Rivers of blood and sand

Ander and I were once again left alone in Roman’s cottage as he made some calls. The entire walk back from the offering site, Roman was silent as tension held his body in its thrall. A rage simmered under the surface at how something like this was in his territory, that something had snuck in and out without him noticing.

I wandered upstairs and found myself in front of a nondescript door. Normally I wasn’t the type to wander or snoop through someone else’s house, but I remembered this door and knew what was behind it.

The more time I spent in this territory—in this house—the more I remembered.

After several deep breaths and focusing on the cool metal doorknob under my hand, along with the hints of rose and grapefruit coming from the door, I pushed it open. Inside was a simple and small room. A full-sized bed with yellow blankets sat in the back of the room. Beside it was a nightstand with a large crystal that could be used as a nightlight, giving off a soft and comforting glow. Several thin picture books sat beside it and when I sat on the edge of the bed, I recognized the books. A small smile pulled at my lips as more memories resurfaced.

I wasn’t so lost in my memories that I hadn’t heard someone enter the room. Just like I didn’t need to look to know it was Ander. I don't know how I knew, it was just an instinctual feeling, like a tugging in my gut.

He took a moment to study the simple, but cozy furniture. All of it was various shades of yellow. “Yellow was my favorite color as a child. I almost always wore the color, which if I remember correctly, wasn’t great with how much I loved playing outside.” I didn’t know why I explained this to him, or why I was once again offering up a piece of myself to someone who didn’t care.

His face was impassive as he listened to me as I continued to ramble. “As you can see”—I waved my hand down at my dark purple shirt and jeans—“I no longer wear the color. I can’t even remember the last time I wore yellow.” I frowned as I tried to remember. It had to be when I was a teenager, maybe even before that.

Ander nodded slowly as he drifted further into the room. The strong smell of his blood overtook the scent of incense, letting me know he’d recently casted. He dragged his fingertips over the bedding as he neared where I sat, towering over me.

“This was once your room?” He may have phrased it as a question, but it was clear he already knew the answer.

Still, I nodded. “It was a complicated situation after my parents died. Many from the clan stepped forward, offering to raise me as their own but Koa’s parents fought against that. Roman ended up agreeing with their reasoning, but it still took time, what with me being a child and having to switch animals. Do you know much about the process?” I looked up at Ander, finding his gaze intently on my face.

Ander sat next to me on the bed, his gaze never leaving my face as he shook his head. “Contrary to what you’d think, it takes weeks of preparation. They started the process by having me take a potion every day in the weeks leading up, to loosen the ties between my soul and my spirit animal’s. It’s a dangerous process and if done incorrectly, could’ve resulted in my soul being ripped out.” I bit my lip, sawing it between my teeth.

“I lied to the others before when I told them I don’t remember the process. I do. I doubt anyone who’s gone through it could ever forget.” My gaze dropped to the book in my hand as memories of the ritual tried to resurface. “It’s one of the worst feelings I’ve ever felt. I was so empty and alone. It was like I lost the most vital part of myself. But just when I thought I was going to die from the pain, both physical and emotional, there was this sudden warmth in my chest that bloomed with new life. It was the birth of my dragon and while I knew I would miss what I lost, I wasn’t empty or alone anymore.”

A heavy silence hung in the air in the wake of my revelation. It was something I’d never spoken out loud, not even to Koa. Somehow it felt right to tell Ander. For him to be the first to hear this story. Maybe it was stupid, but I couldn’t shake the feeling.

“Was the reason Koa’s parents fought so hard for you because they believed you were still in danger here?”

My focus drifted to the flowers painted on the wall in front of us, noting they were wildflowers that grew on some of the trees here. “Yes, they weren’t convinced this was a one-off. They thought there were others involved, but hadn’t participated in the attack, and clearly Roman agreed, otherwise he would’ve never allowed me to switch clans.”

Without even looking at his face, I knew he was confused by that statement. “Roman never hid how much he disliked the process of switching animals, and it’s not because he’s a megalomaniac and hates losing clan members. I overheard him once, talking about the process. He said it was barbaric and disgusting. So, by him allowing me to go through the process, shows how credible he thought the threat was.” My grip on the book tightened as my frustration grew. To this day, I still didn’t know why they died.

Ander’s lips were pressed together when I faced him again, his gaze on the book in my hands. It was a children’s book about deity legends—they were light on the gory details in an attempt to keep it kid friendly.

“How did Koa’s parents get involved?” Ander finally asked, lifting his gaze to mine.

“Koa’s mom originally was a lynx summoner and was friends with my mom when they were growing up. They were here visiting family when they received my parents’ distress call and tried to help.” I paused, my grip on the book so tight, I had to set it back on the nightstand otherwise I’d break it. Lacing my hands together, I squeezed them together so tightly it began to hurt. “My parents told me to run and not to stop until they found me, but they never did. Koa was the one to find and keep me safe that day.”

“That explains why he’s so overprotective of you,” Ander said, a small smile playing on his lips.

Letting out a short chuckle that broke through the tense moment and lifted my darkening mood, I shook my head. “You have no idea, he was worse when I was a teenager. There are a whole number of men that can say they’ve been threatened by him.”

Something shifted in the depths of Ander’s eyes that had me shifting on the bed and held me captive at the same time, unable to look away even if I wanted to. “What did they do to earn these threats?”

This was one of those rare moments between us where his gaze wasn’t icy and I didn’t know how to handle it. I should’ve told him to fuck off, maybe try and make a cutting remark to knock him down a peg. But I didn’t, and not because I didn’t know how to hurt him. Well…that wasn’t exactly true. I did know what would hurt him, but that would require saying something bad about the others and I’d never do that.

“Early on, he’d do it for the smallest things, like they were looking at me for too long.”

The corner of Ander’s mouth kicked up. “I’ve done that.” The unspoken words and your brother has yet to threaten me when it comes to you hung in the air. We both knew why Koa never threatened him where I was concerned. He never thought anything would or could happen between us due to Ander’s extreme dislike of me. He didn’t know about my attraction to Ander. Hell, I never told anybody.

Shaking off those types of thoughts, I whispered, “Touching me.”

“I’ve done that,” Ander said, trailing his hand up my thigh. Desire simmered between us as we remained locked in each other’s gazes, and Ander cupped me between my thighs. It was both not enough and almost too much, which really didn’t make sense, but nothing did when it came to Ander.

“Not in front of Koa,” I whispered before I could stop myself. I was at the point where I didn’t care if I accidentally revealed how often I paid attention to him.

Ander wasn’t surprised by my statement, instead, he murmured, “That’s true.”

I opened my mouth to ask him why he did that but stopped when he pressed down on my clit, somehow finding it through my jeans. As he did that, he yanked out my hair tie with his other hand and threaded his fingers through my hair, tilting my head back. His mouth met mine in a hungry kiss that stole my breath.

This time there was no hesitation on my part as my lips moved against his. I clutched his shirt, pulling myself closer to him, moaning when he pressed down harder against my clit. He nibbled on my bottom lip and when I opened my mouth, his tongue plunged into my mouth.

Our kiss broke off when we heard footsteps coming down the hallway. I was pretty sure Roman was loud on purpose, allowing us time to pull ourselves together. Groaning at Ander’s obsession with pulling down my hair, I searched the bed until I found my hair tie. Ander smirked when I shot an annoyed look, and had the audacity to shrug. I hid my responding smile as I pulled my hair back into a ponytail.

A hint of amusement showed in Roman’s expression as he opened the door and leaned against the door frame, confirming what I’d suspected. “It’s so strange to see you here after all these years, all grown up. I’ve never been able to bring myself to change this room.”

Swallowing past the lump in my throat, I bit down on my lip. “It’s strange being here as well.”

Understanding filled his expression as he pushed off the door frame. “Let’s talk downstairs.”

I gave the room one last look, taking in the last remnants of my childhood in this territory. I had to swallow down the lump of emotion building in my throat several times as I stroked the soft fabric of a chair. The very one Roman would sit in to read to me on the nights the nightmares found me and I couldn’t sleep.

Ander pressed his hand against my lower back, pulling me to the present. The memories playing out before me vanished. He rubbed small circles on my back and all my focus went to the sensations they invoked. I didn’t know if he could tell I was getting lost in the past and had done so to pull me out, or if he did it for another reason. Whatever the reason, I was glad he did. These types of memories, and the emotions they brought, could overwhelm you if you allowed yourself to dwell on them.

Using his hand on my back, Ander guided me from the room and the memories it held.

Roman was waiting for us in the downstairs living room, sprawled back in a chair. He stroked his chin as he watched us sit on the loveseat. It wasn’t lost on me that the last time we sat here, Ander started acting like a dick again.

“What did you find out?” I asked to distract myself from those kinds of thoughts.

“Whoever is doing this is working their way through the territories.”

“There’s more than one involved. From what I sensed from the blood, there’s at least two involved, and that’s not even counting the wolf attack—which was no normal animal,” Ander said, lounging back and spreading his legs so that one was pressing into mine.

Roman wasn’t surprised by this, it seemed to confirm what he’d suspected. “That tracks. Caspian has found an offering site in his lands. Titan has also found one. Both of them were fresh, seemingly from around the same time, and out of the way. If they hadn’t been looking for them, they probably wouldn’t have noticed them for several days.”

It was disheartening to hear there were two more of these unnatural areas infecting our lands with their malignant poison in the Water Court and the Hunter’s Moon Court. And that wasn’t even factoring in the two portals accompanying them. The damage to our lands made me sick and I wasn’t even an elemental.

Why were they doing this? What were they trying to accomplish?

“What about the sun courts?” Ander asked, sitting upright and placing his hands on his knees.

“One hasn’t been discovered, yet.”

“Then that’s where they’ll be,” I said, pushing to my feet, hopefully, we’d catch them in the act and get some answers.

“You’ll finally have a chance to get ahead of them and possibly find out who’s behind this,” Roman said mirroring my thoughts and it wasn’t lost on me he didn’t include himself in his statement. I couldn’t blame him, he had a whole clan to protect and worry about. “And I have a feeling I know where one of these portals will be.”

Ander and I waited with bated breath, wondering which court it would be in. Tension ran through Ander’s body, no doubt he was worried about his former home, hoping it wasn’t in the court he was a part of.

“The Aurora court.”