First Eclipse

Fauna pulled the towel off her head and stood there. She had that feeling she got when animals were stressed. Flipping her hair back from her face, she stuffed her dirty clothes into her bag and zipped it up. Her guess was Charlie. She'd start with him and see if he'd gotten himself into a situation. If it wasn't him, then she'd start crawling around, looking under Tim's furniture for Rocco.

When she opened the door, she froze. Tim was walking down the hall carrying a sword in one hand and a knife inside a case in the other. "That doesn't look like you're relaxing." Then she looked at his expression. "What's wrong?" Her heartbeat accelerated.

"I was outside with Mac. We both have a feeling that something is wrong." He held out the knife. "Take it. If anyone comes near you, I want you to sink that up to the hilt. Magic or not, it will slow them down."

She dropped her bag and took the knife. "I don't think I can stab anyone, Tim."

He reached out and took her other hand. "You will. Your life depends on it."

She nodded and stumbled along behind him. When they reached the kitchen, her phone rang. She rushed over to the counter and answered it.

"Fawn, we're coming to you. Stay put until you have backup." Karma hung up.

She gave Tim a quick look. "That was Karma; she said they are coming here."

He nodded. "I told Mac to get back up." He pulled back the curtain and looked outside. "They'll come in a few groups. Only some of the royals know where I live."

Fauna looked at the knife and then her phone. Jamming the phone in her pocket, she flipped the knife over. It had a clip on the back. With stiff movements, she clipped it to the waist of her jeans. "Mac shouldn't be out there alone." He nodded. "Stay here."

When he started to move by her, she grabbed his arm. "We stay together. Splitting up is a bad idea."

Tim looked at her, and she could see him working it out. He nodded abruptly and took her hand. "Just like before. You stay attached to my back, so I know where you are all the time."

"I will."

As they stepped outside, he closed the door and then headed to the side of the house the rabbits were on. She sucked in a breath and released his hand, and hurried in front of him. When she reached the fence, she put her hand out and sent images of taking shelter to the animals. Bunnies ran from all directions toward the shelters Tim provided for them.

"Good." He leaned down, took her hand, and then looked around.

Fauna held his hand tightly and looked in the other direction. "Tim, is that fog?"

He jerked his head around. "It is."

"I don't think it's natural."

He tugged on her hand and went back in the direction they'd come from.

"How did they find here?" She almost had to jog to keep up with his long strides.

"I don't know."

When they went around the corner, Mac was headed toward them. With him were Sith, Karma, and Sparx. Tim stopped abruptly, and she ran into his back. She looked in his direction. There was a green haze on the other side of the lake. "Green bad, white good." She glanced over her shoulder at the fog.

"Shit."

Mac had a weapon in each hand. "What the hell is going on?"

Princesses Bethany, Paisley, and Kinsley appeared with Captain Rafael.

"It's what Criss warned you about." Beth turned in a circle and then raised her hands. Bright arcs of orange moved between her hands. "What was the other part?"

"Animals." Kara and Daxx rushed toward them with King Troy and Prince Victor. "Something about animals rushing one way and then the other."

Fauna nodded and turned to look down by the lake. She couldn't see any animals. "Am I supposed to call them or something?"

"I don't think so,” Tim said. "They were rushing toward you and then away." He glanced at her. "Maybe you send them to safety."

"How did they find this place?" Daxx turned in a circle. "I mean, it can't be on a map. Unless it's marked with an x or something, and I missed it."

Tim glanced at her and shrugged. "I like quiet."

"Well, I think someone's about to mess that up for you." Karma was facing the lake. "What is that?"

"Green is bad," Kara said, turning the other way. "White is good."

"Do we go toward it? The white?" Sparx was swinging her hands, and Fauna knew she was charging up just in case someone needed to learn what she was all about.

"No. We stay here for the moment." Prince Victor touched his ear. "We're gathered South of the house."

Fauna looked at Tim. He wasn't bothering to reach for his phone. His expression was one she hadn't seen since he'd been fighting when they were at that camp. It was focused, and it was lethal. She looked at Daxx. She had two blades in her hand, much smaller than the men had, but still, they were some scary blades. She shifted one blade to hold with the other and pushed up her sleeve. Fauna saw the tattoo on her arm. "Tattoos. X's." She whispered. Tim looked at her. "What?"

"The pictures with those women with mates had x's on the back of them. They won't try to get to someone mated. Why?"

"Because the other mate will stop at nothing until anyone involved is neutralized. Permanently." Prince Victor said.

"The bond is forever," Kinsley said. She walked over and kicked some stones that were scattered along the half-finished path until they were in a pile. She glanced at Fauna and shrugged. "Projectiles."

Fauna wasn't sure what that was about, but she'd heard a few stories of what the princesses could do. The back of her neck tingled. She turned slowly. "I'm sensing animals. They're panicked and scared." She started to walk to the back of the house and then stopped and looked at Tim. He nodded and followed her.

"Can you sense which direction?" Sparx was behind them.

Fauna closed her eyes and blew out a breath. Letting herself relax, she reached for them and had to place a hand over her heart when it started mimicking the animals. She opened her eyes. "Different directions."

"I think they're doing it to distract you and separate you from us," Karma said.

"She's not wrong," Paisley said.

Tim touched her hand. "Stay within reach no matter what."

She looked up at him and could see the worry on his face. She nodded. "I will."

"All this fog and crap is freaking me out, and I don't like it," Daxx growled. "What are they waiting for? An invitation? Come at us and stop hiding like some wimp."

"Sorry, we're late. Firo took a wrong turn."

Fauna turned around to see Ava and Firo walking toward them.

Frio paused and looked in the direction of the fog. "That is fae created." He said softly.

"You can tell that from here?" Karma looked from him to Ava.

"Fae are here?" King Troy looked at Victor.

"I have no knowledge of any arriving today." He looked at Firo. "Other than right this moment." He touched his ear. "Michael, were we expecting Fa Terra visitors today?" Prince Victor surveyed the area and then nodded. "The white is, the green is not." His expression softened. "Yes, heart, she remembers." He looked at Fauna. "Circle around with Clairee and Romulus, Leone." He touched his ear again. "They've shifted focus and will come in behind the green." King Troy nodded.

Fauna's heart started beating faster. "Listen." She looked down and focused until she felt it. Hooves on the ground. She jerked her head up and then looked at the trees. Before she could point, several deer came running out of them. A second later, from a different angle, a variety of animals came charging out.

"Can you do that many?" Karma asked.

Fauna nodded.

"Do it soon. They're running toward the green," Bethany whispered. "Send them toward the white."

She stepped a few feet away from everyone and then felt Tim's hand on her back. Closing her eyes, she inhaled a deep breath and centered herself. As she exhaled, she sent a feeling of urgency toward the animals and images of the white fog, projecting safety that way. The deer were the first to veer in that direction. Taking another deep breath, she did it again, using all she could to get the other animals to heed. "It's working," Tim whispered.

Fauna watched the animals change direction and run the way she'd guided. She blew out a breath.

"That's it? Green bad, white good, send the animals the right way?" Karma scoffed. "That can't be all, my gut is in knots. Someone is sending out some seriously bad karma."

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Fauna turned around to look at her when the sound of cracking wood startled her. She quickly looked back. Trees were snapping in half and flying in the air.

"A freaking tornado. They're tossing a tornado at us? Troy, I can't fight a damn tornado." Daxx said.

"Get inside." Prince Victor shouted.

Tim tapped Fauna on the shoulder. "Go with them."

She spun around and looked at him and then the sword he held. "What are you going to do with that? Threaten the wind to settle down?"

He looked amused for a fraction of a second, and then his eyes went wide.

When she turned to see why, her feet were knocked out from beneath her, but she didn't hit the ground.

"Fauna," Ava shouted.

Fauna was rising higher in the air. She reached out to Tim, and he jumped and grabbed her wrist.

"Hold on," he growled, and she could see him trying to dig in his heels and stay on the ground.

Fauna stretched and reached with her other arm. "Tim. Do the tattoos." The wind took her breath away, and she wasn't sure he heard her until his eyes flicked to her face and asked her ten questions at the same time. "They don't-" The wind hit her face again. "-want us then." Her hair whipped her in the face.

"Hang on, Tim," Mac yelled.

Fauna looked to see both his large friends on the ground, each holding a leg and trying to weigh him down. "Do it," she shouted.

Tim shook his head, and then his eyes went red. For a second, she thought she had just made him mad because she'd taken something they held sacred and demanded it while a mini tornado tried to abduct her. He closed his eyes, and then when he opened them, she could feel, actually feel him asking her if she was sure. Later, she needed to ask more questions about blood bonds. She would have smiled, but the wind would gag her. She nodded. It may not be a pretty ceremony, or however they did it, but she was never going to find a man who got her the way he did. She nodded again.

His red eyes locked on her as he grasped her hand tight in one of his while his other hand held her wrist. If the wind flipped her again, she was going to be upside down looking at the sky, so she hoped this didn't involve eye contact because there was only so much she could do while she was a kite.

Her arm started tingling, but the intense look in his eyes made her mesmerized; she couldn't look away to see if it was working. The wind wrenched her hair, but she grit her teeth through the pain and held his look. Red eyes were starting to grow on her, she thought. Who knew something like that could be so sensual and endearing at the same time? When the tingle changed to a burn, the wind suddenly stopped, and she was doing a head dive toward the ground. When she landed, she knew it wasn't on the ground.

Opening her eyes, she lifted her head and saw she'd landed on top of Tim. He'd somehow managed to land on his back and catch her at the same time.

"You owe me a tooth," Mac said.

Turning her head, she saw his bloodied mouth. He must have gotten hit by Tim's feet when the wind let go. Pushing herself up a few inches, she looked up to see him lift his head and look at her.

"Are you hurt?" He was out of breath.

She shook her head. "A little winded." She put her head back down on his chest and listened to his heart as he caught his breath.

"Are they gone?"

She looked to see Daxx coming toward them, looking all around them. "Did we get them?"

"They apprehended three mages." Prince Victor said. "No fae." He looked over his shoulder at Firo.

Karma and Sparx were running toward her.

Fauna blew out a breath and then lifted her head and pushed up so she could get off of Tim. She glanced at her arm and then froze in that position and looked down at him. He was giving her a wary look. She rolled and sat up so she was sitting beside him. Holding her arm out, she turned it from side to side. It wasn't hurting or burning at all, and yet she had an arm full of tattoo. She smiled at him. "I didn't think it worked."

"I think it's why you suddenly dropped." Prince Rafael came over and held his hand out to help Mac up.

"Really?" Fauna looked at her arm again.

Tim sat up and held out his hand and looked at it.

Fauna leaned over and put hers beside his. They matched completely. It was the strangest thing ever. She looked at him, and he still had that look on his face. "I asked you to," she said quietly. He nodded. "That's not how I've pictured it for the last few hundred years."

"Damn, Troy, he's as romantic as you." Daxx smiled at her mate and then gave Tim a hard look. "She knows everything?"

Just a heads up: FindNovel.net is the only place to read the complete version of this book for free. Don't miss out on the next chapter-visit us now and continue your journey! Fauna watched Tim give her a hesitant look. "She knows things." She told the huntress.

"Well, good." She turned around and looked down the hill. "I'm going to go stab a mage for tossing a tornado at me."

The king came over and put his arm around her. "No weapons in the cells." He leaned down and kissed the top of her head. "You should try the eighties hair more often."

Daxx reached up and touched her hair. It was all roofed out.

Fauna touched the top of her head.

"That's one way to blow dry your hair." Karma came over, squatted down, and took her arm. She examined the tattoo and then looked at Tim. "I thought it was supposed to be more intimate." Tim cleared his throat. "Generally."

Paisley chortled. "Autumn got hers while she lay on the floor dying." She nodded. "During a tornado, while you're flying is kind of sexy in a way."

Fauna blinked. Autumn had been dying? She needed to hear that story.

Prince Rafael looked all around them. "I don't think they'll try anything else today. Mac, you go see a dentist." He shook his head. "Sith, you go back, and we'll get Bronx and Woods out here until this evening." He looked down at Tim. "You didn't undo the docs work, did you?"

Tim sat up and then shook his head. "No, sir. I feel fine, just-" He looked at Fauna and grinned lopsidedly. "Digesting." He turned back to the captain.

"I understand. Rest up, now that you and Fauna aren't targets, there's work to be done." He inclined his head to him. "See you tomorrow."

"We need to find out what fae was here and how they found Tim's home." Bethany looked at Firo.

He nodded. "I'll take Ava home and go see if I can find out who was in Alterealm."

Ava came over and held her hand out to Fauna. She pulled her to her feet. "You'll be home tomorrow?" Fauna nodded. "Good, because I'm going to have to listen to Karma tell the story a hundred times until then." Ava pointed at Tim. "I'll be watching you."

Tim inclined his head. "I won't disappoint."

"Okay, let's get back. I need-" Kara looked at Rafael. "I don't know what I need after that."

He chuckled. "It was unique."

"Uh-huh." Kara held her hand out to Sparx. "I'll drop you guys home first."

Fauna stood there, watching everyone disappear. She looked down at the lake and then in the other direction. The green and the fog were gone. Turning she checked the trees, those were broken off, but it proved what happened had just happened.

Tim stepped up beside her. He had his sword in his hand.

"Stuff like that happens a lot?"

"No, that was a first."

She exhaled. "That's good. Being a human kite once was good enough for me."

He grinned. "Most insane thing ever."

"They tried to take me out with a tornado." She looked at the trees. "A mini one, but it felt strong." She glanced at his hand holding the sword and saw the tattoo going up his wrist. "We're mates."

He nodded. "Yeah." He motioned to the house. "Let's go in. Bronx and Woods will be here soon, and I'd like to talk without them making faces at me."

Fauna nodded and started toward the house. She stopped and turned around. He came close to walking into her. "You want to know what I thought when I asked you to do that?" She lifted her inked arm. "This." His expression was hesitant. "That I'd never find anyone else that got me, but you do."

He searched her face.

"You've saved me fives times now, Tim." Fauna sucked in a breath and started walking again. "I'm probably going to have to soak my hair in conditioner for an hour to untangle it."