Shielded

If you didn’t count the wolf that was pacing in front of us, I was the only one that was fully conscious, and I was so over-loaded with worry that my mind was fuzzy and blank. Ray’s screams as she selflessly gave her life force over to save my twin will be something I will never forget. They will haunt my dreams for years to come. And she has yet to even stir since she passed out cold, but she still has a pulse. Max had slumped over Connor’s chest and his shield had dissipated the moment that Ray wasn’t giving him a power boost. He had forced himself to check Con’s pulse and the sealed bullet wound before sitting back and resting his head against one of Connor’s biceps. Con had woken up enough to survey our surroundings and reach out to hold Ray’s cold hand before falling asleep with exhaustion after being healed so forcefully. I had picked Ray’s limp body up and cradled her in my arms as I sat down next to Max and my brother, ensuring to place her hand back in Connor’s grasp. And that is how we still were, thirty minutes later when the cavalry finally arrived.

At least ten powerful Valkyrie from the Blade and Royal Guard Clans burst through the stairwell doors and demanded to know what happened. Noland Smith, the highest-ranking Blade Clan member that had been taken, explained how we had just appeared out of nowhere to disable three of their kidnappers but that a fourth had opened fire, hitting Connor. Noland then told them how Ray had powered up Max through his shield and when he had tried to stop her, all four of us had simply disappeared. However, they knew we were still here because they could see Max’s shield for the first five minutes. But then his shield fell and they hadn’t seen any sign of us since. That was because Ray had sealed us in the void and now we had no way back to the physical plane without her.

Elijah was among the party that was now demanding answers and he told everyone in the factory to be quiet before calling out to us. He emphasized that it was safe to reveal ourselves and that they were here to help us. I personally would love nothing more than to let Elijah take over and fix everything. In fact, I needed him to tell me that it was going to be okay. That the woman I was falling for wasn’t lying brain dead in my arms after sacrificing herself to save my other half. I needed Elijah to tell me that because the only thing I could think about right now was Ray’s face after Con interrupted us on the beach and it was slowly ripping my heart into pieces. God, I just wanted to show her how much she meant to me, how deep my feelings for her really were and instead, I ended up breaking her heart. Because that is what her face had expressed. That I had fucked up not only her hard-earned trust, but I had broken her heart.

Max roused at Elijah’s calls and he tried to respond, but it was useless. We couldn’t interact with the physical plane while sealed in the void. Ray had explained it before, but I didn’t really believe it until everything that had happened tonight. Once Max came to the same conclusion that we weren’t going to get any aid from the dozen people clearly visible before us, he started examining the limp girl in my arms. He pulled her eyelids open, checked her pulse, and even tried to shake her awake but Ray remained unresponsive. The wolf stopped pacing and started sniffing Ray’s body while letting out this pitiful whine. Ray had met this shifter mear moments before the shit had hit the fan, but he was already snared in her web and now he was just as concerned about her as we were.

When Max didn’t get any response from Ray, he turned his attention to Connor and thankfully had more luck with him. My brother wasn’t happy about it, but he woke up and I have never been happier to see his grumpy scowl. He rubbed at his chest and my eyes dropped to the still pink scar that decorated the left side of his chest. Healing him hadn’t done anything to remove all of the blood he had lost and both he and Max looked like extras out of some horror show.

“Fuck, that hurt,” Connor mumbled and I let out a slightly hysterical laugh. He had been shot in the mother fucking chest - of course, it hurt. Connor’s eye then focused on Ray and he scrambled up to his knees to kneel in front of me. “Jesus Fuck, is she --”

“She is breathing,” I stated simply because beyond that I just didn’t know. Connor brushed her hair away from her face and ran his knuckles down her cheek. He then took one of her limp hands and examined her absolutely destroyed palms. They looked like she had held them to the inside of an oven. Even the gauze that had been wrapped around her left hand had been completely burned away.

“Why would she do that?” Connor asked in a strangled voice that was clogged with emotion. “Why would she put herself through that just to save me? She is a fucking female Valkyrie with five Gifts. I am a nobody. Why would she do that?” By the end, Connor was yelling and the wolf started growing. He didn’t like that my brother was yelling at the still unmoving woman, but I understood. Connor was trying to come to terms with the enormity of what Ray had done to save him.

“She did it because she thinks that you are enough,” I replied and felt a tear slip down my cheek.

“She did it because she is better than all of us,” Max said in a soft voice and reached over to pull her feet into his lap. By this time the Valkyrie on the physical plane had organized into a line and were walking the entire factory floor with their hands spread out, clearly trying to find the invisible group of people. But it wouldn’t work, we were trapped in the void until Ray woke up to bring us out. If she woke up.

--Blake

I felt like I was deep underwater. Like there was this huge weight pressing down on me and I had to struggle to just open my eyes. When I finally achieved that small feat of physical prowess, all I saw was black. But it wasn’t solid black, more like thousands of short black hairs layered over each other endlessly. And it smelled musky. And now it was moving. I managed to blink a couple of times and my eyes adjusted to show me a large wolf looming over me and sniffing my face.

It took a moment for me to remember, but when it all came rushing back I reached out and pulled the wolf closer and buried my face in his coarse fur. Moving was hard to do and hurt like I had run a marathon the day before, but if I had failed and Connor was now dead I didn’t know if I could face the rest of the guys. Maybe I could just bury my face in my new furry friend and never tune back into reality.

“You realize that is a fully grown, twenty-year-old man you are groping right now,” a raspy voice called out and I snapped my arms back away from Logan. Holy shit, he was right I hadn’t even ever met Logan in his human form and here I was with my hands all over him. How embarrassing. Then I registered that I recognized the raspy voice and all thoughts of Logan fled my brain as I whipped my head around and took in the absolutely beautiful sight of Connor sitting next to me. He looked awful and was covered in dried blood, but he was sitting up and gave me his patented side smile.

I launched myself towards him and wrapped my arms around his neck. He let out a grunt of pain, but that didn’t stop me from squeezing tighter and tucking my head down by his. Connor was alive! He wrapped his arms around my middle and pulled me in even closer and I let out a strangled sob. I had been so scared that we wouldn’t be enough to save him. So scared that I would never get to really know the more serious yet caring twin.

I was tired, had no idea what was going on right now, and completely unable to stop crying into Connor’s shoulder. He was murmuring things into my hair but it was too soft for me to hear over my own ragged breathing. Eventually, I cried myself out and I think I actually drifted away to sleep within Connor’s embrace because he had to shake me awake. “Ray, Sweetheart, we need you to help us out of the void,” Connor said in a slightly louder but still gentle voice as he cradled the back of my head.

I pulled away from him and finally took the time to scan my surroundings. Blake was sitting next to us with a small sad smile on his lips and Max was next to him looking completely drained. Max wasn’t looking at me, but rather focused on something that was happening to his left. I looked over and saw that the factory floor was packed with people. I recognized some of the faces, but most were people I didn’t know. The conversation that Max was concentrating on was between Edison, the blonde Valkyrie that had been strung up, and a guy that oddly looked like Professor Snape that I didn’t know.

“-to find her. She is the key. The missing link between us and the Hidden,” the Snape guy was saying.

“Not only that, we need to get her on our side. Somehow stop all of the current nonsense and integrate her into a position we can control. Think of all things we could do with her kind of power,” Edison replied and my head started to throb.

“Do you really think she is that powerful? She could just have this rare invisibility gift. There are mentions of it in our history books,” Blondy said.

“I have seen it roll off of her before. Truly incredible. And just wait until you touch her. Delia has the most potent clan bond I have ever felt. Even stronger than your sister’s. We just need to get the Oakland Clan out of the way. Incidents like this can not be allowed to happen again,” Edison declared with an ominous finality.

“First, we have to find her. At least we know she has the same abilities as the Hidden so one good thing came from this mess,” Snape guy said as if he was commenting on the weather.

I gritted my teeth and asked softly, “who is that?”

“The Queen’s brother, Hernan Collins. He is in charge of intelligence and advises the King and Queen on topics surrounding the defense of our Kingdom,” Blake said and I could hear the exhaustion in his voice.

“How long was I out?” I questioned.

“A little over two hours,” Max answered. “And I would like you and Connor to get checked out by a healer that isn’t drained sooner rather than later, not to mention that I really have to pee. Do you think you have enough strength to pull us from the void?” I took a mental tally and while I was in desperate need of a good night of sleep and some food, I didn’t think I was entirely drained. I was pretty sure that was because I had woken up in Blake’s arms and now was wrapped around Connor like some kind of monkey. The clan bond was slowly recharging my power.

“Here we go,” I warned and then pushed us free of the void and completely dropped any cloak. Edison happened to be facing in our direction and gave a little start at our sudden appearance but then rushed towards us. All of us were sitting on the ground but it was clear that Edison was solely focused on me and he reached out to pull me from Connor’s arms. Luckily I still had enough juice to snap up a shield around us as I gave the man a cold hard stare. Edison was not the person I wanted touching me. Logan picked up on my sentiment and jumped up between us and bared his teeth while letting out an impressive growl.

That commotion drew the attention of everyone else in the room and before I knew it, we were being mobbed by Valkyrie. Too many people that I didn’t know or trust were all trying to talk to us at once. I decided it was okay to step back and let the guys handle this one and I simply rested my head on Connor’s shoulder and listened. Blake and Max gave vague explanations of what happened while calling people all sorts of formal titles. Logan and my shield kept people from touching me or Connor, but before long Elijah made it through the crowd and convinced me that Connor needed to be checked out by another healer.

When I nodded my head Elijah led a man that I had seen before over to where we were still sitting. It took me a minute to place him but then I remembered that he was one of the two Royal Guards that had been assigned to watch over the new Valkyries at our school. If I knew his name I couldn’t remember it and when I asked he said he was Santiago Cruz of the Royal Guard Clan. I dropped my shield and moved to sit next to Connor so that Santiago could look him over. However, both Santiago and Connor insisted that I be checked over first. When I finally conceded, Santiago brought his hands to hover over different parts of my body while closing his eyes in concentration. The whole thing felt really personal and I was glad when he focused on my hands. I turned my hands palms up and sucked in a breath of surprise at what I saw. Both of my palms were covered with bright red burns, blisters, and split skin. I must have some serious nerve damage because I didn’t feel anything but a dull ache.

“Whatever power gives us our abilities is not meant to be transferred,” Santiago said in a low disapproving voice. “I will be unable to fully heal this. There will be scars. It is the price you must pay for the life you stole from the Gods today.” After that short cryptic speech, Santiago placed his fingertips to my palms and the unbearable itching slash burning sensation of healing enveloped my hands. I gritted my teeth and refused to make any sounds of complaint. If this was the price of saving Connor’s life, I would gladly pay it.

When he finished and pulled his fingertips away I looked down to see that my palms were a mess of white scar tissue that was rough to the touch. I wiggled my fingers and made a fist, happy to see that while the skin was a little tight, I hadn’t lost any range of motion. Santiago moved to examine Connor and Derik reached towards me with upward-facing hands. I thought he was asking to see my damaged hands and I placed them within his grasp. Derik however wasn’t interested in my new scars and instead reversed his grip and pulled me to my feet. Once standing, I was a little unsteady and Derik wrapped an arm around my waist to balance me.

Derik then leaned and embraced me. I had never hugged Derik before and while I was glad to see him, we didn’t have the hugging kind of relationship and I stood stiffly in his arms. “If you let them order you around now, you will lose all of that freedom you love so much,” Derik whispered into my ear. He was using the hug as an excuse to tell me something as privately as he could in this situation. “Right now they have no authority over you because you have refused to give it to them. I know you are tired, but unless you want to be locked away in the royal mansions and are ready for your life to forever change, you are going to have to buck up and stand up Wonder Girl.”

“Ah, it is so good to see you on your feet, Delia. I have someone that I would love for you to meet,” Edison said and Derik stepped out of my space. Derik was right, the piranhas were circling the waters, I had to put my game face on. “This is his Highness Prince Hernan Collins of the Royal Collins Clan. He came rushing over here to see how you were doing when we heard you were in trouble.”

The Professor Snape-like man from before stepped forward and offered me a smile and an outstretched hand. “Your Highness, it is a pleasure to meet you,” I said stiffly, not knowing if that was the correct way to play this. I did reach out and briefly shake Hernan’s hand, feeling the clan bond as I did so but it was more subdued than I was used to feeling.

“The pleasure is all mine,” Hernan said formally. “Although I do wish it was under better circumstances. I can only imagine how tired you must be after such an ordeal. Please let me offer you the comfort and care of the royal residence in this time of recovery. You can eat a few good meals, rest up, and when you’re ready, tell us about what happened here tonight.”

God Derik really knew what he was talking about. The royals were trying to take advantage of my exhaustion and this stressful situation to install me within their territory. Possession was nine-tenths of the law after all. It would be much easier to integrate me into a position they could control if I was in their reach and playing by their rules.

“Thank you for the generous offer, but I am going to have to decline. Unfortunately because of my past with the human foster care system, staying in strange homes is extremely stressful for me. I know that I will rest better in a place I know and people I am comfortable with. Going back home with the Oakland Clan will ensure my fastest possible recovery,” I said in a broke-no-arguments kind of voice.

“If it would make you more comfortable, the small clan offering you assistance can, of course, join you,” Hernan pushed but I wasn’t going to play that game with him. I stood straight, looked into his vibrant green eyes that matched my own, and slightly lifted my chin. I had said my peace and stated my intentions with perfect clarity. He was choosing to only hear part of my argument and figured I would fold to his compromise. But Derik was right about another thing, this man didn’t hold any authority over me. And I wanted to stay that way.

We stood there in a battle of wills for a solid minute before Hernan licked his bottom lip and conceded. “On second thought, if you are sure you would be more comfortable within the Oakland Clan House then that is where you should be during your recovery. We only want what is best for your health and safety after all. Edison here will assign a pair of men to watch over the Oakland clan while you all take time to regain your full strength,” Hernan said and then turned and walked briskly away.

Well, they weren’t exactly leaving us alone, but at least we were all going home. Not that I missed that he specifically stated that I was going to be staying in the Oakland Clan house instead of my bus, but you could only push so far. Derik said the formal farewells and then offered more help than I necessarily needed to walk me out to the parking lot. “Nicely done,” he murmured under his breath and I hid my smile. When we reached the top of the stairwell leading to the main floor of the factory I glanced back to see the rest of the guys following our lead while most of the other Valkyrie were presumably staying to figure out the whole moondust drug den thing. At the very end of the line of people walking up the stairs was Tobias Eldridge and the blonde man that I still hadn’t gotten a name for.

Logan had stayed by my side through all of the chaos, and when Derik helped me into the front seat of Elijah’s Audi he whined by the back door. “Seriously? Can’t you change back into your skin so that we don’t get dog fur in the car?” Derik asked rudely and Logan lifted his lips to display his intimidating set of teeth.

“Leave him alone,” I told Derik in an exhausted tone. “He has been protecting me all night. If you want me to go in this car, then Logan is going too. I promised I would get him back to his brother and his pack.” I could see Derik considering pushing the issue but in the end, he just opened up the back door and let Logan jump into the back. The Audi was parked next to Blake’s big truck and I looked over to see Blake help Connor up into the front seat and then crawled into the back next to Max. Elijah must be driving it back, but instead of getting into the truck he walked over to my door and I rolled down the window.

Elijah squatted down so that our faces were level with each other before saying, “Thank you Delia Ray Olsen of Undecided Clan for saving Connor William Berg of the Oakland Clan. As the Oakland Clan Leader, I officially offer you a boone of assistance or protection in a future time of need. We are all in your debt, say the word and we will repay that debt in any way you see fit.”

This was clearly a part of some formal and important ritual and I wanted to honor it by saying the right thing but honestly, I had no idea what to do next. I reached over and laid my hand on top of Elijah’s that was resting on the car door and said, “I accept your boon, but I would do it again in a heartbeat. Connor is important to me too.”

Elijah cleared his throat and looked down at the ground for a moment before standing and walking back to the big truck. I glanced over to Derik and raised my eyebrows silently asking him if that was the right thing to say. He scanned my face and then nodded with a serious glint to his eyes. Out of all of the Oakland guys, I knew Derik the least but I trusted that he would always tell it to me straight. If I got a nod from him then I must have not screwed it up too badly.

We pulled out of the parking lot and drove back to Oakland. Elijah was in the lead in Blake’s ridiculous redneck wannabe truck and a sleek silver sports car followed us out and assumed it held my new guards slash spys. I convinced Derik to stop at a Steak-and-Shake on the way and ordered two bacon lovers steak burgers for me and four for Logan. Derik got some food too and we all quietly ate in the car and then I promptly fell asleep. The next thing I knew Blake was carefully lifting me out of the car and carrying me like a new bride into the house. I decided to just go with it and rested my drowsy head on his chest.

Blake carried me into the guest bedroom I had slept in with Maria and I made a mental note to check in with my little charge soon. He gently lowered me to the bed and then swept my hair behind my ear clearing it away so that I could see that all of the guys and Logan had followed us in. I gave them a sleepy smile and then nestled deeper into the pillow-top bed. I might have to just steal this mattress for my bus because there was a clear difference between this and a blow-up camping pad.

I felt the bed dip and I opened my eyes enough to see that Logan had jumped up onto the bed and was getting comfortable at the end of the mattress. “Oh no,” Derik said with a touch of heat behind his voice. “There is no way that a shifter none of us knows is going to sleep in the same bed as Ray. You need to shift back and then you can crash in one of the other guest rooms. We will take you back to Fremont in the morning.”

When Logan didn’t do anything but lift his head to look at Derik directly, Derik growled, “Or we can make a call and demand that your Pack Master come pick you up right now. Come on, this whole staying a wolf thing so you don’t have to talk to us is getting ridiculous.” Logan responded by laying his head down on the bed and letting out a pitiful-sounding whine.

“I don’t think he can shift,” Max observed. He looked dead on his feet and I was thinking we should all just get some sleep and figure this out in the morning. Was it really that big of a deal that Logan was in his wolf form? “When we found the twins’ dad and the other Valkyrie in the factory they were wearing a crystal that prevented them from accessing their Gifts until we removed them. I am thinking that they put one of them on Logan and it is preventing him from shifting.”

Logan raised his head at that and started wagging his tail, clearly indicating that Max was onto something. Derik approached the large wolf, presumably to find this crystal, but Logan started growling when he got too close. Logan wasn’t comfortable with Derik touching him. Since Logan hadn’t complained when I had shoved my face into his fur earlier, I let out a sigh and sat up from my very comfortable position on the bed. I reached out and ran my hand over Logan’s coat feeling the course fur under my newly scarred palms. It wasn’t a wholly unpleasant feeling and I did it again without thinking.

“Ray, he is a Shifter, not a pet. Please try to remember that. You are stroking some man you don’t even know right now,” Connor said in a dry tone and I once again jerked my hands out of Logan’s personal space. I had always loved dogs and I was just too tired to be embarrassed right now. I blinked a couple of times, pushing away the sleepiness, and tried again. This time I used my eyes to search for anything on the large animal that didn’t belong, but the black crystal was doing a fantastic job hiding itself in Logan’s dark fur. Eventually, I figured the most likely place for it to be was around his neck, just like where it found it on the other Valkyrie.

I dug my fingers into the thick fur around Logan’s neck and under the first couple of layers I found a chain that was super tight. I moved my hands around until I finally found a clasp but it took me a couple of tries to undo it and pull the necklace holding the crystal from his neck. Throughout this entire ordeal, I had remained very close to Logan and when I pulled back slightly and he brought his snout up into my face and gently licked my cheek.

“Hey, stop that,” Derik called and Logan turned to give him a toothy wolf grin before hopping off the bed and stretching his long wolf body. Then he stood very still for a moment before his bones started to shift and his fur rolled into his skin that was now a creamy brown color. A moment later there was a man crouched on the bedroom floor with his knees pulled up towards his chest and his fingertip touching the floor to balance his position. After his change was complete Logan gracefully stood to his full height and gave me a smirk.

I was so enthralled by watching the change that it took me a second to realize that he was now completely naked and I was getting my first full frontal view of a man ever. Before my mind could process what I was seeing I slapped a hand over my eyes and could feel myself turning bright red.

“What the fuck man?” I heard Blake call out and heard people shuffling around the room but I was too embarrassed to remove my hand from my eyes. Then I remembered I had the perfect solution for this sort of situation and cloaked Logan so that no one, including me, could see him. I took a deep breath and opened my eyes to see five angry Valkyrie all huddled around one point in the room. I assumed that was where Logan was standing.

“Okay, so I get why you were so grumpy about me getting close to the wolf now,” I mumbled with my face still on fire. “But I am exhausted. Can we talk about this in the morning?”

“Of course. Get some rest, Ray. We will all be upstairs if you need anything. Tobias and Noland are going to sleep in the living room. I will get Logan some clothes and put him in the room next to this one.” With that Elijah, Max, Derik, and presumably Logan left the room leaving me with the twins.

The room remained silent for a few moments before Blake started to speak with a voice thick with emotion. “Ray, what you did tonight was… It was… Well shit, I don’t even know how to describe what it was, but thank you. Thank you for helping us save our father and thank you for risking your life and going through all of that pain to give Con a chance. I don’t know what I would have done without him.”

A part of me wanted to go to Blake and seek comfort we could both use in his arms, but the other part of me was still hurt by what had happened on the beach. In a little over a week I had let these guys into my life and my heart to the point where I nearly died tonight to save one of them. But I had to be careful. I couldn’t let my guard down completely because the only person I knew with certainty I could always trust not to hurt me was myself. With everything that has happened, I couldn’t just hide in the human world anymore. I was a Valkyrie and I had to learn what place I would have within the supernatural community. I believed that the Oakland Clan would be there to help me along the way, but that didn’t mean that I wouldn’t learn from my mistakes, and tonight I was just too tired to figure out what to do with Blake.

“I was happy to help Big Guy. We can talk more about it in the morning, but right now I am going to savor the feeling of sleeping in a real bed. Night,” I said, clearly dismissing them from the room. I laid down on my back, started up at the ceiling, and listened for when they walked out. It took longer than I thought it would and a part of me hoped that they would disregard my words, crawl into bed with me and hold me while I slept. But that never happened.