Wanderers 3: Garden of The Gods (The Wanderers) Read online

  Assuming Rowle and his “hordes” didn’t make it a short life.

  I put Rafe’s pillow down and got out of bed. I took a minute to pull the covers up and straighten out the bedspread. Then I got my Army sleeping shirt out of my saddlebags and pulled it on. I wasn’t going to be able to sneak into the bath without Joe and Rafe seeing me, the cabin was just too small for sneaking, and I didn’t want to tease Joe with my bare ass.

  I recovered my other clothing and boots from the floor, took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and opened the bedroom door. Both men glanced up from where they sat in front of the fire.

  “Morning, boys!” I called with excessive cheeriness. “Did you leave any coffee for me?”

  Joe motioned toward the kitchen counter and the Keurig coffee maker. “There are a couple of types of coffee and a few kinds of tea. I knew what Rafe drank, but I wasn’t sure about you.”

  “I pretty much drink what Rafe drinks. Black coffee, but I could appreciate an oolong tea in the afternoon.”

  “Then you’re in a quandary,” Rafe said. “It became afternoon a half hour ago.”

  I set my saddlebags on the floor and put my boots on top of them. I selected a dark roast coffee from the K-cups Joe had set out. A ceramic mug that looked hand-made sat beside the Keurig. Since the men had cups, I knew Joe had set it out for me. I started the brew cycle and then picked up my boots and saddlebags.

  “You really shouldn’t have let me sleep that late, Rafe.”

  “I figured you wouldn’t sleep this long if you didn’t need it. Besides, there’s nothing pressing today.”

  “All right then. I’m going to clean up. Would you be a dream and bring me the coffee when it’s ready?”

  “Sure, no problem.”

  I hurried into the small bathroom. There was no tub, just a shower stall with a glass door, the toilet, and a single sink with an old fashion medicine cabinet above it. It was just like the medicine cabinet I had grown up with. I relieved the pressure on my bladder and then started the shower. I could tell Rafe had already taken one, or at least washed his hair, because it had still looked damp where he brushed it back. I almost wished he had waited on me. I enjoyed showering with Rafe and having him wash my back and all those other hard to reach spots.

  I’d just suds-up my hair when I heard a double rap on the bathroom.

  “Come on in.”

  I heard the knob turn, and there was Raphael. My mentor, my boss, my lover…make that sex-partner. He held the ceramic mug, and steam wafted from it.

  “Want me to set this on the counter?”

  “Come on in and shut the door. I don’t want to give Joe a peek-show,” I responded.

  Rafe entered and pushed the door shut behind him. “Sorry, I guess I’ve gotten used to it just being you and me.”

  “Me, too. You can wait, if you want to,” I said as I dunked my head back under the spray.

  I saw Rafe glance toward the bathroom door and then back at me. His eyes roved over my body. I resisted the urge to give my booty a little shake for his pleasure.

  Rafe set the mug on the counter, leaned back against the door, and watched me finish rinsing.

  I turned the water off, squeegeed excess water from my hair by pressing it flat with one hand and opened the shower door. Rafe had a folded towel and was waiting for me. I stepped onto the bath mat and turned my back to him. He dried my back in long, slow, strokes that started at my shoulders and went all the way down. After two complete circuits, I turned around and put my hands on his shoulders. He repeated those long strokes even slower this time. My skin flushed from more than friction. When he reached the top of his second stroke, I pulled him into my body and kissed him long and deeply.

  After a bit, I broke the kiss, but instead of letting go, I buried my face in the hollow of his throat and held him close. He smelled clean and a little like the bar of Irish Spring soap that I’d found in the shower. Rafe usually smelled good, but I missed not smelling him after our bout of sex. It makes me feel good–and maybe a little possessive–when I smell my own scent on him.

  Eventually, I let go of him. A bead of water had run down my face and was now cutting a cool streak between my breasts. Rafe dabbed at the bead with one end of the towel and then ruffled my short hair with it.

  “Maybe I should have waited for you to take my shower,” Rafe said.

  I chuckled as I noticed that the front of his jeans had grown tight. I kissed him lightly on the lips.

  “You’re sweet, Boss, but there’s not hardly enough room for two in Joe’s shower, even if they’re real friendly.” I made a show of examining the shower for its size.

  Rafe leaned past me to study the compartment. “I’m not so sure. I think we could squeeze in there,”

  I chuckled. “Yeah? And then what? There wouldn’t be enough room to get a bar of soap between us.”

  “You’ve never complained about that before.”

  “That’s because when we finished, we could still wash each other. We’d be bumping into each other and the walls,” I pointed out.

  “I’m willing to make the attempt. I’ve had harder–”

  I grabbed him playfully and squeezed. “I don’t know. I don’t think it could be much harder.”

  Rafe grinned and reached for me. I triggered my shield tat and formed it between us.

  “Hey, that’s not why I taught you that,” Rafe complained.

  I chuckled and winked slyly. “A girl’s gotta practice, right?”

  Rafe grinned and nodded. “Sure, use my own words against me. Okay, come on out when you’re ready. Joe’s starting pancakes and sausages.”

  “Great, I’m starving.”

  Rafe left, pulling the door closed behind him. I watched the door for a moment and then rubbed my hands softly over my breasts. The feeling of his clothes against my bare skin had left me with more than a little desire for a rematch, too. But there’d be plenty of time later when Joe Leatherhide wasn’t in the next room cooking breakfast. I bit my lower lip, turned to the mirror, and reached for my brush.

  Joe was just setting a tall stack of pancakes on the table, and Rafe was taking another cup of coffee from the Keurig when I joined them. Rafe offered me the cup, and I gave him my empty in exchange.

  Besides the pancakes, there were link sausages, butter, and maple syrup placed in the center of the small rectangular table.

  Joe pointed toward one of the chairs. “Have a seat, Tess, and help yourself.”

  “Thanks, Joe. Everything smells wonderful,” I said as I pulled out the chair farthest from the oven. I took a couple of the plate-sized pancakes and three of the sausage links. The butter was a stick at room temperature, and it began to melt as soon as I spread it across the top pancake. The syrup was warm, and I glanced around for a microwave but didn’t see one. Then I felt foolish for looking. Neither Joe nor Rafe ever needed a microwave to heat something up.

  Joe and Rafe joined me as I was digging in.

  “How is everything?” Joe asked.

  I swallowed a mouthful of food and nodded. “Great, Joe. Thanks for cooking.”

  “It’s the least a host can do for his guests.”

  “What’s on the agenda for today, Rafe?” I asked.

  “I think we’ll do a little cruise around town and see if we can identify where all the excitement is going to take place,” he said between bites.

  “Just cruise around and look? How’s that going to work?” I asked, still unfamiliar with some of the details in how Verðandi handed down her assignments.

  Rafe set down his fork and took a sip of coffee. “That’s the way it normally works. Something that Verðandi wants handled is going to happen around here. She doesn’t just come out and say be at the corner of Wahsatch and Platte on the morning of the fifth. Rather, as you must have noticed, you’ll get that feeling that you need to be in Colorado Springs. Then when you get here, you have to drive around until you get a stronger feeling that what you’re looking for is going to take
place on this corner at some time in the future, usually no more than a few days. However, there have been times that something is already occurring when I arrive. Like this past summer. I was summoned to the Castle Rock area. When I got there, I found that there had been a few violent deaths in recent days. I checked around and eventually located a Sasquatch that had blundered through a gateway and in his confusion was killing anyone that stumbled upon him.”

  “Sasquatch? As in Big-Foot?” I asked.

  “One and the same,” Rafe said.

  I thought Big-Foot was a recent myth, not more than a couple hundred years old, but Rafe had explained enough about most myths having some basis in reality, even if it wasn’t what I’d call our reality. “How did you handle it?”

  “Once I located it, I opened a portal to his world and popped him back through. It took me a couple of days to find the portal that he’d blundered through, but once I did, I locked it down so that nothing else would stumble through.”

  “But you didn’t kill the Sasquatch?” I asked.

  “There wasn’t any reason to. They aren’t that intelligent, about on par with bears, and aren’t a threat to humans unless something opens a portal between our worlds. That’s the majority of our troubles when it isn’t some rogue magic user.”

  “I see. So, we’ll just cruise around until something feels funky?”

  Rafe grinned. “Yeah, something like that. I can already tell that it will be north of us, but not the exact distance or how far east or west it might be. We should know before dark.”

  I thought about it and finished eating; listening to Joe and Rafe catch up on what was apparently several years without seeing each other.

  We cleared the table together. I started doing the dishes, but Joe pushed me out of the kitchen saying his guests didn’t do housework.

  Rafe and I took fresh coffees out to the porch that faced northeast. The city was still pretty, but not as much as last night. Interstate 25 wound its way through the middle of town and was bustling with large trucks and smaller vehicles. A mile-long train carrying something that looked like open coal cars was making its way on tracks that ran in the corridor formed by the Interstate and a small river.

  “Rafe,” I began.

  “Yes?”

  “Could we take a little time and see my aunt?” I had mentioned wanting to see her yesterday, and Rafe hadn’t shot me down, but I wasn’t sure how he felt about visiting kinfolk. He hadn’t mentioned having any of his own.

  “Sure thing. Didn’t I already say I was fine with you seeing her?”

  “Yeah, but then you also made that speech about getting to know people and letting them close.”

  “And you’re concerned that you might end up getting your aunt killed?” Rafe asked.

  I shrugged. “I guess. I know that losing Laura affected you. Hell, losing her even affected me. I don’t want to endanger Aunt Emily.”

  Rafe nodded and gave it some thought. Finally, he said, “I don’t think seeing her once will draw any attention to her. You probably shouldn’t tell her more than you have to, but easing her mind on what happened to you is the decent thing to do.”

  “Okay, thanks.”

  “Do you know how to reach her?” Rafe asked.

  “I remember her address; the mapping program in my phone will find her.”

  “The phones have a mapping program? How’s that work?”

  I couldn’t help grinning. For someone so powerful to not know about modern phones was amusing. “The phone uses the GPS system to identify its location and a mapping app shows you where you are on the map. Then you just plug in an address, and it shows you the best route there.”

  Rafe’s brown furrowed. “Are you pulling my leg?”

  “What? No, of course not. All the smartphones have that capability. They have for years. I can’t believe you haven’t come across them before.”

  “I told you, I haven’t ever had much use for calling anyone. I don’t really keep in touch with anyone.”

  “What did you do if you needed to get in touch with one of the other Wanderers?”

  “The few times that was necessary, Verðandi arranged a meeting with whichever one needed my help.”

  “Oh, well now that you have a phone, I can show you how useful they can be.”

  Rafe looked at me skeptically. “I doubt I’ll have much use for one, other than calling you if we get separated.”

  “Not even to call Cris?” I asked with a sly grin. I wasn’t sure how close he’d gotten, but she had saved his life in the weeks before he had acquired an apprentice.

  He looked confused for a moment. “Cris? Why would I call her? It may be years before I see her again and it’s in her best interest to let her live her life without me mucking it up.”

  Even as he finished rejecting my idea, I could see his face change. He was actually thinking about it. I knew he had to have formed some kind of connection with her. A woman doesn’t make the kind of sacrifice Rafe described without there being more there than just a roll in the hay. He actually had feelings for her. I realized that I was feeling something too. Could I actually be jealous that Rafe had feelings for another woman? No, that wasn’t possible. I knew my place with Rafe, and it wasn’t as some lover except in the strictly physical sense.

  He caught my smile and shook his head. “It’s not possible. I’ve told you the dangers of getting too close with anyone. Contacting Cris unnecessarily would increase her risk. No, I won’t have another Laura. She was my one mistake.”

  I leaned toward him and kissed him lightly on the cheek. “I understand, Rafe.”

  He gave me a look like he was going to scuff my head as if I were a child, then his expression softened, and his face broke into a grin. “You know, I’m beginning to enjoy having an apprentice.”

  I put a hand on his stomach and gave him a small circular belly rub. “Just beginning?”

  He laughed. “I’m an old dog who will need some patience dealing with a cocky young apprentice. Come on, I’ll tell Joe we’re leaving, and we’ll get a move on. Get into your leathers.”

  Old dog my ass, I thought with a grin. The only thing old about Rafe was his outlook on the benefits of modern technology.

  Rafe had insisted we wear our leathers anytime there was a threat, and since the mercs had tried to end us, he decided that we were always going to be under threat of attack by some damn nasty or the other. I followed Rafe back into Joe’s cabin, and while he was talking with Joe, I went back to the guest room and slipped into my leathers. I was glad the days were getting cooler. Wearing full black leathers in the Colorado sun was warming. It wasn’t like summer or anything. The temperature changes didn’t seem to bother either of us, and Rafe had confirmed that it was a Wanderer trait. Just like the cold only bothered us mildly, I felt warm in the leathers, but I wasn’t sweating as hard as I would have expected.

  When I was dressed, the only part of me that wasn’t covered in a spelled suit of leather was my head. I kinda wondered why Rafe didn’t insist I wear a spelled helmet. I mean, if you’re going to be armored against fire, impact, and magic, why wouldn’t you want your head covered too?

  When Rafe came into the bedroom to don his own leathers, I asked him.

  He shrugged. “It’s a personal preference. I like to be able to see what’s around me in a fight and I don’t want part of my vision blocked by the sides of a helmet’s face shield. I’ll happily spell your helmet if you want.”

  “No, that’s alright. I feel pretty safe now that I have that shield spell tattoo. I just thought it seemed odd that you wore armor everywhere but on your head.”

  He slipped on his jacket and gloves, having already had his pants and boots on. “That’s logical. I guess I could get us a couple of leather caps and spell them in a way that would cover our heads and faces. Of course, it’ll never be as effective as a shield. The leather is in case someone takes a pot-shot at us when we’re not expecting it, and it’s also to keep our clothes from being s
hredded like yours were last week.”

  “Well, I know you’re not going to let anyone get a free shot at us again, so I’m not too worried.” I remembered the time well. It was one of our first practice sessions, and Rafe had been showing me a technique outside of a circle. I grinned when I thought of how Beast had admonished him for training outside a circle.

  “What?” Rafe asked.

  “Nothing, just remembering something funny,” I said.

  “Care to share?”

  “No, you wouldn’t appreciate the humor as much as I do,” I replied and walked out of the bedroom, humming to myself as I went. I heard Rafe close on my heels.

  I stopped to say goodbye to Joe.

  “Are you two planning on being back for supper?” Joe asked.

  I turned toward Rafe, and he shrugged. “Don’t know. We should get in another training secession as soon as we identify the location of the problem.”

  “You know there’s plenty of room behind the cabin,” Joe said.

  “I know,” Rafe hesitated. “Look, Joe, we’ve been having a lot of unusual interest in our well-being.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yeah, and it might not be safe for you if they track us here. I’m not sure how they keep finding us, but it could be dangerous for us to be here for long.”

  “My cabin is as well shielded as anyone can make it.”

  “I know, Joe. I just hate risking your sanctuary just so we can be comfortable. We can find a motel or camp out,” Rafe said.

  “I won’t hear of it. You’ll sleep here whether you train here or not. I’ve not survived this long by being a soft target. I won’t start dinner until full dark. If you aren’t here by then, I’ll just make enough for me, and you two can eat elsewhere or make yourself a sandwich when you return.”

  “Okay, Joe, okay. We’ll be back tonight,” Rafe finally agreed.

  Outside, Maia–in Harley form–waited beside Beast. I got a little thrill knowing that hidden away inside my Harley was a beautiful hippogriff. I really wanted to let her out and go flying, but there’d be time for that later.