Rick’s eyes squeezed shut in confusion as he rubbed his forehead. “What battle?”
“Shh,” Jan said, slapping his arm. “Let them talk it out.”
“And that’s when the tablet was created?” Zack asked.
“Yep. Hence the three spirals.” Now, with the memory fully restored, she knew what the symbols represented. She walked over to the table, turned the book to face her, and traced the picture with her finger. “The elements. The Horned God and Goddess. The spell we used to remove the cockatrice’s power and bind them. It didn’t work totally, only on the forces that attacked. Which, fortunately, were most of their strongest fighters. Meaning the good genes died that day, leaving only the weakest ones. It also took out some other species that were with them that day, which explains why some of them faded from memory.”
“And they think finding that tablet will help get their powers back?”
She nodded. “Yep. I think so.” She looked at it. “That’s why Edgar and Lenny were both hot to get into my pants. They thought that would help reverse the spell and take the power of the triad.” She looked at her men, then Zack. “We have to find that tablet.”
Zack frowned. “How do they know what the tablet even looks like?”
She touched her finger to her nose then pointed at him. “That’s the million-dollar question.”
After breakfast, Lina grabbed a shower and changed into shorts and a T-shirt. Just her luck, the PMS she’d suffered in Yellowstone had finally delivered. Her period had started.
Well, at least I had a good night of hot sex before it did.
Even though it was Monday and they’d already planned to not go into the office, she had things she wanted to get done before the men remembered Brodey’s warning that they should keep her locked up tighter than a virgin on her first spring break at Mardi Gras.
She grabbed her purse, keys and sunglasses, and shouted, “Going to the post office. I’ll be right back!” over her shoulder before bolting out the front door to her car. Sure enough, when she glanced in her rearview mirror halfway down the drive, she saw Jan and Rick standing outside the front door.
Most likely debating the wisdom of chasing me down. She hoped they were smart enough to keep their asses home. Especially since the post office was only five minutes away. She arrived there close to ten and waited in line to collect their mail and cancel the hold they’d placed during the trip to Yellowstone. The clerk frowned when she looked at Lina driver’s license.
“What’s wrong?” Lina asked.
“So that package is for you.” She returned Lina’s license.
“What package?” Her Spidey senses weren’t tingling. She hoped that meant it wasn’t bad.
“An overseas package arrived for you today. Let me go get it, and your other mail.”
Lina felt her stomach churn. It wouldn’t be a mail bomb, would it? The clerk returned a few moments later. She balanced three bundles of mail held together with rubber bands on top of a box at least three feet long and two feet across. She set it all on the counter with an audible thump and sigh of relief to be rid of it.
“Sign here, ma’am.” The clerk handed her a claim slip.
Eyeing the box, Lina signed the slip. She’d brought a cloth grocery bag with her for the mail and dumped it inside. When she picked up the box, its heft shocked her, and she had to put it back on the counter to adjust her grip. It had to weigh over thirty pounds.
Then she spotted the return address. It’d been mailed by one Bertholde Ann-Marie Marsziewnski from somewhere in France.
Lina swallowed hard. “Thank you,” Lina whispered. She once again grabbed the box and hurried out of the lobby to her car. She didn’t have to resist the urge to open it. She wanted to wait until she got home.
Rick and Jan were waiting for her, feet tapping and arms crossed, identical glares on their faces. When she got out of the car, they immediately swarmed her, talking all over each other.
“What’s wrong? What happened?”
She held up her hands. “I’m fine.” She took a deep breath. “One of you, I don’t care which one, please bring that box into the kitchen. We’re also going to need Zack and Kael.”
Jan reached the passenger side first. “What is—oh, crap!”
“What?” Rick asked, shouldering his twin aside. “Holy shit.”
“Okay, are the expletives out of the way, boys? Because I’d really like to open the fucking thing.” She stormed into the house. She didn’t need to holler for Zack and Kael. Seated at the kitchen table, they were going over the evil spell book and taking notes.
“Hey, babe,” Zack said. He paused and studied her expression. “What’s wrong?”
She dropped the bag of mail on the table and pointed to the doorway, where Jan was carrying the box into the kitchen for her.
“What’s that?”
“I don’t know, Zack,” she said. “That’s what I’d like to find out.”
Kael and Zack looked at the return address. “Holy shit!” they said.
“Yeah. Fine. Great. We’ve got that covered. Someone get a knife, please.”
Rick produced a pocketknife and carefully slit the tape holding the box closed while Lina examined the postmark.
“According to the date, she mailed this about a day or so before she left for Yellowstone.”
Rick pried the flaps open. Inside, on the very top, lay an envelope addressed to Lina with her name written in a very fragile-looking scrawl. Beneath it were several objects wrapped and padded with a French newspaper.
The men all stared at her. “What?”
“Well,” Zack drawled, “are you going to open it, or stare at it all day and hope the stuff jumps out onto the table for you?”
She tentatively reached in and withdrew the envelope. The back of it had been sealed with red wax, using a small shield emblazoned with a dragon.
“That was her seal,” Kael said.
Taking a deep breath, she carefully slid her finger under the flap and broke the seal. Inside lay a folded piece of fine parchment, written in the same handwriting as on the envelope. Fortunately for Lina, the letter was penned in English.
Dearest Pavlina,
By the time you read this, child, I will have gone to the Ether beyond. It is my time. I have seen it several times in my visions, and nothing anyone has done has changed the course of my fate. I have lived a long time, experienced many things good and bad. I have no regrets and await it as a new journey. It is not that I wish to die, or even wish to stop living, but this is what the Universe has in store for me. You cannot fight the Goddess of All when Her mind is made up.
The Sisters Three will be your allies. This much I have seen. Love the wolves and even other shifters as the kin that they are—and they are. The good wolves. There are some wolves out there who are not so good. Listen to your kin and they shall guide you well. You can and should trust your kin. They will never fail you.
Do not fear the past. It can only help you now. Listen to it, for you will find many clues to the answers you seek. You are the next in a long line of Seers. And since my brother is older than I, he will most likely follow me soon. (Naturally, however, it would seem from my visions.)
You are the future. You and your dragon men. As in the past, you will save not just our kind, but others from the Dark Gods. Only this time, Goddess willing (for it has not been shown to me yet) you will have many countless happy years together.