free chapter 5/7
Dani
I ate most of my breakfast, whatever it was. It tasted like some kind of wild game and had no seasoning to it but the little bit of salt I found in a cabinet. I stared Ryker down the whole time, but he seemed almost amused by my scrutiny which just pissed me off more.
"Are you not going to finish that?" he asked, pointing to my plate.
"All yours." I scooted it across the table, and finished off my glass of cold water.
Ryker happily grabbed the last third of my breakfast and ate it in two bites.
"Well, I made you breakfast. Are you going to tell me what you are?" I asked.
"Hmm." He scratched his rough chin, staring off at the ceiling in thought. "Nope."
"What?" I stood suddenly, my chair scraping behind me against the wood floors. "You said you'd tell me."
"I said I might tell you. I've decided against it. There is a difference, little witch." He smirked and stood up, turning his back to me and walking across the room.
"Are you serious right now?" I followed, my hands balled into fists at my sides.
"Yup."
Ryker stopped in front of a closet next to the bathroom. He opened it with a creaking sound that irritated the senses like nails on a chalkboard. Then he crouched over something in the bottom of the dark space.
"Here we go," he said, pulling a crate into the light.
He rummaged through a few layers of fabric, all different colors until he pulled something out of the pile. "Try this on."
He threw a big green sweater at me. It looked warm but smelled of moth balls. "Clothes?"
"You don't have anything warm enough to wear, right? I wear this stuff when I'm blending in with the humans."
I rolled my eyes. He probably blended in with humans like I blended in with an all-boys church choir.
He looked at me over his shoulder, still sifting through the crate. "You can strike human off your list too, by the way."
"Oh, thank you so much. That was going to be my next guess." I sighed and pulled the sweater over my head. It was thick and definitely took the cold bite out of the air around me. I eyed him in his bare feet and jeans.
"Why don't you wear shirts?" I asked.
"Hate 'em. Too restricting." He pulled another sweater from the crate and tossed it onto the couch.
"But jeans aren't?" I asked.
"Guess not. They keep annoying plants off my legs when I'm out walking at least." He stood tossing two more sweaters on the couch. "There, that's all I have for cold weather. That should help until we get to Moscow."
"We?" I asked. "I thought you were passing me off to your traveling friend."
"I'm coming too," he said. "Got some business to take care of that got dropped on me recently."
"And we're not leaving until..."
"Tomorrow probably."
"Probably?" I felt panic rise in my throat. "Why probably? I need to get back!"
"Well, he passed through yesterday. He usually comes by on his way back. So, he'll be here tomorrow. Probably," Ryker said.
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
"Okay. I can work with that. So he comes, probably tomorrow, and then we're all going to Moscow?" I asked.
"Sounds like it." Ryker kicked his crate back in the closet and closed the door.
"And I can go to the American Embassy and hopefully they can get me home?" I asked.
Ryker leaned against the door and crossed his arms over his massive chest. "How are you going to explain to them how you got here in the first place?"
Well shit.
My knees buckled for a moment. I was almost knocked off my feet with the thought that I'd be stuck in the middle of nowhere Russia with this asshole for any foreseeable amount of time. I sank onto the couch next to me, all the air knocked out of my lungs. "Fuck me."
"Why don't you ask for help from the local coven?" Ryker suggested. "You got here by teleportation, you can go home that way too. Surely they would help one of their own get home?"
"It's not that simple," I said, sitting up. "I don't know any of the covens over here, and chances are they aren't going to look kindly on me anyway. Second, I don't have any money to buy a proper teleportation circle. For all I know I'd end up in Tokyo next. I don't exactly have a good track record with teleportation lately."
"Alright, well what if money were no object. Would your problems be solved then?" Ryker asked.
"I doubt it." I sat, wrapping my arms around my knees and pulling the sweater over as much of me as I could.
"Why is that?" He tilted his head, watching me intently.
It's because I'm covenless.
"It's because I'm not one of theirs," I said.
"I see," Ryker said. "So what you're telling me is because you aren't of their coven, they will have a problem with it?"
"Yup, pretty sure that's what I just said."
"What coven are you with then?" he asked.
I snapped my mouth shut. An outsider wouldn't really understand. It was rare to be covenless, that was for rejects, weaklings, and outcasts. But it was easier to be covenless than to get sucked up into their world.
"I don't have one," I said.
"How did you get a teleportation circle in the first place then?" he asked.
"Paid a stray hedge witch to do it. Her coven kicked her out years ago, but not before she learned her circles." I shrugged. "It was what I had access to at the time."
"Ah." Ryker nodded. "Well, can't be helped then."
I stared down at my sock covered toes peeking out from under the sweater. The embassy was out. How was I going to get home now?
"Hey, Ryker. Do you think I could make an international call? Do you own a phone?" I asked.
"I do." He opened the closet back up and pulled something off the top shelf. "It would need charging but you can use it."
He walked over with an ancient cell phone. It was boxy and small and looked like it would give me a tumor.
"Shit, how old is this thing? And how is it still working?" I glanced at the brand, answering both of my questions at once. "Christ, Ryker, you need to get a new phone."
"It still works fine," he said, joining me on the couch. "I don't have the time or patience to keep up with human technology trends."
I sighed and found myself leaning towards him as he sat by me. I could feel the warmth from his skin reaching through the sweater and onto me.
"What the hell am I going to do?" I murmured.
"I think you should come with me to Moscow anyway." Ryker looked down at me and leaned back on the couch. "I might have a way to get you back to your own continent, if you come with me and Gavin."
"Really?" I dared for just a tiny moment to have hope. "How?"
"Gavin has a contact that can get you there. Not a witch, I promise. We're going to Moscow anyway, we might as well see if he can help you while we're there. I mean, unless you have a better plan?"
"Obviously I don't," I said. "But what's it going to cost me?"
"What, I can't just help you out from the goodness of my heart?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Don't bullshit me, Ryker. Everything has a price," I said.
"How about this. We'll bring you with us, and see if we can get you back in North America. In exchange, you come with us to do a little job on the way."
"A job?" I narrowed my eyes at him. "What could you possibly need my help with that would make us even?"
He shrugged. "I've been around a while. I could use a fresh face to talk to someone for me. I'm recognizable in just about every city this side of the Alps. And not everyone who might know me would remember me fondly. I have some questions for someone but I don't think he would talk with me."
"So you need me to talk to someone who hates you, without them knowing it's for you?" I asked.
"Pretty much, yeah. So do we have a deal?"
"I don't want to get caught up in the magical world," I said.
"Say's the witch."
"You're not giving me a lot of options here, Ryker."
He shrugged and stretched his arms over his head. I would be lying if I said I wasn't mildly distracted by his pecs. He was at least a B cup. Damn, Ryker.
"Take it or leave it. It's my only offer right now. I don't have any other ways to get you back under the radar and I'm not running a homeless shelter here. You've gotta get out at some point. So, deal?"
I sighed through my nose and clenched my jaw.
"Dea- wait. And you're sure you're not a fae?" I asked.
"Very sure."
"Alright fine, deal." I stuck out my hand and we shook on it. I didn't feel any tingle of power. No magical debt or contracts or whatever sinking into us. Just his word and mine. It did make me feel better and at least I could knock a few creatures off my list that I now knew Ryker couldn't be one of them.
I leaned my head back and glanced at him.
"So we aren't do anything until Gavin gets here, right? What do we do until tomorrow?"
"Hmm." Ryker scratched his chin. "Ever been hunting?"
"Hunting? Buddy, dude, the wildest thing I've ever caught is a Chicago dog in front of the bean."
"I have no idea what you just said."
"Never mind. Short answer is no, I've never been hunting." I sat up straighter on the couch, intrigued. "Why?"
"I scented a bear yesterday while I was out, maybe a couple miles from here. If he's still in the area it would make a good kill and a new pelt," Ryker said. "Would you like to come along?"
"A bear?" I scoffed. "You want me to come with you to fight a bear? Exactly how much help do you think I would be with that?"
"None." He shrugged. "But you can keep me company and I can bring in more food. You'll be warmer near me anyway. It would be a good way to spend the day. We can go to the hot spring on the way back if you want."
Hot. Spring.
Say no more, I'm there.
"Just a minute." I scrambled up and pulled on the other three sweaters, making it difficult to move but making me plenty warm. They all came down to my knees, nearly meeting my boots and covering most of my body. That was saying something since I wasn't particularly short and my frame had some meat on it. I wasn't some five foot twig like my neighbor Mary. Then I pulled on my flannel pajama pants under the dress and yanked on two pairs of socks before putting my boots back on. I definitely did that in the wrong order, because the four sweaters were really hard to maneuver in.
"Okay, ready," I said.
"You're coming in all that?" Ryker asked, clearly holding back a smile.
"Yeah, until you take me to the spring." I tried to cross my arms in front of my chest, but when I couldn't I settled for putting my hands on my hips. "Or drop me off at it on your way to play with the bears, your choice."
"I see." He chuckled. "Well by all means, let's go then."