“Is what Sir Rodney expressly demanded,” Rupert said with a worried smile.
Sasha monitored the slight strain in his voice and the troubled look in his eyes. “Then please tell him thank you. Let him know that I was simply blown away.”
“You heard Doc,” Clarissa said, rubbing Bradley’s shoulders, standing behind him as he hunched over a computer keyboard. “Sasha told you no less. That’s your fifth cup of coffee and you have to get a couple hours’ rest.”
He didn’t look up from his task of typing and furiously scribbling notes as he responded to her. “There has to be a way to call the doppelgangers to us… And if we create a charm that is made of iron, rowan…”
“You’re scaring me,” Clarissa murmured, hugging him from behind. “Sasha said to stay put. Silver Hawk can’t even get back into the shadow lands now, anyway. Come on, let’s get out of Dr. Williams’s office and go get some shut-eye in the residents’ lounge with everybody else.”
He nodded, quickly acknowledging her hug with a fast peck on her cheek. “The shadow lands aren’t blocked to all Shadow Wolves, just to the ones who’ve been targeted-the leadership. I’ve been studying the sigils,” he said, finally looking up at her. “Their wolves might have been blocked in a blanket spell against the leaders and their top lieutenants, the very clansmen that would be accompanying them to the Fae ball. But to shut down all the shadow lands would be too much of a drain on their dark resources, and they’d have to have had a power-of-three location spell that was time-sensitive to the light.”
Bradley pushed away from the desk and stood, talking as he walked about, thinking out loud. “ ’Rissa… What if Bear and Crow put on the alpha amulets that would allow them to enter the shadow lands with cold iron and rowan and whatever else I can come up with to break the stranglehold this curse has on our etheric doubles?”
“But what if they get lost in there… They aren’t alphas that can go in alone.”
“What if they had a seer?” he asked quietly, staring at her with an unblinking gaze.
“I can’t go through the shadow lands; no human physiology can.”
“I would never put you in harm’s way,” he murmured, seeming hurt that she thought he would. “But an astral projection of your mind to their minds, your unfettered consciousness, could guide them as well as help them lure the misguided etheric bodies to them. All they would have to do would be to pierce the sigils that were fused to them, and the doppelgangers would be freed of the impediment. Then you bring them out of there as quickly as possible.” Bradley ran his fingers through his hair. “On the outside, you’d have me, Silver Hawk, and Doc to anchor you in the power of three on this side.”
“I could do that,” Clarissa said, gaining confidence as the concept sank in. “In fact, I could fuse my consciousness with Silver Hawk’s before I went in as a guide with Bear and Crow. His wisdom in there would be invaluable.”
He smiled and let out a deep breath. “Yes! I love it when it begins to come together-finding the solution. At least part of it. I’ll start working on how they bewitched the Fae fortress after a few hours of shut-eye… Yeah, you’re right, I am tired, but the coffee is kicking my behind. Tomorrow we have to get to the occult shops to get iron bullets, handcuffs, iron rods, and to see of they have a stock of rowan and herbs.” When she didn’t comment, smile, or blink, his enthusiasm ebbed. “What?”
“Your mind,” she said softly, going to him, “is so beautiful that I am at a loss for words.”
Sasha watched her clothes and boots drop into the hamper and disappear. Standing naked and dirty in the middle of the floor, there was nothing to do but take a bath. Common sense told her that the light-headed feeling of peacefulness was nothing more than faux Fae euphoria. But knowing that all was well and her guys were safe, she didn’t fight it. A hot tub filled with rose petals and sweetly scented bubbles was calling her name.
She crossed the room and slipped behind the privacy screen, testing the water temperature with her hands. Perfect. What else had she expected? Sasha giggled and then splashed her face with a little of the water, then released a light moan. Even the water was bewitched. The scent of roses and something she couldn’t define, but was heavenly, filled her nose. Her skin drank in the ultra-soft wetness… the water didn’t feel like water. It was as though any harsh minerals and iron had been removed from it…
Then she laughed out loud. “Of course! No iron in the limestone, blimey! This is a Fae house, what were ye thinkin’, lassie?”
Sasha pirouetted, laughing, and grabbed a huge, fluffy white towel and sank her face into it. The moment she did, it felt like each strand of terry was massaging her skin as though they were teeny, tiny starfish cilia. The floral scent was so divine it made her heady. Weaving slightly, she abandoned the towel on a white cushioned bench and stepped into the water. Tendrils of pleasure rushed up her legs, drawing her entire body down into the endless bath.
It felt so good that she couldn’t even grip the sides of the tub to keep from drowning. She just began to slide and kept on sliding until she was fully submerged, hair and all. Then the supernatural buoyancy of the water pushed her to the surface again so she could breathe.
“Oh, my, God…” Sasha came up and this time held on, albeit with her eyes closed. “You guys sure know how to treat a lady, yes, siree.” Her muscles were so relaxed that she could barely extend her arm to reach for the soap, and when she did a creamy confection filled her palms and made them tingle. “Dude… stop,” she said, laughing, but applying the buttery-smooth lather to her body.
A quiet moan escaped her as she lathered her hair, and every ache from hitting a brick wall and fighting rogue Werewolves vanished under her fingertips. Every cut and bruise on her healed and sealed. Her spine felt like every disc in it had been replaced by jelly. She could barely sit up long enough to rinse. But the bed was calling her name and hunger was clawing at her.
She dunked under the water again, marveling at how the bath was a tub on the outside, but the moment she submerged it looked like a vast, fresh-water Caribbean sea. She stretched out her arms and legs, swam a few feet, and then came back to the light portal that was the obvious surface where she could get out.
“How freaking cool is that!” she shouted, tickled by the discovery and looking down to the bottomless tub. Then, testing it, she stood, amazed that there was an invisible floor that held her weight. “Way cool. How did you guys do that?” She stomped around in the tub for a few moments. “I can walk on water! Crazy!”
Totally revived, she held on to the side of the tub and propelled herself out of it in a swift vault. Her wolf was raging, wanting to run under the moonlight, but she thought better of it, half-Fae euphoria high or not.
When she wrapped herself in the thick, newly warmed towel, she moaned. The bench might as well have been spa-hot rocks that heated it to a luxurious temperature, massaging and sloughing her skin with tiny fingers as she snuggled down into it.
Had a robe not appeared on a hook she’d never noticed, she would have taken the towel with her to bed. It never got wet, just renewed itself with dry warmth. She looked at the fluffy white robe and let out a sated breath. “If you’re charmed, just stick a fork in me because I’ll be done.”
It took several minutes to release the towel. But unexpected warm air blanketed her instead of the normal knifing cold air that would be in her bathroom. Yeah… The Fae were the best when they rolled out the red carpet. No wonder the Vampires hated them so much. Plus their guys could come out during the day and were just as handsome.
“Haters,” Sasha said, giggling and holding a conversation between the self inside her head and the self outside her head. “Man… this is some really strong euphoria… whew!” She pulled on the robe, closed the sash and then gasped, sitting down on the bench hard with a thud.