Midnight Wolf (Shifters Unbound #11)(88)
She lowered the talisman, keeping her eyes on it, and waited.
Nothing happened. The breeze picked up, and a few drops of rain began falling from the thickening clouds.
Tiger abruptly went rigid, alert, his head snapping around to peer down the trail. “Someone is coming.”
Angus heard nothing, but he’d grown to respect Tiger’s abilities. “Zander, get the truck ready. Ben!” he yelled into the trees. “Get back here. Make sure Tamsin gets to safety.”
Tamsin didn’t move. “We’d really appreciate any help,” she said to the stone. “If that’s Shifter Bureau on their way, or the human cops, we might all get slaughtered. Ben maybe not—he’s a goblin, and can cast a glam to sneak off without being seen. Shifters can’t. If Angus, Zander, and Tiger get killed, I bet Jaycee will be really upset. So will I. I can probably get away, if I change to my fox, but I don’t want to leave my mate.”
Tamsin glanced at Angus, her eyes the same color as the gold wire around the amethyst. “That’s what taking a mate does to us Shifters,” she went on to the stone. “We’ll die for them, die with them, as long as we can stay together. Angus doesn’t know it yet, but I’m pretty sure we have the mate bond thing going on, which doesn’t always happen, you know. But it’s happened to me, and I’ll do anything, including stand here and talk to a rock in the hope that it will help my mate survive, to keep him safe. Because in the end, that’s what’s we have, isn’t it? What we do for other people, to make sure they’re alive and well, and in the best case, happy too. So if you don’t come, I’m going to grab on to Angus and try to get him away from the cops that I can hear now, fend them off in any way I have to, and make sure he gets out of here and back to his cub. It’s the best I can do, but it’s what I will do. The sirens are getting closer now, so I’m going to have to go. Thanks for listening, Lady Aisling. Tell Jaycee I said hi.”
Tiger came running back to them as cars and SUVs poured in on them, sirens blaring. Black SUVs were among the cop cars—Shifter Bureau.
Zander had the pickup started. Ben headed for Tamsin. Angus intended to push her at Ben and tell him to get her the hell out. She could go back to Dante and the carnival and hide there.
Zander was un-Collared—he had to get the hell out of here too. Angus was a registered Shifter. Could be that if Angus got word to Dylan after he was arrested, Dylan would insist on due process, and possibly, just possibly, Angus would at least get a trial. Goddess knew what they’d do to Tiger, so Tiger should go with Zander.
Just as Angus put his hands on Tamsin to send her toward Ben, and he raised his voice to tell Tiger and Zander to run for it, everything went silent.
He blinked and realized the sirens had cut off, as had the sound of the engines. Tamsin jerked her head up and stared at the raindrops, her mouth dropping open, but Ben remained frozen in place, his foot raised to take a step.
Angus glanced at what held Tamsin’s attention, and started. The raindrops were hovering in place, glittering like diamonds, but not falling. They hovered like a beaded curtain, perfect spheres reflecting the light.
He looked around. The cars and SUVs had halted, as though caught in a snapshot. Birdsong was gone, as was the constant drone of insects.
Tiger had stopped and lowered his arms. He wasn’t frozen—he too gazed about in wonder.
Zander in the truck was motionless—Angus couldn’t tell from this distance whether he was affected by whatever this was or not.
Only he, Tamsin, and Tiger seemed to be able to move. Angus stepped closer to Tamsin and she to him, the two of them seeking comfort in each other.
The door to the trailer opened, and a woman stood in its opening. She was dressed in khaki pants tucked loosely into boots and wore a white cotton shirt with a khaki windbreaker over it. A broad-brimmed hat half hid hair of flame red that she’d braided and pinned up in loops.
She was Lady Aisling, and she reeked of power just as she had when Angus had first seen her inside Faerie. He’d tried to protect Jaycee from her at the same time he’d realized she could wipe them both out whenever she wanted to.
“Hello, Angus,” Lady Aisling said as she leapt lightly down from the trailer’s door and strolled toward them. “What is it you want, dear?” she asked Tamsin. “I’m very busy today. We’re setting out the bare root roses.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Tamsin clenched the talisman until it dug into her palm. She didn’t reach for Angus, because they needed to be ready to shift, to fight, in an instant. But how could they fight a being who could make the rain stop?
Lady Aisling gazed at Tiger with interest. “You again, eh? I didn’t know what to make of you when you intruded upon my home, and I still don’t. And what is this?” She shifted her gaze to Ben. “A goblin, you called him?”
“Yes,” Tamsin croaked through her dry throat. “That’s what he said. Or gnome.”
Lady Aisling studied him. “I believe he’s one of the Ghallareknoiksnlealous. But they don’t look like this.” She waved her hand in front of Ben’s face.
“He says you didn’t help save his people,” Tamsin said in a rush. She caught Angus’s warning glare, but she couldn’t stop. Her anger rose on Ben’s behalf. “He says you let them be killed off, and did nothing.”