s neck. “I knew you could.”

  “Well, so did I. Sort of,” Tally said humbly. She stepped back, slipping out of Octavia’s arms and turning not to Cade, but to Lucas. “Thank you. I never was good at the pronunciation.”

  “Where did you learn it, Google Translate?” Lucas asked. “Because it’s some of the worst linguistics I’ve ever heard.”

  “How did you guess?” Tally asked.

  “Because I know you have been learning spells and incantation from books. And I know what it is like to read, but not speak the language. My mother had a lot to answer for.”

  “Wait, you have been taught by Lucas’s mom?” Eva asked. Tally ducked her head and didn’t answer.

  “Yes, she has.” Lucas gave a half smile, something akin to pride. “I got it out of her tonight.”

  “Got it out of her?” Tally asked, concerned, advancing toward him, her degetty close.

  “I went over for dinner, and she spilled the beans over dessert. Not literally. But we had the usual conversation about women with druid powers not being taught the same as men. And she let it slip that you had been around, and when I went through my old books, I saw the one on degetty-summoning was gone.”

  Tally pulled it out from under her cloak. “Sorry, here, you can have it back now.”

  Lucas pushed her hand away. “Keep it. I’ll teach you what you need to know. The Council might not be ready for a female druid, but I’d like to teach you… If for no other reason than it keeps my mother from making mischief.” He walked around and around Zinan. “Now, what are we going to do with this one?”

  “Get information from him,” Tally said.

  “Degetty are not usually known for their forthcoming conversational skills,” Lucas said, a sneer back in his voice.

  “Have you ever talked to one, without expecting him to kill or pillage?” Tally asked, turning to face Zinan and looking very small and insignificant before him.

  “That is what degetty are for.”

  “Not this one,” Tally said. She sighed and looked up at the stars before asking, “What is your name?”

  “Zinan. As you know.”

  “Zinan. Are you aware of other degetty?” Tally asked, looking around. “If there was one here, in the forest, would you know?”

  Zinan looked around. “If it was close.”

  “And is there one close?” Tally asked.

  Zinan shook his head. “Negative.”

  “If there was. Can you tell how powerful it is? Or do you need to know its name. Or see it?”

  “Zinan can tell by sight, and scent, and touch.”

  “If we took you to where one had been earlier today, could you tell us how strong it was?”

  “Zinan could.”

  “Great. This way.”

  Tally led the degetty through the trees, and to the place where Taro had attacked them earlier today. But before they got to the place, Zinan stopped. “Zinan knows this degetty.”

  “You do? And is it powerful? We need to unbind it and send it back to the Underworld.”

  Zinan stepped closer to Tally and lowered his head, his green eyes bright. “Do you try to fool Zinan?”

  “No,” Tally said nervously, her eyes flickering to Lucas, who had followed but stood back out of the way.

  “He is still bound,” Lucas said. “He cannot hurt you.”

  “Why would you think I was trying to fool you?” Tally asked.

  “Because of who this degetty is.”

  “Who is it?”

  “My brother.”

  Octavia reeled from Zinan’s words. These degetty had family, just like humans and Others, and yet here they were plucked from their home and made to do the bidding of human or other masters.

  “Tally, ask him if he can track his brother,” Cade said.

  Zinan turned to look at Cade. “I will answer you. Yes, I can track him.”

  “We want to catch him and put him back in the Underworld,” Cade said. “If you help us, we will send you both back.”

  “No,” Zinan said.

  “You won’t help us?”

  “If Zinan helps you. You give your word to send Taro back to the Underworld. But Zinan will stay here in this world.”

  “Don’t you want to go back to the Underworld?” Eva asked.

  Zinan turned to face Eva. “Night Hunter.” He inhaled her scent; Cade reacted by drawing his long knife from its sheath. Zinan instantly took up a defensive position.

  “Cade, please, he can’t harm anyone,” Tally said.

  “Are you sure?” Cade asked.

  “Yes. But I’m not going to test it, and neither are you.” Tally touched the degetty’s arm. “Zinan. Who is Taro? And how strong is he? Stronger than you?”

  “Taro is the first son. He is stronger than Zinan, the second son.” Zinan placed his hand over his heart. Did degetty even have hearts?

  “Crap,” Seth said.

  Cade turned to Lucas. “Do you hear that? We cannot do this without you, Lucas. If you don’t help, Taro will pick us off one by one, as Matthew tries to force us to hand over the one thing we can’t.”

  “I’ll help you,” Lucas said. “But we need a plan.” He looked up at the mighty degetty Zinan. “Which I do not intend to discuss in front of that.”

  “That has a name,” Tally cautioned.

  “Don’t let yourself be fooled, Tally,” Cade said gently. “He might be bound to you, but he is not your friend.”

  She sighed. “Zinan. Will you wait here, please? If anyone comes, will you warn us?”

  “Anyone. Do you mean if Taro comes?”

  “Yes. If Taro comes, you knock on the door. Anyone else, and you hide.”

  “Zinan does not hide.”

  “Zinan is bound to harm none, he needs to learn to hide,” Tally said, with concern.

  “This is a bad idea,” Cade said, and led them to the house.

  Octavia took a last look at the degetty Zinan, and followed. She wanted to touch the degetty, to feel his skin under her fingertips. Was his flesh warm like that of a human? Or cold like a reptile. Did he feel things, sensations, emotions, love and hate? Did he fear his brother?

  “Octavia,” Tally said, falling into step beside her. “I have something for you.”

  Octavia glanced at Tally. “You have?” She eyed the vial Tally offered her with some suspicion.

  “Don’t worry, I’m not about to poison you.” Tally pressed it into Octavia’s hand. “For when Cade turns you. Take it, it will help.”

  “I’ve asked him to make me a shifter before we take on Taro and Matthew. If he needed me. But with Lucas on our side, I wouldn’t be surprised if he wants me to wait.”

  “This is your decision, Octavia. You have control over him, in a good way,” Tally added. “If you tell him it’s what you want, he shouldn’t be able to deny you.”

  “Good to know.”

  “Just remember, once you are a shifter too, the bond has the same affect. You will do anything for him. Just make sure he still does his share of the chores. Girl power.” Tally winked, looking the happiest Octavia had seen her since they’d met.

  Maybe things were changing, starting to move in their favor. Damn, she hoped so.

  As she entered the house behind Cade, she took one last look at the degetty standing in the middle of the enclave, his head high, on full alert. It gave her some comfort to know he was out there watching for Taro.

  She only wished he would be fighting side by side with them when the time came.

  “And it harm none, do as ye will,” she said quietly. That would be a good spell to cast on all the Templars, particularly Matthew.

  Chapter Nineteen – Cade

  “It’s a good plan,” Octavia said, waiting for Cade to disagree; instead, he bit his lip and walked away. Octavia followed. “Hey, I know you don’t like it, but it is the best plan.”<
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  “It puts you in danger,” Cade said.

  “Whatever we do, it’s going to put someone in danger, why not me?” she asked.

  “Because you are my mate.”

  “And Eva is your mom, and Seth and Tobias are your brothers…”

  “I know. I get it. It’s impossible.” He thumped his chest with one fist. “But you are my mate.”

  “Which is why I need to be as strong as I possible.”

  Cade ran his hand through his hair. “Damn it, Octavia. You’ve fallen into this feet first, and before you’ve had time to get your head around it or even breathe, you want me to turn you into a shifter… Something you don’t come back from.”

  “I don’t want to come back from it,” Octavia answered. “This is my choice, and I’ve made it.”

  Octavia stood before him, all fire and life, but what she was asking him to do might extinguish them both. The change was hard: venom would pump through her body, changing her DNA, and when she had recovered she would be able to shift, and she would expect to fight side by side with the rest of the squad.

  “I want to keep you safe,” Cade said. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close, his hand running through her hair. “I hate not feeling in control.”

  She gave a short laugh. “Oh, Cade, life is not about being in control. It’s about doing what you can, with what you have. And right now, we have a plan, but we need all the strength we can muster.”

  “We’re strong already.”

  “OK, I’m going to put it another way, and I want you to be honest, because that’s what a mate has to be, right?”

  “Right,” Cade agreed, knowing he wasn’t going to like this one bit.

  “What if it was the other way around? What if I was asking you to step back and let us fight?”

  He looked up at the ceiling and then closed his eyes. She was right, because she was attuned to him already. “You really are my perfect mate.”