Page 20 of Another Damned Storm (Another Damned #3)

HOOK

We were just leaving the boarded-up shop, with Never tucking her bracelet away in her jacket when she caught me by the arm.

I followed her gaze across the street to a figure seated on a bench.

It was clearly a woman, her long, dark brown hair half hidden by a ball cap.

Her clothing reminded me of something that would have been worn by a militia member, with a fitted black vest over a tan shirt, and a pair of worn cargo pants in muted green tucked into black combat boots.

Every piece of clothing on her looked as though it had seen better days.

“Is that Lily?” Never asked.

I couldn’t be sure. If it was, she looked different. Older. More so than someone born in the Nassa should have looked after a mere twenty-six years.

She was alone on the bench, seated with her elbows on her knees, watching us with the stillness of a predator.

Never raised a hand in a tentative wave. “Hi?”

It wasn’t until she stood and strode across the asphalt that I was sure it was Lily Shere.

She had aged. Not as markedly as Never’s brother, but given what she was, a tiger shifter born in a magical realm, it was still unusual.

Now, instead of looking as though she were a woman of the tender age of eighteen, she appeared closer to thirty.

It was a subjective assessment, of course, fueled in part by holding Leo in comparison. Perhaps I was too close and saw him too often to notice, but I was sure he had not changed nearly so much. At least, not on the outside.

“Tell me I’m not dreaming,” Lily said, as she walked up and wrapped Never in a tight hug.

Never squeezed her back. “If you are, I must be too.”

The initial hesitation coming through our link melted away, leaving only the bittersweetness of a reunion during a crisis in its wake.

They held each other for several seconds. Long enough to remind me that they’d once been very close. Back then, their relationship had been different, since Lily was trapped in the body of a companion canine, but even that could not diminish their connection.

“And you,” Lily said over Never’s shoulder. “I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.” She opened one arm and pulled us into an awkward three-way hug.

“Likewise,” I admitted.

“What the hell are you two doing here?” She eased back and looked around us to the closed doors, then up and down the sidewalk.

“Leo couldn’t join me this time around,” I offered.

She closed her eyes for a second longer than a blink and nodded. “I figured. Is he okay?”

Never shrugged. “He’s a little pissed that the pack alpha is forcing him to choose a mate, but other than that he seems like he’s doing okay.”

Lily pursed her lips. “Is my dad still harping on those old rules after all this time? ”

“He’s simply trying to maintain his family’s position in the pack. With you gone…”

She sighed. “Yeah, I know. But Leo has a big heart. He’s not going to give it away to just anyone.”

“From the sound of it, he might not have a choice,” Never said. “If he doesn’t choose soon, your dad said he’ll choose for him.”

She chewed on her bottom lip. “He must be desperate.”

“Unfortunately, the chaos you have been experiencing in this realm has not been confined to its boundaries,” I said.

Lily’s brow arched. “No shit?”

Never muffled a laugh with the back of her hand. “Since when did you start talking like me?”

She gave us a wry smile. “Since not long after you left. It seemed to put Matt at ease when I sounded a little more like you, and it just kind of stuck.”

Never’s face fell, and a jarring sadness rippled through our connection. “He seems… good,” she offered.

Lily nodded. “As well as can be expected.”

I could sense Never’s desire to know more. It clawed at her to the point that she balled her hands into fists at her sides, but she didn’t ask. “Thank you for taking care of him after everything.” Next came a crushing wave of guilt. “I’m sorry we left you both here.”

Lily studied her, cocking her head slightly. “You kept us safe by leaving. At least initially. We both knew that. And you’re looking good by the way. Time has been kind.”

“Have you been in contact with Matt?” I asked.

“Some. He sent word that Never was back, so I hightailed it across town. A friend at the gate told me I could find you here.”

“So, you don’t know,” Never said quietly.

Lily’s deep brown gaze bounced between us. “Know what?”

“Time,” I said .

Understanding lifted her chin. “Ah. How long has it been?”

“A few months, as best as I could tell,” Never answered.

“Shit.” She basically laughed the word. “This must be a shock.”

“Tell me about it,” Never said.

She drew in a deep breath. “Are you two up for a trip over to my place?”

“You don’t want to go see Matt?” Never asked.

Lily shot a glance down the street, then across the way toward the setting sun. “Maybe tomorrow. It’s getting late.”

I was a bit surprised when Never opted to go with Lily, but when I really thought about it, it made sense.

Focusing on the mission would be a way to keep her mind off how much she’d missed.

And finding out what was happening in the human realm and who was behind the upheaval—assuming there was more to the rapid changes than Never’s own powerful influence—would help too.

Lily’s place, Salus as she called it, was an old school that they’d converted into a gated community.

The living quarters were on one end with a great gathering area inside that was outfitted with dozens of plastic tables with built in benches.

It reminded me of the communal dining areas in the island shifter packs.

We were introduced to a few people as we passed, but even with Lily claiming us as friends, there was some underlying hostility.

When we were alone in a room filled with the hum of electronic equipment and a dozen glowing screens, I ventured a guess. “Are they all shifters?” I motioned to the screens showing dozens, possibly as many as a hundred people going about their daily lives.

Lily shook her head. “Most are, but we do have a few witches and fae in the mix. And a handful of humans.” She tapped a screen, highlighting a woman playing with a young boy in the grass. “Like Mina.”

“Is that her son?” Never asked.

She chewed on the inside of her lip. “Yep, Simon. He’s half human and half fox.”

Never’s face lit with surprise. “There are fox shifters?”

“We have members from a few different packs here. Most of them chose to stay behind when their packs split town.”

“Their packs left them behind?” I asked. That was unusual for any breed.

Lily leaned back, her rolling chair groaning with the move. “Charleston isn’t the friendliest place for magical beings these days. Most humans didn’t even know about us until the demon attacks started. Once they were forced to face reality, all magical creatures became the enemy.”

Never let out a sigh. “Is that why you and Matt are on opposite sides of the park?”

“That’s part of it. Most of the humans at Rutledge aren’t bad, but there are a few bigots who are pretty vocal about their mistrust.”

“We didn’t exactly receive the warmest of welcomes here either,” I pointed out.

“And I’m sorry about that. Everyone is on edge, especially after they heard about the second attack today.” She eyed us both. “You didn’t happen to have anything to do with that, did you?”

Never shrugged. I shook my head and said, “It’s too early to tell.”

She spun her chair back and forth slowly, keeping one foot anchored on the ground. “Don’t take this the wrong way, because I am happy to see you both, but what the hell are you doing back here? How are you here? ”

We brought her up to speed on the basics of our situation, leaving out the part about Never’s new powers.

That effort proved ineffective when Lily laced her hands behind her head and leveled us with a knowing look. “Humans might not be able to sense it, but coming from a shifter, you two are pumping out power like a goddamn generator cranked up to its highest setting.”

Never cast me a look filled with uncertainty.

“It’s fine, love. You can tell her. She is from the Nassa, after all. I suspect she has forgotten more about magic and power than the shifters of this world will ever know.”

She licked her lips. “He had to share his power with me to bring me back from the Alius.”

Lily’s smile glowed in the light of the monitors. “It looks good on you, girl.”

Never smiled back. “I just wish I could figure out how to use it better. Half the time when I try to do something, I feel like I’m fighting myself to make it happen.”

“Then stop fighting.”

Never narrowed her eyes. “What kind of advice is that?”

She let out a quiet laugh. “It’s shifter advice. You’re learning how to use your power, but that’s not always how it works for us. Sometimes we have to let our power flow through us. We work with it. Maybe if you view it as a partnership rather than a tool, you’ll have better luck.”

It was sound advice. There were plenty of moments in my past when trying to force my power to manifest in one way or another only made it that much harder to control.

Never’s gaze slid to me, then back to Lily.

“Give it a shot,” Lily said, leaning forward. “Try something easy.”

A flutter of frustration bled through my system before Never said, “None of it’s easy, and I’ve tried and failed to flash. ”

“What about your eyes?” I suggested. “Didn’t you use them to convince your brother to let us handle the fight earlier.”

“You saw that?”

I nodded. “Do you remember how you did it?”

“Honestly? I imagined dragging my magic to the surface, kicking and screaming,” she said.

Lily was watching her intently. “Okay. So, try it again, only this time, instead of forcing it, let it rise. And if that doesn’t work, treat it like an ally and ask for its help.”

The expression on Never’s face was comically skeptical, but an underlying determination trickled through our connection as she focused on Lily. After a few short seconds, her eyes were glowing a brilliant amber.

“How does that feel?” Lily asked.

“Better.” She looked between us. “That’s a lot better.”

A thread of alarm rose inside me. “Do be careful with it, love. Our power differs from shifter power, and it might be even more so with your blood.”

“Damn,” Lily breathed. “I forgot all about that. I bet demon blood does change the equation.”

The light in Never’s eyes slowly dimmed until they returned to the kind of blue I could get lost in forever. “Things did get pretty interesting in the Alius.”

“How so?” I asked.

“For starters, it wasn’t just my eyes that glowed.” She held out her hands as if she could see light emanating from them.

Lily’s brow lifted. “Seriously?”

She nodded, then pressed her lips together. “And there was this whole thing where I didn’t sound like myself.”

“Please explain,” I said. Some gods could infuse their voice with their power in order to influence other beings. I was among them, and it typically affected those around me much the way it did when a shifter alpha threw power behind their voice with a pack member.

More hesitation rolled off Never. What was she worried about?

“I kind of sounded like a… wild animal.”

Lily and I shared a look, but I couldn’t say whether or not her suspicions aligned with mine. “What kind of animal?” I asked.

She shifted in her seat. Then shifted again. “A big one. It might have scared a couple of the demons.”

There it was. Another not so fun potential Nerebis had warned me about. As her power grew, the demon blood in her could begin to exert a greater influence. I had no direct, or even indirect, experience with such a thing, so I had no way of knowing.

“Perhaps I should summon the Brethren sooner rather than later,” I suggested.